{"_id":"6ac548d0277dc64b0a5390ea","title":"{\"format\":\"prosemirror\",\"schemaVersion\":1,\"doc\":{\"type\":\"doc\",\"content\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null},\"content\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"text\":\"What was Imam Ahmad’s position on the Qur’an being uncreated and human recitation being created?\"}]}]}}","question":"{\"format\":\"prosemirror\",\"schemaVersion\":1,\"doc\":{\"type\":\"doc\",\"content\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null},\"content\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"text\":\"A statement attributed to Imam Ahmad says that when he was asked about someone who says the Qur’an is created, he called that person a kafir, and when asked about someone who says, “My recital of the Qur’an is created,” he called that person a Jahmi innovator.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null}},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null},\"content\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"text\":\"How should this narration be understood? Did Imam Ahmad distinguish between the Qur’an as the uncreated speech of Allah and a person’s recitation of it, and can we determine precisely what he meant by statements concerning “lafz” (utterance/wording)?\"}]}]}}","answer":"{\"format\":\"prosemirror\",\"schemaVersion\":1,\"doc\":{\"type\":\"doc\",\"content\":[{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null},\"content\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"text\":\"A sincere piece of advice for you and for anyone reading this: we do not take our religion from isolated statements passed around online, no matter who they are attributed to. Islam is transmitted through a structured, rigorous scholarly tradition — chains of transmission, verified texts, and centuries of scholarship built on top of each other — not through scattered quotes lifted out of context and used as ammunition. Please don't let anyone throw an isolated narration at you and expect you to build your creed on it. That approach is chaos, and it plays directly into the hands of those who want to divide the Ummah over questions that were rehashed and reopened long after they'd been closed.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null}},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null},\"content\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"text\":\"As for the narration you quoted: the historical reality is that Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal never articulated a developed theological position on the fine points of this question. Under interrogation during the Mihna, his consistent answer was simply that the Qur'an is the speech of Allah and it is uncreated; and he refused to be drawn further than that. He did not explain in technical terms what he meant by \\\"lafz\\\" (utterance/wording), nor did he spell out any distinction between Allah's speech as an attribute and its manifestation in human recitation. \"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null}},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null},\"content\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"text\":\"Because of this, we simply do not know with certainty what Imam Ahmad intended by every term in these reports. To take a short, ambiguous statement like this and present it as settling a technical theological debate he never explained is not honest scholarship, it's putting words in his mouth. The most honest thing we can do is either leave his statements as they are, without imposing a later framework on them, or interpret them cautiously in line with how mainstream Sunni scholarship later understood this issue, but not claim certainty about exactly what he meant.\"}]},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null}},{\"type\":\"paragraph\",\"attrs\":{\"quillTerminated\":true,\"direction\":null},\"content\":[{\"type\":\"text\",\"text\":\"My advice to you: don't chase these centuries-old, largely settled debates through fragments found online, especially when they're being used to divide the Muslims. Seek out a qualified teacher and structured classes on 'aqidah with a real chain of learning, and build your understanding brick by brick rather than statement by statement. That is how this religion has always been preserved.\"}]}]}}","tags":[{"_id":"668d9fef0b76658b4c232988","tag":"Quran: Other","count":59},{"_id":"668d9fe70b76658b4c23288e","tag":"Knowledge: Scholars","count":27},{"_id":"691f3b2aea251b8dbadce928","tag":"Aqeedah: Other","count":7}],"createdOn":"2026-10-06T19:15:28.515Z"}