Hanbal also reported from Ahmad in the Book of the Ordeal that he interpreted Allah’s words:

“Are they waiting for anything but for Allah to come to them in canopies of clouds, along with the angels?” [Surah al-Baqarah 210]

The Jahmiyyah who debated him had argued that the Quran was created, citing the Prophet’s statement, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that al-Baqarah and Āl ʿImrān would come on the Day of Resurrection “like two clouds, two canopies of shade, or two flocks of birds in ranks, pleading on behalf of their companion.” They argued that only something created can come.

Imam Ahmad replied: “Yet Allah Most High has said, ‘Are they waiting for anything but for Allah to come to them in canopies of clouds?’ Does Allah, then, come? It is only His command that comes. Likewise, here it is only the reward for the Quran that comes.”

Our fellow scholars differed over this report, taking five approaches.