• al-Bayjūrī said in his Sharḥ Jawharat al-Tawḥīd: "The school of law of the people of the Sunna [meaning the Ash'arites] is that the Qurʾān, in the sense of internal speech, is not created. As for the Qurʾān in the sense of the wording that we recite, it is created. However, it is prohibited to say 'the Qurʾān is created' intending the wording that we recite, except in the context of teaching; because it might give the illusion that the Qurʾān, in the sense of His speech, Exalted is He, is created. For this reason, the Imams refrained from saying that the Qurʾān is created." End quote.

The senior later Imams among them have explicitly stated that the disagreement between them and the Mu'tazilites regarding the Qurʾān is merely a verbal disagreement. Were it not for the fear of lengthening the discussion, I would have quoted their statements on that.

The Imams of the Sunna have declared as disbelievers those who deny the reality of the speech of God Almighty and say that the Qurʾān is an expression and a quotation of the speech of God, and that it is not with letter and sound, even if they outwardly say that it is the speech of God by way of camouflage and deception, for what matters are realities, not names.

Among those who explicitly declared the disbelief of whoever believes that the Qurʾān is an expression and a quotation of the speech of God Almighty are:

1. Ibn Baṭṭa, may God have mercy on him, in al-Ibāna al-Kubrā (2214), where he said: "Know, may God have mercy on you, that a faction of the Jahmīs believed, through the deceit of their hearts, the wickedness of their opinions, and the ugliness of their desires, that the Qurʾān is created. So they alluded to that with an innovation they invented, as a camouflage and deception for the common people, so that their disbelief would be hidden and their heresy obscured from those whose knowledge is little and whose nature is weak. They said: 'The Qurʾān which God spoke and said is the uncreated speech of God, but this which we recite and read with our tongues and write in our copies of the Qurʾān is not the Qurʾān which is the speech of God; this is a quotation of that, so what we recite is a quotation of that.'" End quote.

2. al-Lālikāʾī, may God have mercy on him, in Iʿtiqād Ahl al-Sunna (2/330), where he said: "The context of what is indicated by the verses from the Book of God Almighty and what is narrated from the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, the Companions, and the Successors, that God spoke the Qurʾān literally, and that He revealed it to Muḥammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, and commanded him to challenge with it and to call people to it, and that it is the Qurʾān literally, recited in the prayer niches, written in the copies of the Qurʾān, preserved in the chests of men, not a quotation nor an expression of a Qurʾān, and it is