before he himself existed? A servant’s action is the movement that proceeds from him. How, then, could it exist before him?

If someone explains his words by saying, “We did not mean the movement itself; rather, we meant its reward,” he is told: Everything besides Allah is created. His speech and attributes do not fall outside what His name denotes; rather, His speech is included in what His name denotes.

If someone were to say, “Everything besides Allah and His attributes is created,” in order to dispel this misconception, he would have intended a sound meaning. The same applies if he says, as some of the early generations said:

“Allah is the Creator, and everything besides Him is created, except the Quran, for it is Allah’s speech, sent down and uncreated. From Him it came, and to Him it will return.”

They excepted the Quran so that the listener would not mistakenly suppose that the revealed Quran is created.

For the Jahmiyyah used to ask people, “Is the Quran Allah, or is it other than Allah?” Someone who did not understand their intent would answer that it is other than Allah. They would then say, “Everything besides Allah is created.” Those of the early generations who used the wording quoted above did so lest someone unfamiliar with the aims of the Jahmiyyah think that the Quran is created, supposing it to fall within the general scope of the statement, “Everything besides Allah is created.” They therefore explained that it does not fall within the general scope of the statement, “Everything besides Allah is created.” Thus they said, “Except the Quran, for it is not created,” even if someone includes it within the statement, “Everything besides Allah is created.”

Since the expressions “other than” and “besides” are ambiguous—a thing’s attribute is sometimes included under these expressions and sometimes not—and since the person being addressed understands the Quran to be included under “besides,” the early generations explicitly excepted it.