Then groups among their followers followed a proponent of this school, maintaining that the Quran is merely a meaning subsisting in Allah’s essence, and that its letters are not part of Allah’s speech; rather, Allah created them in the air, or Gabriel or Muhammad composed them. To this they added that the Quran codex contains nothing but ink and paper. They disregarded their predecessors’ statement that it points to Allah’s speech and must therefore be respected, having seen that merely pointing to something does not entail a duty of respect. The same applies to whatever points to the Creator who speaks: all existing things point to Him, yet they need not be held sacred.

These people thus began to desecrate the Quran codex, even trampling it underfoot. Some of them write Allah’s names with excrement to strip Allah’s names and verses written in the codices and on paper of their sanctity. Muslims have agreed that anyone who treats the Quran codex with contempt—for example, by throwing it into a privy or kicking it to insult it—is an unbeliever whose blood may lawfully be shed.

Religious innovations begin as a handspan, then grow as they are followed until they extend to cubits, miles, and parasangs. This answer does not allow for a detailed discussion of this subject; it has been discussed at length elsewhere.

Those who attach the qualification “if Allah wills” to these past matters established with certainty are ignorant, misguided innovators. One of them argues in support of this as follows. When told, “This is a tree,” he replies, “If Allah wills to turn it into an animal, He can do so.”