3 – A further generation
Among them: al-Muzani, al-Dhuhli, al-Bukhari, and Abū Zurʿah

74 – al-Muzani (d. 264 AH)

247 – Aḥmad ibn Bakr al-Bāzūrī said: al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Bāzūrī the jurist narrated to me; ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥalawānī narrated to me:

I was in Tripoli in the Maghrib, and my companions and I were discussing matters of the Sunnah until we mentioned Abū Ibrāhīm al-Muzani—may Allah have mercy on him. One of our number said, “I have heard that he speaks about the Qur’an and hesitates,” while another said that he actually states so. When others joined us, we wrote to him for clarification, and he replied:

“May Allah protect us and you with piety and grant us and you success in following true guidance. To proceed: you asked me to clarify for you a point of the Sunnah by which you might anchor¹ yourself, ward off the ambiguities of divergent claims, and repel the deviations introduced by the misled innovators. I have therefore set out for you a clear path, withholding no sincere advice from myself or from you:

Praise belongs to Allah, the One most worthy to be the opening of speech and the first to be thanked; to Him I offer praise. He is the One, the Ever-Besought, who has neither consort nor child. Transcendent is He above any likeness—there is none comparable or equal to Him: the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the All-Knowing, the All-Aware, the Impregnable, the Exalted. He is high above His Throne, yet by His knowledge He is near to His creation. The Qur’an is the speech of Allah—emanating from Allah—and is not created so that it might perish. Allah’s power, His descriptions, and His attributes are likewise uncreated words: everlasting, eternal, not originated so as to pass away; our Lord was never deficient that He might later acquire perfection. His attributes are far removed from resembling those of created beings; He is exalted above His Throne, distinct from…"