is Allah’s speech and is uncreated. As for the claim that no part of it is superior to another, this has not been transmitted from any of the early generations of the Muslim community or the imams of the Sunnah who led the way during the trial, such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his peers, nor from anyone before them. Even supposing it had been transmitted from a number of the imams of the Sunnah, it would not be permissible to treat that as their consensus. How, then, could it be so treated when it has not been transmitted from any of them? Rather, this is merely an attribution of what the person reporting their position supposes to be a necessary implication of their doctrine. Since the doctrine of the people of the Sunnah is that the Quran is one of Allah’s attributes, not one of His creations, and this person supposed that the Creator’s attributes cannot differ in excellence, he attributed that denial of differing excellence to them on the basis of this supposed necessary connection.

But he should be told:

The first premise is undoubtedly transmitted from them. As for the second premise—that the Lord’s attributes do not differ in excellence—can you transmit a statement to that effect from even one of the early generations, let alone transmit their consensus on it? I know of no one who can establish that any of the early generations said anything conveying this meaning, whether in these words or otherwise, let alone that it was a matter of consensus. Yet if someone did say this and his statement has not reached us, Allah knows best.

What I can affirm with certainty, however—and so can everyone familiar with the statements of the early generations—is that this view was not widespread among them. Nor was it expressed by an individual whose statement became widely known among the others and met with their silence. Nor is it known in the books that transmit