Ibrahim ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bajuri was an Egyptian-Ottoman scholar and a rector of al-Azhar University. He lived between 1784 and 1860 Miladi and authored over 20 works and commentaries.
Al-Bajuri said in his commentary on al-Jawharah, p. 95, regarding the statement of al-Jawharah:
“So every text that indicates origination,
carry it upon the expression by which it has indicated.”
He said:
“And his statement, ‘upon the expression,’ meaning upon the Qur’an in the sense of the expression revealed to our Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, the recitation of which is an act of worship, and by the shortest surah of which [people] are challenged.
And the stronger position is that what was revealed was both the expression and the meaning.
And it was said: What was revealed was the meaning, and Jibril expressed it with expressions from himself.
And it was said: What was revealed was the meaning, and the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, expressed it with expressions from himself.
But the verified position is the first, because Allah created it first in the Preserved Tablet, then sent it down in pages to the lowest heaven, in a place called Bayt al-ʿIzzah, on the Night of Decree… Then He sent it down to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, gradually, according to the circumstances.”
Al-Bajuri said in his book Sharḥ Jawharat al-Tawḥīd, p. 94:
“The position of Ahl al-Sunnah is that the Qur’an in the meaning of the inner speech (kalām nafsī) is not created. As for the Qur’an in the meaning of the expression which we recite, then it is created.”
And al-Bajuri said, p. 95:
“However, it is prohibited to say: ‘The Qur’an is created,’ except in the context of teaching, as previously mentioned.”
I say:
Even what is written, preserved, read, and recited from the Book of Allah is the Speech of Allah and is not created.
And the expression is the Speech of Allah.
And the Speech of Allah is not created.
Al-Bajuri said in Sharḥ Jawharat al-Tawḥīd, p. 94:
“And is the Qur’an, in the sense of the recited expression, more excellent, or our master Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him?
Some of them relied upon what is narrated:
‘Every letter is better than Muhammad and the family of Muhammad.’
But its establishment is not verified.
The truth is that he, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is more excellent, because he is more excellent than every created thing, as is understood from the words of al-Jalāl al-Maḥallī concerning al-Burdah.
This is supported by the fact that it is the action of the reciter, and the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is more excellent than the reciter and all of his actions.
And the safer position is to refrain from such a matter, for it does not harm if the mind is empty of it.” (summarized from the Ḥāshiyah of al-Amīr)
Thus the accursed one innovated the statement that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, is more excellent than the Qur’an in the sense of the recited expression.
And the truth is that every attribute from the attributes of Allah is an attribute of absolute perfection; there is nothing whatsoever like it.
And was the Prophet’s religious knowledge anything other than that Allah granted it to him by revealing to him the Qur’an, with its expressions and its meanings, and the Sunnah?!
Indeed.
In response to his claim that the Qur’an is inner speech and that the expressions of the pages are not words with which Allah spoke, I say:
The word speech (kalām) in the language of the Arabs means the utterance from its source.
And Allah says:
“And if one of the polytheists seeks your protection, then grant him protection so that he may hear the Speech of Allah, then convey him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know.” (at Tawbah 9:6)
And inner speech without utterance does not mean speech in the language of the Arabs.
Allah, Most High, said to Zakariyyā:
“Your sign is that you will not speak to the people for three nights while sound.” (Maryam 19/10)
Then he went out to his people from the prayer chamber:
“and indicated to them that they should glorify [Allah] morning and evening.” (Maryam 19/11)
He did not call his gesture speech.
Likewise, the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said:
“Indeed Allah has pardoned my Ummah for what their souls whisper to themselves or what their souls speak within themselves, so long as they do not act upon it or speak it.” (Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
And he, sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, said to Muʿādh, radhiAllahu anhu:
“Hold back your tongue.”
He said:
“Will we really be held accountable for what we say?”
He replied:
“May your mother be bereaved of you! And what causes people to be thrown upon their faces — or upon their nostrils — except the harvests of their tongues?” (Sunan al-Tirmidhī, no. 2616)
And he said:
“When the imam says: ‘Nor of those who went astray,’ then say: ‘Āmīn.’” (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 782)
And he did not intend by that what is in the inner self.