Qur’ân al kerîm is the Word of Allahu ta’âlâ

The eleventh distich of Qasîda Amâlî reads as follows: “The Qur’ân al-kerîm is the Word of Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is not a creature, i.e. something created afterwards. It is an Attribute of the Dhât-iilâhî.” Ahmad Âsim Efendi explains it as follows: The Qur’ân alkerîm is the meanings that come out of the words and sounds. The words and sounds themselves are not the Kalâm-i-ilâhî (the Word of Allah). Likewise, our speech is in our heart. Our words are its translation into the world of tangibility. Perfection and superiority of every living being lies in its attribute of speech. A living being without speech is imperfect. Since Allâhu ta’âlâ also is a living being, He must have the attribute ‘speech’. All prophets and heavenly books taught the belief that Allâhu ta’âlâ has the Attribute ‘Speech’. The word and the sound which Mûsâ (Moses) ‘alaihis-salâm’ heard from the tree was the Kalâm-i-ilâhî. Yet a hâfiz’s, a person reading or reciting the Qur’ân al-kerîm, voice is not the Kalâm-i-ilâhî. The meanings it represents are the Kalâm-i-ilâhî. Allâhu ta’âlâ hears creatures’ speech without letters and sounds. He revealed His Speech, which is letterless and soundless, in the Arabic language. It did not make any changes in the Kalâm-i-ilâhî. A person wears various clothes and appears in various guises, yet he himself does not change at all. The Speech of Allâhu ta’âlâ, unlike the speech of creatures, does not need words and sounds. However, to change or translate the words and sounds (through which the Speech of Allâhu ta’âlâ is revealed) means to change and defile the Kalâm-i-ilâhî (Word, or Speech of Allâhu ta’âlâ). The Qur’ân al-kerîm is committed to these words and sounds. Allâhu ta’âlâ Himself placed His Speech into these words and sounds.

The Qur’ân al-kerîm was written also in Lawh-il-mahfûz in the same words in a state that we are not familiar with. It was not a creature. (The Archangel named) Jebrâîl ‘alaihis-salâm’ revealed it to our master, the Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’, sometimes saying the message softly in lettered and vocal susurration into his blessed ear, (in a nature tasted and enjoyed, and therefore known, only by the blessed Darling of Allâhu ta’âlâ,) and sometimes planting it into his heart in the form of lettered but voiceless inspiration. It is not the case that the meanings were “inspired into his heart without words and Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, an Arabic-speaking person, translated the Kalâm-i-ilâhî into these words and sounds.” Yes, there was also Wahy that was inspired in this manner. That is, the Kalâm-iilâhî was (sometimes) inspired into his blessed heart and he rendered the inspired meanings into certain locutions and uttered them. These utterances, whose meanings were inspired by Allâhu ta’âlâ and words and sounds were articulated by Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, were termed hadîth-i-qudsî. The Qur’ân al-kerîm should not be mistaken for the (prophetic utterances called) hadîth-i-qudsî. The Kalâm-i-lafzî, which is (the Kalâm-i-ilâhî) in words and sounds, is the same as the Kalâm-i-nafsî, which is (the Kalâm-i-ilâhî) without words and sounds. ’Ilm (Knowledge) and Kalâm (Speech, Word) are two distinct Attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ. The Qur’ân al-kerîm is not the Attribute Knowledge; it is the Attribute Speech.

Imâm Rabbânî, Mujaddid-i-alf-i-thânî, Ahmad bin Abdul-ahad Fârûqî ‘quddisa sirruh’ provides the following information in the eighty-ninth letter of the third volume of his book Maktûbât: “Imâm a’zam Abû Hanîfa and Imâm Abû Yusûf ‘rahimahumallâhu ta’âlâ’ discussed the matter whether the Qur’ân al-kerîm was a creature or not for six months between themselves, and did not reach a settlement. After the sixth month, they reached a consensus and said unanimously that a person who said that the Qur’ân al-kerîm was a creature would become a disbeliever. The letters, words and sounds which represent the Kalâm-i-nafsî and express the Kalâm-i-lafzî are definitely creatures, i.e. things that were created afterwards. Of all creatures, the letters and words of the Qur’ân al-kerîm are the closest to Allâhu ta’âlâ and therefore the most valuable. As for the Kalâm-ilafzî and the Kalâm-i-nafsî; they are azalî and qadîm (eternal in the future and [everlasting] in the past).” The blessed scholar, (i.e. Imâm Rabbânî,) gives detailed information on this issue in the hundredth and the hundred and twentieth letters.