and this is the view of all the early Muslims—the Companions, those who followed them in excellence (1), and the rest of the Muslim imams—namely, that the Quran is the speech of Allah] (2) and is not created. Yet they did not say what Ibn Kullāb [and those who followed him] said—namely, that it (3) is eternal and inseparable from Allah’s Essence, and that (4) Allah does not speak (5) by His will and power. Rather, this is a newly introduced doctrine devised by Ibn Kullāb (6), whom various groups followed in it.
As for the early Muslims, their position (7) was that He has always been speaking and that He (8) speaks by His will and power (9).
(* They likewise held that activity necessarily belongs to Him. They also transmitted from Jaʿfar [al-Sādiq] (10) ibn Muhammad that he affirmed the perpetuity of activity whose effects extend beyond the Agent, and that He has always been beneficent through what has always been
(1) The phrase “who followed them in excellence” is added in B and A.
(2) The text in square brackets is omitted from N.
(3) N reads: “Yet they say: Ibn Kullāb did not say that it is…”; M reads: “Yet they did not endorse Ibn Kullāb’s view that it is…”
(4) B and A read: “and that.”
(5) N and M read: “has not spoken.”
(6) A and B read: “Rather, this doctrine is newly introduced…” and so on; N and M read: “Rather, Ibn Kullāb adopted this doctrine.” The reading adopted here is from ʿ.
(7) A and B read: “their position.”
(8) A and B read: “or that He.”
(9) In the margin of manuscript ʿ, the annotator recopied the passages beginning with the sentence, “This is the position of all the early Muslims,” and ending at this point. The annotator similarly reproduces passages from the book in the margins of manuscript ʿ at several places. We shall note these only when he adds comments of his own to the copied text.
(10) The epithet “al-Sādiq” is added in ʿ.