an innovation, through their outward veneration of the physical copies and respecting them before the people... This is hypocrisy in the era of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, and it is heresy today, which is: outwardly showing agreement with the Muslims in their belief while inwardly harboring the opposite of that.
This is undoubtedly the condition of these people, for they are heretics without a doubt. There is no doubt that they outwardly show veneration for the physical copies to give the illusion that the Qur'an is in them, while inwardly believing that there is nothing in them except paper and ink. They outwardly show veneration for the Qur'an... while believing that it is the composition and expression of Gabriel. They outwardly show that Moses heard the speech of God from God, then they say: It is not with a voice. They say in their call to prayer and their prayers: "I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God," while believing that his message and prophethood were severed by his death, and that he is no longer the Messenger of God, but was only the Messenger of God during his lifetime.
The reality of their school of law is: There is no deity in the heaven, no Qur'an on the earth, and Muhammad is not the Messenger of God.
Among all the people of innovation, there is no one who outwardly displays the opposite of what they believe other than them, and those heretics who resemble them. End quote.
I say: This statement is explicitly declared by the imams of the Ash'arites in their books and commentaries, and among that is:
Ibn Fūrak said in Mushkil al-Ḥadīth (p. 404) while discussing the hadith of Ibn Masʿūd, May God be pleased with him: "When God speaks with revelation..." the hadith. He said: "The meaning of that refers to the expressions and indications that are the pathway to the speech, and by which His intent from it is understood. It does not mean that the Exalted's statement 'when God speaks with revelation' implies that speech is renewed for Him; rather, what is renewed is making it heard and understood by creating expressions and establishing indications by which the speech is understood. Then, by way of latitude and figurative usage, these expressions are called 'speech' inasmuch as they are indications of it." End quote.
Al-Qurṭubī said in Al-Mufhim fī Sharḥ Muslim (2/296) while explaining a hadith:
"In it is evidence for the people of the Sunna [meaning the Ash'arites] that there is speech and saying within the Self; thus, it is a refutation of those who denied that from the Mu'tazilites and the people of innovation." End quote.
