Mūsā ibn Sahl al-Ramlī narrated to us: Mūsā ibn Dāwud narrated to us: Maʿbad Abū ʿAbd al-Rahmān narrated to us, from Muʿāwiya (1) ibn ʿAmmār al-Dhahabī, who said:

I said to Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad, “They ask me concerning the Quran: Is it created or a creator?”

He replied, “It is neither a creator nor created; rather, it is the speech of Allah.”

Abū Zurʿa also narrated to us: Suwayd ibn Saʿīd narrated to us, from Muʿāwiya, and he related the same report.

My father narrated to us (2), saying: al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbāh narrated to us: Maʿbad narrated the same report.

ʿAbd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us in a letter he wrote to me, saying:

My father said (3), “I was also informed (4) of this hadith from Mūsā ibn Dāwud, from Maʿbad.” He said (5), “I met this Maʿbad, and there was nothing objectionable about him.” He spoke favorably of him (6), then said, “He used to issue fatwas according to the opinion of Ibn Abī Laylā.”

ʿAbd Allah, the client of al-Muhallab ibn Abī Sufra, narrated to us: ʿAlī ibn Ahmad ibn ʿAlī ibn Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad narrated to us, from his father, from his grandfather, from his brother Mūsā ibn Jaʿfar, who said:

My father [Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad] (7) was asked concerning the Quran, “Is it a creator or created?”

He replied, “Had it been a creator, it would have been worshipped; and had it been created, it would have come to an end.”

Many reports like these have been related from the Companions, the Followers, and the imams from the Prophet’s household (8),