Ibn al-Bakka: The Quran is Made

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا رسول الله

Allah says:

اِنَّا جَعَلۡنٰہُ قُرۡءٰنًا عَرَبِیًّا لَّعَلَّکُمۡ تَعۡقِلُوۡنَ

We have made it an Arabic Quran, that you may comprehend

(Surah 43, Ayah 3)

Make is not synonymous with create. The Americans made Donald Trump their president, but they did not create him. Likewise, Allah made the Quran an Arabic text, but the Quran is not created, for it is the Word of Allah.

In the history of this Ummah there was a great tribulation known as the Mihnah. It was an inquisition instituted by the Abbasid ruler al-Mamun in 833 CE, and continued under his successors al-Mutasim and al-Wathiq, until it was ended under the righteous al-Mutawakkil in 851 CE.

Those three Abbasid rulers had fallen under the spell of the heretical Mutazilites, who persuaded them to begin an inquisition on the controversy of whether the Quran is created. A large number of Ulama and Imams were summoned to this inquisition and forced to confess the Quran is created. However, the great Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal, may Allah have mercy on him, stood firm and refused to confess the Mutazilite heresy, despite immense torture and lengthy imprisonment. For this reason the Sunni Muslims call him the Imam of Ahl us-Sunnah and consider him a Mujaddid.

One of the religious scholars summoned to the inquisition was Ibn al-Bakka al-Akbar:

فَأَمَّا ابْنُ الْبَكَّاءِ الْأَكْبَرُ فَإِنَّهُ قَالَ الْقُرْآنُ مَجْعُولٌ لِقَوْلِ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ إِنَّا جَعَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا وَالْقُرْآنُ مُحْدَثٌ لِقَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى مَا يَأْتِيهِمْ مِنْ ذِكْرٍ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ مُحْدَثٍ

قَالَ إِسْحَاقُ فَالْمَجْعُولُ مَخْلُوقٌ قَالَ نَعَمْ قَالَ وَالْقُرْآنُ مَخْلُوقٌ قَالَ لَا أَقُولُ مَخْلُوقٌ وَلَكِنَّهُ مَجْعُولٌ

As for Ibn al-Bakka al-Akbar, he said: “The Quran is majul [made]”, based on the words of Allah, the Exalted and Glorified: “Indeed, We have made it an Arabic Quran.” And “the Quran is muhdath [temporal], based on His words, the Most High: “No reminder comes to them anew from their Lord…”

Ishaq [bin Ibrahim] said: “So, that which is made is created?” He [Ibn al-Bakka] said: “Yes.” He [Ishaq] said: “And the Quran is created?” He [Ibn al-Bakka] said: “I do not say it is created, but rather that it is made.” (al-Kamil fit-Tarikh, p.934)

Walter M. Patton, who was a professor in the Wesleyan Theological College at Montreal, Canada, mentioned this incident about Ibn al-Bakka in his book Ahmed Ibn Hanbal and the Mihna published in 1897:

Though the reply of Ibn al-Bakka al-Akbar may be considered diplomatic in order to simultaneously affirm orthodoxy and avoid persecution, it is nonetheless a correct answer based purely on the Nass of the Quran. Who then can find fault with such an answer?

The truth is that prior to the emergence of the tribulation and heresy of the Mutazilah, none of the Muslims spoke on this matter, i.e., whether the Quran is created or uncreated. That we Sunni Muslims now say the Quran is uncreated was only in reaction to the heresy of the Mutazilites who insist on saying it is created. Hence, Ibn al-Bakka al-Akbar was content with merely sticking to affirming what is explicit from the Nass of the Quran itself, that it is made by Allah, without using the innovated terminology of “created” or “uncreated”.

And Allah and His Apostle know best!