this.’ Abū Tālib then went out and informed several people of Abū ‘Abd Allāh’s prohibition, among them Abū Bakr ibn Zanjawayh, al-Fadl ibn Ziyād al-Qattān, Hamdān ibn ‘Alī al-Warrāq, Abū ‘Ubayd, and Abū ‘Āmir. After Abū ‘Abd Allāh’s death, Abū Tālib wrote in his own hand to the people of Nisibis, informing them that Abū ‘Abd Allāh had forbidden saying, ‘My utterance of the Quran is uncreated.’ Abū Tālib brought me his book, in which he had crossed out the passage on this question.”

Zakariyyā ibn al-Faraj said: “I went to ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Warrāq, who took the sheet and read it. He asked me, ‘Who reported this to you from Ahmad?’ I replied, ‘Fawrān ibn Muhammad.’ He said, ‘He is reliable and trustworthy in what he reports from Ahmad.’”

Zakariyyā said: “Abū Bakr al-Marwazī had already informed ‘Abd al-Wahhāb of this, so ‘Abd al-Wahhāb now had two witnesses.”

Zakariyyā said: “I heard ‘Abd al-Wahhāb say, ‘Anyone who says, “My utterance of the Quran is uncreated,” is to be shunned and not spoken to, and others are to be warned against him.’ He had previously said, ‘He is an innovator.’”

Al-Khallāl also narrated from Abū al-Hārith, who said: “I heard a man say to Abū ‘Abd Allāh, ‘Abū ‘Abd Allāh, do we not say that the Quran is the speech of Allah and is not created in any sense, under any circumstances or in any respect?’ Abū ‘Abd Allāh replied, ‘Yes.’”

To recount all of this would take too long. Likewise, in the statements of Imam Ahmad, the leading scholars among his followers, and others, concerning the attribution of the voice of