Fatwa

  1. Fatwa
  2. Islamic Creed
  3. Tawheed al-Asma'a was-Sifat (Divine Names and Attributes)
  4. Deviant attitudes towards Allah's Names and Attributes

Quran is the Word of Allaah, it is not created
Fatwa No: 122436

Question

Assalam Alaicum Imam Ahmad has recorded that ‘Ubayy bin Ka’b radhiyallahu anhu said that Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasalam asked him about the greatest verse in the Book of Allah, and he answered, ‘Allah and His Messenger know better.’ When Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasalam repeated his question several times, ‘Ubayy said, ‘Ayah Al-Kursi.’ Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasalam commented, ‘Congratulations for having being blessed with knowledge, O Abu Al-Mundhir! By Him in whose control is my soul! This verse has a tongue and two lips with which it praises the King (Allah) next to the pillar of the Allah’s Throne.’ (Muslim and Ahmad) Does this not show that Quran is Maqlooq ?

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. 

It is not correct to deduce from this Prophetic narration that the Quran is created; all what it means is that Allaah is capable of changing something from the state of immaterial to material. This does not negate that its origin is immaterial. For example, death is not perceivable, yet on the Day of Resurrection, it will be changed to material state and it will be presented to people in the form of a sheep.

 

In his commentary on “At-Tahaawiyyah”, Ibn Abu Al-‘Izz elaborated on this issue and gave many examples:

“"Death is an existing reality (not only a virtual one) contrarily to the view of the philosophers and those who are of their opinion.”; Allaah Says (what means): {[He] Who created death and life to test you [as to] which of you is best in deed} [Quran 67:2]. Something that does not exist is not described as being created. It is reported in a Prophetic narration, that on the Day of Resurrection death will be changed to material state and will be presented in the form of a sheep, and it will be slaughtered between Paradise and Hellfire. Even though death is immaterial and non-perceivable, Allaah will turn it into something tangible and perceivable.
It is also reported by the Prophet that a good deed will (physically) come to its doer as a handsome young man, and a bad deed will come to its doer in the worst of images.
The Prophet informed that the Quran will come in the form of a pale man. This means that the "Quranic recitation" of a person will come in that form (reflecting his paleness of the person that resulted from his lack of sleep due to him reciting it frequently). 
It is reported by the Prophet that actions will be weighed on a scale. It is known that only tangible and perceivable things can be weighed and not the non-tangible things.
It is reported by the Prophet that on the Day of Judgment Chapters Al-Baqarah [the Cow- Quran 2] and [Aal ‘Imraan Quran 3]  will shade those who used to recite them (in this worldly life) like two clouds or two flocks of birds in ranks.
It is reported in an authentic Prophetic narration that the actions of people ascend to the sky” [End of quote].

Finally, it is indeed confirmed in authentic narrations that the Quran is the Words of Allaah and is not created, and the scholars made it very clear.

 

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 91359 and 92244.

 

Allaah Knows best.

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