قال قوام السنة التيمي رحمه الله في الحجة:
"من زعم أن القرآن أو بعضه، أو شيئا منه مخلوق؛ فلا يُشك فيه عندنا، وعند أهل العلم من أهل السنة والفضل والدين: أنه كافر كفراً انتقل به عن المِلّة ..
ومن شك في كفر من قال القرآن مخلوق بعد علمه، وبعد أن سمع من العلماء المرضيين ذلك فهو مثله"
Qîwām as-Sunnah at-Taymī (raḥimahullāh) said in al-Ḥujjah:
“Whoever claims that the Qur’ān — or any part of it, or anything from it — is created, then there is no doubt according to us and according to the people of knowledge from Ahl as-Sunnah, the virtuous, and the people of religion: that he is a kāfir with a kufr that takes him outside the Millah (the fold of Islām)...!!
And whoever doubts the kufr of the one who says ‘the Qur’ān is created’ after having knowledge of it, and after having heard that from the acceptable scholars, then he is like him.”
قلت: اطلاقه لتكفير الأول وتقيد الآخر بالسماع من العلماء (الذي هو بمعنى: معرفة مقالة الجهمي وما يلزم منها والحكم عليها) يدل على أن الحكم -أي تكفير الجهمي- على إطلاقه دون تفصيل، لأنه إذا ثم قيد للزم أن يذكر فالمقام مقام تفصيل، وإلا فكيف يُفصّل في الفرع ويُهمل الأصل؟¹
I(Hûdhāyfâh al-Hânbâlī)say: His unrestricted takfīr of the first person, while restricting the second to hearing from the scholars (which means: knowing the statement of the Jahmī, what it necessitates, and the ruling upon it) indicates that the ruling — i.e., the takfīr of the Jahmī — is unrestricted without detailing.
Because if there were a restriction, it would have been mentioned, as this is the place for detailing.
Otherwise, how can one detail the branch while neglecting the foundation? ¹
وقال "وَقَالَ غَيره: وَمن شكّ فِيهِ حَتَّى يقف بِالشَّكِّ فَهُوَ كَافِر لَا تصلوا خَلفه، وَلَا تَأْخُذُوا مِنْهُ الْعلم"
-أي: من شك في القرآن أهو مخلوق أم لا-
He also said: “And others said: Whoever doubts in it until he remains in doubt, then he is a kāfir. Do not pray behind him, and do not take knowledge from him.”— Meaning: whoever doubts whether the Qur’ān is created or not.
وهذا من أجلى النصوص في التكفير العيني منه -رحمه الله- للشاك الذي لم يجزم بمخلوقية القرآن!
This is among the clearest texts showing his (raḥimahullāh) specific (ʿaynī) takfīr of the one who doubts and has not decisively affirmed that the Qur’ān is created!
هذا وغيره من النصوص تبين غلط من نسب إلى السلف بدعة التفريق بين النوع والعين أو أن السلف لم يكفروا الأعيان وإنما حكموا على مقالتهم بالكفر وحسب، بل إني لا أشك بأن هذا لو ادرك زمان السلف لكان بينهم حقيراً مهجوراً منبوذاً كما كان حال من هو أجل منه وأخف بدعةً.
These texts and others clarify the error of those who attribute to the Salaf the innovation of differentiating between the general type (an-nawʿ) and the specific individual (al-ʿayn), or that the Salaf did not make takfīr of individuals but only ruled that their statements were kufr.
Indeed, I do not doubt that if this person had lived in the time of the Salaf, he would have been considered lowly, abandoned, and rejected among them — just as was the case with those greater than him and with lighter innovations.
¹_ This method of unrestrictedly declaring the Jahmī to be a kāfir, while detailing the ruling for the one who is hesitant, was not unique to al-Aṣbahānī (raḥimahullāh). Rather, a group of the Salaf used it, such as Aḥmad ibn Manīʿ, Abū Ḥātim, Abū Zurʿah ar-Rāzī, and others. This further strengthens the evidence.
