We have seen groups accuse these people of false reporting. It would seem that what actually happens is that those making such attributions report others’ views merely on the basis of unqualified statements that have reached them, or what they suppose those views necessarily imply, or what they have heard from people who report recklessly and without verification. They may also have heard this from some of their ordinary followers—if that did indeed occur.

This has caused errors in this matter, to the point that people have misrepresented even those whom they hold in high esteem. It was for this reason that Imam Ahmad corrected Abū Tālib concerning what he had reported from him. Abū Tālib had recited to him:

“Say, ‘He is Allah, One.’”

He then asked him, “Is this created?” Ahmad replied, “This is not created.” Ahmad subsequently learned that Abū Tālib had reported him as saying, “My utterance of the Quran is uncreated.” Ahmad became angry with him and asked, “Did I tell you, ‘My utterance of the Quran is uncreated’?”

He replied, “No. But I recited to you:

“‘Say, “He is Allah, One.”’

“Then I said to you, ‘This is uncreated,’ and you said, ‘Yes.’”

Ahmad asked, “Why, then, did you report that I told you, ‘My utterance of the Quran is uncreated’?”

He replied, “I did not report it from you; I only stated it as my own view.”

Ahmad said, “Do not say this, for I have never heard a scholar say it. Rather, say: ‘The Quran, however it is conveyed, is the uncreated speech of Allah.’”

This is why al-Bukhārī said in The Creation of Deeds that these “Lafziyya” attribute their position to Ahmad, although they do not understand the subtlety of his words. The source of the confusion is that when he says “this,” he is referring to the speech simply as speech, without regard to the servant’s movements and voice through which it is conveyed, just as