of bodies, nor letters {136}
which are separated by the joining together of the lips or the motion
of the tongue. The Quran, the Law, the Gospel and the Psalter are books
sent down by Him to His Apostles, and the Quran, indeed, is read with
tongues written in books, and is kept in hearts; yet, as subsisting in
the essence of God, it doth not become liable to separation and
division whilst it is transferred into the hearts and on to paper. Thus
Moses also heard the word of God without voice or letter, even as the
saints behold the essence of God without substance or accident."

The orthodox believe that God is really a speaker: the Mutazilites deny
this, and say that He is only called a speaker because He is the originator
of words and sounds.

They also bring the following objections to bear against the doctrine of
the eternity of the Quran. (1) It is written in Arabic, it descended, is
read, is heard, and is written. It was the subject of a miracle. It is
divided into parts and some verses are abrogated by others. (2) Events are
described in the past tense, but if the Quran had been eternal the future
tense would have been used. (3) The Quran contains commands and
prohibitions; if it is eternal who were commanded and who were admonished?
(4) If it has existed from eternity it must exist to eternity, and so even
in the last day, and in the next world, men will be under the obligation of
performing the same religious duties as they do now, and of keeping all the
outward precepts of the law. (5) If the Quran is eternal, then there are
two eternals.

The position thus assailed was not at first a hard and fast dogma of Islam.
It was more a speculative opinion than anything else, but the opposition of
the Mutazilites soon led all who wished to be considered orthodox to become
not only stout assertors of the eternity of the Quran, but to give up their
lives in defence of what they believed to be true. The Mutazilites by
asserting the subjective nature of the Quranic inspiration brought the book
itself within the reach of criticism. This was too much for orthodox Islam
to bear even though the Khalif Mamun in the {137} year 212 A.H. issued a
fatva declaring that all who asserted the eternity of the Quran were guilty
of heresy. Some six years after this, the Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal was
severely beaten, and then imprisoned because he refused to assent to the
truth of the decree issued by the Khalif.