Ahmad ibn Hanbal and other leading scholars. Al-Khallāl also recorded this in his book al-Sunnah (The Sunnah), and Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Battah recorded some of it in al-Ibānah (The Elucidation). Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Mandah likewise recorded much of it in his writings on “the question of utterance.”
Abū Muhammad ibn Qutaybah al-Dīnawarī said: “The people of hadith did not differ over any aspect of their creed except the question of utterance.” Ibn Qutaybah then explained that lafz (“utterance”) can denote the act of uttering, as the verbal noun of “to utter”; it can also denote speech itself, which is the servant’s act and voice and is created. As for Allah’s own speech, which His servants utter, it is not created.
Likewise, regarding “the question of faith,” Ahmad ibn Hanbal never said that faith is uncreated. Nor did Ahmad or any other member of the early generations say that the Quran is eternal. Rather, they said: “The Quran is Allah’s speech, revealed and uncreated.” Neither Ahmad ibn Hanbal nor anyone among the early generations said that any of the servant’s attributes or actions are uncreated—not his voice when reciting the Quran, his utterance of the Quran, his faith, his prayer, or anything of that kind.
Later scholars, however, split into many groups over this matter. Among those who said, “Our utterance of the Quran is uncreated,” some also stated without qualification that faith is uncreated. Others described both utterance and faith as eternal. Some distinguished between verbal expressions of faith and deeds, saying that the verbal expressions are uncreated and eternal, whereas the deeds of faith are created.
Concerning deeds pertaining to faith, some say that those which are forbidden are created. As for acts of obedience, such as prayer and the like, some say that they are uncreated, while others withhold judgment and do not say that they are