to Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Tirmidhī:
“Are you not created?” He replied, “Yes.” Ahmad said, “Is not everything that comes from you created?” He replied, “Yes.” Ahmad said, “Your speech comes from you, and it is created.”

I say: What Ahmad said on this subject is correct; his statements confirm one another and contain no contradiction. He objected to the statement that Allah created the letters, for the implication of saying that the letters are created is that Allah did not speak an Arabic Quran and that the Arabic Quran is created. Ahmad also explicitly stated that human speech is created, without declaring any part of it uncreated. All of this is correct.

Al-Sarī, may Allah have mercy on him, merely related this account from Bakr ibn Khunays, the devout worshipper. Their point was that someone who worships Allah only according to His command is more perfect than someone who worships Him according to his own judgment, without a command from Allah. In support of this, they cited an account that had reached them:

“When Allah created the letters, they prostrated before Him, except for the alif, which said, ‘I will not prostrate until I am commanded.’”

A report of this kind cannot establish proof in any matter. Their intention, however, was to illustrate their point: the alif stands upright in writing, rather than lying horizontally like the bā’ and tā’. Thus, someone who does not act until commanded is more perfect than someone who acts without a command.

Ahmad objected to the words, “When Allah created the letters.” It is also reported that he said: “Whoever says that a single letter of the alphabet is created is a Jahmī, because he has taken a path leading to innovation. Whoever says that it is created has thereby said that the Quran is created.” Ahmad and other imams explicitly stated that Allah has never ceased to speak whenever