Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad

The Createdness of the Qur’an
 
 
In the time of Abu Hanifa, people began to spread among the Muslims the idea that the Qur’an was 
created. They claimed that it was created even though it was the greatest miracle of the Prophet, may Allah 
bless him and grant him peace. The first person to state this was al-Ja‘d ibn Dirham who was executed by 
Khalid ibn ‘Abdullah, the governor of Khorasan. This opinion was also held by al-Jahm ibn Safwan. Abu 
Hanifa’s opponents claimed that he too held this opinion and that he was twice asked to repent of it, first by 
Yusuf ibn ‘Umar, the Umayyad governor of Iraq, and then by Ibn Abi Layla. 
It is not our habit to set aside a well-founded suspicion or an opinion based on evidence, but the 
transmissions which are related in support of this opinion make us hesitate to accept it because they originate 
with his opponents and because there are other contradictory reports related by reliable transmitters which are 
more likely to be correct because they are in keeping with what is known about his positions on dogma. In this 
respect, we will mention two sources. 
We read in the 
History of Baghdad
: “As for the assertion that the Qur’an was created, Abu Hanifa did not 
espouse it.” It also states, “Neither Abu Hanifa, Abu Yusuf, Zafar, or Ahmad spoke about the Qur’an. Those 
who spoke about it were Bishr al-Marishi and Ibn Abi Du’ad. They vilified the followers of Abu Hanifa.” 
According to 
al-Intiqa’
, Abu Yusuf said, “A man came to the Kufa mosque one Friday to ask them about 
the Qur’an while Abu Hanifa was away in Makka. People disagreed about it. By Allah, I think he must have 
been a shaytan in human guise who came to our circle just to ask us about it. We questioned one another and 
could not answer. We said, ‘Our shaykh is not present and we dislike to speak out before he does so. When 
Abu Hanifa returned, we asked him about this question and what was the answer regarding it.É His reply 
about it was, ‘We do not say anything about it. We fear to say anything.’ He later said to us, ‘Do not discuss it 
and do not ever ask about it.’”