Al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham (1) was the first to declare that the Qur’an is a created entity. The last Umayyad caliph, Marwān al-Jaʿdī—known as Marwān al-Ḥimār—was so called because he had studied under al-Jaʿd. Al-Jaʿd himself was originally from Ḥarrān (2); others say he was a client of the Marwānid household. He settled in Damascus and owned a house there near the Cap-makers’ Quarter, beside the church, as Ibn ʿAsākir records. I add: that neighborhood still exists today close to the district of the Khawwāṣṣīn, its western edge by the Cotton-dealers’ Bath, commonly called the Qalnis Bath.

Ibn ʿAsākir and others (3) relate that al-Jaʿd learned his innovation from Abān ibn Samʿān (4); Abān took it from Ṭālūt, the nephew of Labīd ibn Aʿṣam, who had married his daughter. Labīd ibn Aʿṣam—the sorcerer who cast a spell on the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)—had received it from a Jew in Yemen. From al-Jaʿd, Jahm ibn Ṣafwān al-Khuza­rī—some say al-Tirmidhī—adopted the doctrine. Jahm resided in Balkh, praying in the mosque of Muqātil ibn Sulaymān and engaging him in debate until he was banished to Tirmidh. He was later killed in Isfahān—some say in Marw—by its deputy Salm ibn Aḥwaz, may Allah have mercy on him and reward him well on behalf of the Muslims. Bishr al-Marīsī learned from Jahm, and Aḥmad ibn Abī Duʾād learned from Bishr.

As for al-Jaʿd himself, he remained in Damascus until he openly proclaimed that the Qur’an is created. The Umayyads pursued him, so he fled to Kūfa, where Jahm ibn Ṣafwān met him and adopted the doctrine from him. Later, Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī slew al-Jaʿd on the Day of ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā in Kūfa. In his sermon that day Khālid announced:

“O people, offer your sacrifices—may Allah accept your offerings! As for me, my sacrifice today is al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham, for he claims that Allah did not take Abraham as a close friend and did not speak to Moses directly. Exalted is Allah, far above what al-Jaʿd asserts!”

He then descended and slaughtered him at the foot of the pulpit with his own hand—may Allah reward him and accept it from him. This occurred during the reign of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. Hishām had earlier crucified al-Jaʿd in Damascus when he first publicized his views, whereupon al-Jaʿd escaped. Hishām later wrote to his governor Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī ordering him to put the man to death, and Khālid did so, as we have described.