Aḥmad ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to us: “I asked Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, ‘What do you say about those who claim that our utterances of the Qur’an are created?’ He replied, ‘They are worse than the Jahmiyyah. Whoever says that is effectively claiming that Gabriel brought a created thing and that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, spoke created speech.’

240 – I say: A valuable copy of this work is preserved in the Ẓāhiriyyah Library, written in the hand of the ḥāfiẓ ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī from his transmission through Abū Ṭāhir al-Salfī with his chain to al-Ṭūsī; it is arranged by chapters.

82 – ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Warrāq (d. 250 AH)

260 – ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam al-Warrāq transmitted the statement of Ibn ʿAbbās: “Between the seventh heaven and His Footstool are seven thousand layers of light, and He is above that.” ʿAbd al-Wahhāb then said, “Whoever alleges that Allah is here [within creation] is a vile Jahmī. Allah is above the Throne, and His knowledge encompasses this world and the Hereafter.”

ʿAbd al-Wahhāb was trustworthy, a ḥāfiẓ, and highly esteemed; Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, and al-Tirmidhī narrated from him. Imām Aḥmad—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked, “Whom shall we consult after you?” He answered, “Ask ʿAbd al-Wahhāb,” and praised him. He died in 250 AH.

A rabid extremist, as it were, objects: “This traditionist and his like are not to blame; they were misled by the words of their teachers, whose teachers were misled by what the Successors explicitly stated on this issue, and those Successors were in turn misled by the words of Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn Masʿūd, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ.”

I reply: Indeed, you ignoramus—pursue your disgraceful thesis to its end and say that even the Companions were misled by the words of the Truthful, the Trustworthy, when he said, “Set her free, for she is a believer,” and by his statement, peace be upon him, “Our Lord descends each night to the lowest heaven.” The Prophet ﷺ is the source of this doctrine; he delivered it to his community, building it upon what was revealed to him from the truest of all speakers: “The All-Merciful rose over the Throne” and “They fear their Lord above them,” and on other such verses, as well as on what Gabriel taught him and brought from