over other parts, whether intrinsically or in its implications and connections—let alone that there was a consensus on denying this superiority. Nor does this denial necessarily follow from the position of Ibn Kullāb and those who agree with him, such as al-Ashʿarī and his followers. They allow differences in excellence within the Arabic Quran, which they regard as created. This created Quran is called “the Book of Allah,” whereas the eternal meaning is called “the speech of Allah.” They use the term “Quran” to refer both to that eternal meaning and to the created Arabic Quran. Accordingly, they interpret the transmitted statements about the superiority of some parts of the Quran over others as referring to what they regard as the created Quran.

Rather, what has been transmitted through numerous independent chains from the imams of the early generations is their statement that the Quran is Allah’s speech, uncreated, and their rejection of the doctrine of the Jahmiyyah, who held that the Quran was something created and separate from Allah. Indeed, they declared those who said this to be disbelievers. Many extant books contain their statements, both with and without their chains of transmission, including:

(The Book of Refutation of the Jahmiyyah) by Imam Abū Muhammad ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn Abī Hātim; (Refutation of the Jahmiyyah) by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muhammad al-Juʿfī, al-Bukhārī’s teacher; (Refutation of the Jahmiyyah) by al-Hakam ibn Maʿbad al-Khuzāʿī; (The Book of the Sunnah) by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal; (The Sunnah) by Hanbal, Imam Ahmad’s cousin; (The Sunnah) by Abū Dāwūd al-Sijistānī; (The Sunnah) by al-Athram; (The Sunnah) by Abū Bakr al-Khallāl; and (The Sunnah and Refutation of Those Who Follow Their Desires) by Khushaysh ibn Asram