Judge Yaʿqūb also stated in his work that his position was that of Abū Bakr Ahmad ibn al-Musayyib al-Tabarī, and he attributed it to a number of the most distinguished scholars of Tabaristān. He also reported hearing the jurist ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Halaba, the judge of Harrān, say: “This is the position of al-ʿAlawī al-Harrānī and a number of the people of Harrān.”

Abū ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hāmid also attributed it to a number of people from Tabaristān affiliated with our school, such as Abū Muhammad al-Kashfal and Ismāʿīl al-Kāwdharī, together with many of their followers, who held that the letters are eternal. Judge Abū Yaʿlā said: “I was likewise informed that a group in Syria held this view, including al-Nābulusī and others.” Judge Husayn mentioned that his father adopted this position toward the end of his life. They also attributed it to al-Sharīf Abū ʿAlī ibn Abī Mūsā. Shaykh Abū al-Faraj al-Maqdisī, his son ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, and all his other followers, as well as Abū al-Hasan ibn al-Zāghūnī and others like him, followed them in this. Judge Yaʿqūb stated that Ahmad’s words could bear either interpretation.

Those who held this view relied on Ahmad’s response when he was told that Sarī al-Saqatī had said: “When Allah created the letters, they prostrated before Him, except for the alif, which said, ‘I will not prostrate until I am commanded.’” Ahmad said: “This is disbelief.”

The other group relied on Ahmad’s statement: “Whatever comes from created beings, on the tongues of created beings, is created”; and on his statement: “If that were so, his prayer would not be valid through recitation of the Quran, just as it is not valid through other human speech”; and on Ahmad’s words