they have earned, as an exemplary punishment from Allah. This statement is contrary to reason and religion, contradicting the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the believers. It is a “monstrous innovation” that no Muslim scholar has ever professed—neither scholars of the Sunnah nor scholars of innovation. Nor would any sane person who understands what he is saying profess it. However, those who have professed it have fallen prey to a misconception, which we shall explain, if Allah Most High wills.

When a statement’s falsity is self-evident to reason, there is no need to appeal to anything transmitted from an imam, except to demonstrate that its rejection and denunciation have been transmitted from the imams, and that whoever professes it opposes the Muslim community and introduces an innovation into religion. This also dispels the misconception of anyone who imagines that their position necessarily follows from a statement of one of the early generations, making him aware that they oppose the positions of the revered imams who are followed as exemplars. It also makes clear that the opposite of their statement is expressly affirmed by the imams followed in the Sunnah, and that this is not a matter on which they remained silent, neither affirming nor denying it.

There is no doubt that Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and the imams before and after him, expressly stated, without qualification, that human speech is created. Indeed, Ahmad and many other imams expressly affirmed this regarding “the acts of Allah’s servants” generally and “human speech” specifically. They did not refrain from making this unqualified statement because of the misconception that befell these dissenting innovators. Thus, neither they nor anyone else can say: “One should call it neither created nor uncreated,” on account of their misconception or because speaking about