And [the Exalted] (1) said:

{That is because they followed what angered Allah and disliked what earns His pleasure, so He rendered their deeds worthless.}

[Surah Muhammad: 28]

And [the Exalted] (2) said:

{When they angered Us, We took retribution upon them.}

[Surah al-Zukhruf: 55]

And [the Exalted] (3) said:

{If you disbelieve, Allah has no need of you. He is not pleased with disbelief for His servants; but if you are grateful, He is pleased with it for you.}

[Surah al-Zumar: 7]

And [the Exalted] (4) said:

{Indeed, the likeness of Jesus before Allah is that of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him, “Be,” and he was.}

[Surah Āl Imrān: 59]

And [the Exalted] (5) said:

{We certainly created you, then fashioned you, then said to the angels, “Prostrate yourselves before Adam.”}

[Surah al-Arāf: 11]

There are countless similar texts in the Book and the Sunnah, which can only be enumerated with considerable effort (6). They run into the hundreds among the passages of the Quran and hadith. We have cited a portion of them elsewhere (7), related the statements of the early and later scholars concerning this foundational principle, and discussed (8) the doctrines of the ancient philosophers [as well] (9), together with the agreement of their foremost authorities upon this principle.

As a result of this (10), people became divided over the question of the Quran. Ibn Kullāb and his followers therefore found themselves compelled to say:

“It is eternal and inseparable from the Essence of Allah, and Allah does not speak by His will and power.”

They held everything He speaks to be eternally existent in itself. They did not say that He—