and the Maker of the soul—that is, its Creator.”

Abū Ishāq ibn Shāqlā wrote in his answer to this question: “You asked—may Allah have mercy on you—whether the soul is created or uncreated.” He said: “This is something about which anyone guided to the truth has no doubt.” Later he said: “The soul is among the things that are created.”

Groups of eminent scholars and shaykhs have discussed this question and refuted those who claim that the soul is uncreated. The hadith master Abū ‘Abdullāh ibn Mandah compiled a substantial book on “The Spirit and the Soul,” in which he cited numerous hadiths and reports from the early generations. It was accepted by Imam Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazī and others, and by Shaykh Abū Ya‘qūb al-Kharrāz, Abū Ya‘qūb al-Nahrajūrī, Judge Abū Ya‘lā, and others.

The great imams explicitly affirmed this, and strongly condemned those who claimed otherwise concerning the soul of Jesus, son of Mary—all the more so concerning anyone else’s soul. Ahmad discussed this in his book refuting “The Heretics and the Jahmiyyah,” saying at its beginning:

“All praise is due to Allah, who, in every age when no messengers are sent, preserves a remnant of people of knowledge who call those who have strayed back to guidance and patiently endure the harm they inflict. Through Allah’s Book they revive the dead, and through Allah’s light they give sight to the blind. How many a victim of Iblīs have they revived, and how many a lost wanderer have they guided! How good their effect upon people, and how evil people’s treatment of them!

“They purge Allah’s Book of the distortions of extremists, the false claims of those who promote falsehood, and the interpretations of the ignorant, who have raised the banners of innovation and unleashed discord. These people disagree over the Book, oppose the Book, and unite in opposing the Book. They make claims concerning Allah, concerning Allah Himself, and concerning the Book of