Risala fi anna al-Quran ghayr makhluq
- Author died
- 285 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-‘Āṣimah lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Risala fi anna al-Quran ghayr makhluq (Treatise on the Quran Being Uncreated) is a short theological work attributed to the Baghdadi scholar and traditionist Ibrahim al-Harbi (198–285 AH / 813–898 CE), addressing the doctrine that the Quran is the uncreated speech of God .
Transmission and Content
The text opens with a chain of transmission through Abu al-Fath Ahmad ibn Umar ibn Sa'id ibn Maymun al-Juhari, who received it from Abu al-Fadl Ja'far ibn Idris al-Qazwini in Mecca in 352 AH, who read it directly to Ibrahim al-Harbi in Baghdad .
In the work, al-Harbi recounts sitting in the circle of Ahmad ibn Hanbal when a man inquired about those who asserted that human pronunciation of the Quran (al-lafz bi-l-Quran) is created . Ibn Hanbal responded that a worshipper approaches the Quran through five faculties, drawing a distinction between human actions and the divine text:
- The heart is created, but what is memorized (al-mahfuz) is uncreated.
- The recitation is created, but that which is recited (al-matluw) is uncreated.
- The hearing is created, but what is heard (al-masmu') is uncreated.
- The eyesight is created, but what is looked upon (al-manzur ilayh) is uncreated.
- The hand is created, but what is written (al-makhtub) is uncreated .
The text also records a dream related by al-Harbi following Ibn Hanbal's death, wherein he saw him adorned with green and white garments, a jewel-studded gold crown, and golden sandals . When asked what God had done with him, Ibn Hanbal replied that God forgave him and brought him close due to his stance that His speech is uncreated . Variant transmissions through other paths, such as that recorded by Abu Nasr al-Sijzi, record an additional query posed to Ibn Hanbal regarding an oath of divorce involving Quranic recitation instead of the dream account .
Manuscript and Publication
A known manuscript of the treatise is preserved at the library of Osmania University in Hyderabad, India (no. 499), where it forms the second treatise in a composite volume (majmu') . It spans six pages, with twelve lines per page, transcribed in Persian script by its owner, Ahmad Sa'id .
The treatise was edited by Ali ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Shibl and published in Majallat al-Buhuth al-Islamiyyah (volume 51), as well as in book form by Dar al-Asima in Riyadh (1416 AH / 1995 CE), where it was printed alongside Ahmad ibn Hanbal's epistle to the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil on the issue of the Quran .
Answer updated