Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh Abū Jaʿfar al-Baghdādī told us: I heard Abū Zakariyyā Yaḥyā ibn Yūsuf al-Zimmī say,
“We were with ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs when a man entered and asked, ‘Abū Muḥammad, what is your opinion of people who claim that the Qur’an is created?’
He replied, ‘Are they Jews?’
‘No.’
‘Christians?’
‘No.’
‘Magians?’
‘No.’
‘Then who …?’
‘They say they are people of tawḥīd (pure monotheism).’
He said, ‘These are not people of tawḥīd; they are zanādiqah (heretics). Whoever claims the Qur’an is created has claimed that Allah Himself is created. Allah says, “In the name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful” (al-Fātiḥah 1). Allah is not created, the Most Compassionate is not created, the Most Merciful is not created. This is the very root of zandaqa. Whoever says this is under the curse of Allah—do not sit with them, do not marry among them.’
Wahb ibn Jarīr said, ‘The Jahmiyyah are heretics; their real aim is to deny that He established Himself over the Throne.’
Yazīd ibn Hārūn swore by Allah, besides Whom there is no god: ‘Whoever says, “The Qur’an is created,” is a zindiq; he must be ordered to repent, and if he refuses he is to be executed.’
Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh was told that some people in Baghdad were saying the Qur’an is created. He said, ‘Woe to you! Who said this? Upon whoever says the Qur’an is created is the curse of Allah; he is a disbelieving zindiq. Do not sit with them.’ ⦗31⦘
Al-Thawrī said, ‘Whoever says the Qur’an is created is a disbeliever.’
Ḥammād ibn Zayd said, ‘The Qur’an is the speech of Allah, brought down by Gabriel; their only argument is to deny that there is a God above the heaven.’
Ibn Muqātil reported: I heard Ibn al-Mubārak say, ‘Whoever claims that the verse “Indeed, I am Allah; there is no deity except Me” (Tā Hā 14) is created is a disbeliever; no creature should dare say such a thing.’
He also recited (in al-Baḥr al-Basīṭ metre):
I will never embrace what Jahm asserted, for his word
at times resembles outright idolatry;
Nor will I claim that the Lord of mankind
abandoned creation and entrusted it to Satan.
Not even Pharaoh, in his arrogance, declared a thing so vile—
not the Pharaoh of Moses nor the Pharaoh of Hāmān.
Ibn al-Mubārak further said, ‘We do not say, as the Jahmiyyah do, that He is here on earth; rather, He established Himself upon the Throne.’ He was asked, ‘How do you know our Lord?’ He replied, ‘Above His heavens, upon His Throne.’ And he said to one of them, ‘Do you imagine that you are empty of Him?’—and the man was dumbfounded.
He also said, ‘Whoever says that the words lā ilāha illā Huwa (“There is no deity except Him”) are created is a disbeliever. We can quote the speech of Jews and Christians, yet we cannot bring ourselves to quote the speech of the Jahmiyyah.’
Muʿāwiyah ibn ʿAmmār said: I heard Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad affirm, ‘The Qur’an is the speech of Allah and is not created.’
Saʿīd ibn ʿĀmir declared, ‘The Jahmiyyah have a worse doctrine than the Jews and Christians. Jews, Christians, and all adherents of religion agree that Allah is upon the Throne, whereas they say, “There is nothing upon the Throne.”’
Ḍamrah related from Ibn Shawdhab: ‘Jahm abandoned the prayer for forty days out of doubt; some of the Sumaniyyah debated him, he became unsure, and for forty days he did not pray.’ Ḍamrah added, ‘Ibn Shawdhab himself saw him.’ ⦗32⦘
ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī Salamah said, ‘Jahm’s discourse is an attribute without meaning, a structure without foundation, and he has never been counted among the scholars.’
Jahm was once asked about a man who divorced his wife before consummation; he ruled, ‘She must observe the waiting-period (ʿiddah).’ In his ignorance he contradicted the Book of Allah, for Allah the Exalted says, “You have no waiting-period to reckon for them” (al-Aḥzāb 49).
ʿAlī said, ‘Those who say that Allah has a child are more disbelieving than those who say Allah does not speak.’ He warned, ‘Beware of al-Marīsī and his followers, for their speech breeds heresy. I debated their teacher Jahm, and he could not establish for me that there is a God above the heaven.’
Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Uways used to call them “the heretics of Iraq.” Asked whether he had heard anyone say the Qur’an is created, he replied, ‘By Allah, they are heretics! I fled to Yemen when I heard al-ʿAbbās discussing this in Baghdad—fleeing from such speech.’
ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan said: I heard Ibn Muṣʿab state, ‘The Jahmiyyah have disbelieved in many passages of the Book of Allah—such as their claim that Paradise will perish. Allah says, “Indeed, this is Our provision, which shall never be exhausted” (Ṣād 54); whoever says it will end has disbelieved. He says, “Its fruit is everlasting, and so is its shade” (al-Raʿd 35); whoever denies its permanence has disbelieved. He says, “uninterrupted and unwithheld” (al-Wāqiʿah 33); whoever says it will cease has disbelieved. He says, “a gift unceasing” (Hūd 108); whoever says it will come to an end has disbelieved. Inform the Jahmiyyah that they are disbelievers and that their wives are divorced.’
Ibn al-Mubārak narrated from ʿUmar, from Qatādah regarding, “and His word which He cast to Mary” (al-Nisāʾ 171): he said, ‘It is His saying, “Be,” and it is.’
Ibn Maʿdān said: I asked al-Thawrī about the verse, “He is with you wherever you are”; he answered, ‘By His knowledge.’ ⦗33⦘
Abū al-Walīd said: I heard Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd—when told that some people claim the Qur’an is created—remark, ‘What will you do with: “Say: He is Allah, One” (al-Ikhlāṣ 1)? What will you do with His words: “Indeed, I am Allah; there is no deity except Me” (Tā Hā 14)?’
ʿAffān said, ‘Whoever says that “Say: He is Allah, One” is created is a disbeliever.’
ʿAlī ibn ʿAbd Allāh declared, ‘The Qur’an is the speech of Allah; whoever says it is created is a disbeliever, and one may not pray behind him.’
Wakīʿ said, ‘Whoever rejects the ḥadīth transmitted by Ismāʿīl, from Qays, from Jarīr, from the Prophet ﷺ concerning the Vision is a Jahmite—beware of him.’
Abū al-Walīd also said, ‘Whoever says the Qur’an is created is a disbeliever, and whoever is not firmly convinced that the Qur’an is uncreated has departed from Islam.’ Abū ʿAbd Allāh commented, ‘I have examined the statements of the Jews, Christians and Magians, and I have not found anyone more astray in their unbelief than these people. I regard as ignorant anyone who does not declare them disbelievers—except one who does not know their unbelief.’
ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAffān reported: In the year al-Marīsī was flogged it was mentioned before Sufyān ibn ʿUyaynah. Ibn ʿUyaynah rose angrily and said, ‘Woe to you! The Qur’an is the speech of Allah. I have kept company with the scholars and met them: here is ʿAmr ibn Dīnār, here is Ibn al-Munkadir …’—until they mentioned Manṣūr, al-Aʿmash and Misʿar ibn Kidām—‘all of them spoke against iʿtizāl, rafḍ and qadar and told us to shun such people. We know the Qur’an only as the speech of Allah; whoever says otherwise is under the curse of Allah. How much this resembles the doctrine of the Christians! Do not sit with them, nor listen to their talk.’
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad said: I heard Ibn ʿUyaynah—when al-Marīsī was mentioned—mock him, saying, ‘What does that little creature say? What does that little creature say?’ He added: I heard Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd remark, ‘That vile man came and asked me about a ḥadīth; had I known his views I would never have narrated it to him.’