held in esteem—apart from the Companions—across different ages and through the passing years. Among them are some hundred imams whose opinions people accepted and whose schools they followed. Had I undertaken to transmit the statements of the hadith scholars, their names would have numbered many thousands. Thus, I have transmitted from these scholars, generation after generation, without anyone objecting to them. Anyone who rejected their position was called upon by them to repent, or they ordered his execution, exile, or crucifixion.”

He said:

“There is no disagreement within the Muslim community that the first to say that the Quran is created was al-Ja‘d ibn Dirham, followed by Jahm ibn Safwān. Both were executed by the Muslims.”

Among those who issued rulings that such people should be put to death were Mālik ibn Anas, Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Laylā, Sufyān ibn ‘Uyaynah, the caliph Abū Ja‘far al-Mansūr, Ma‘mar ibn Sulaymān, Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd al-Qattān, ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī, Mu‘ādh ibn Mu‘ādh, Wakī‘ ibn al-Jarrāh and his father, ‘Abd Allāh ibn Dāwūd al-Khuraybī, Bishr ibn al-Walīd—the associate of Abū Yūsuf—Abū Mus‘ab al-Zuhrī, Abū ‘Ubayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām, Abū Thawr, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and other imams.

Likewise, condemnation of “those who suspend judgment”—those who say neither that the Quran is created nor that it is uncreated—and the declaration that they are misguided are reported from the majority of these imams, including Ibn al-Mājishūn, Abū Mus‘ab, Wakī‘ ibn al-Jarrāh, Abū al-Walīd, Abū al-Walīd al-Jārūdī—the associate of al-Shāfi‘ī—Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Abū Thawr, and Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh,