610 — Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hafs informed us; Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Salamah narrated to us; Abu Nasr Ahmad ibn Sahl ibn Hamdawayh narrated to us; Abu al-‘Abbas al-Fadl ibn Bassam narrated to us, saying: I heard Ibrahim ibn Muhammad say:

“I personally undertook the burial of Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Bukhari when he died in Khartank. I wished to carry him to Samarqand in order to bury him there, but one of our companions from the people of Sakajkath would not permit me, so we buried him there. When we had finished and I returned to the house where I had been staying, the owner of the residence said to me: ‘Yesterday I asked him, saying: O Abu ‘Abd Allah, what do you say regarding the Quran?’ He replied: ‘The Quran is the speech of Allah; it is uncreated.’

“I said to him: ‘People claim that you say there is no Quran in the written copies of the Quran, nor in people’s hearts.’ He replied: ‘I seek Allah’s forgiveness from your testifying about me concerning something you did not hear from me. I say as Allah has said: “By the Mount, and by a Book inscribed.”’ [Surah al-Tur 52:2]

⦗396⦘ I say: There is Quran in the written copies of the Quran, and there is Quran in the hearts of men. Whoever says otherwise is to be called upon to repent; if he repents, then well and good, but otherwise his way is the way of disbelief.