No God but One: Allah or Jesus?: A Former Muslim Investigates the Evidence for Islam and Christianity

by Nabeel Qureshi

That is why when al-Mamun declared the Quran to be a created book, he justified his proclamation by saying, “He who does not confess that the Quran is created has no belief in tawhid.” Those who believe in the eternality of the Quran, argued al-Mamun, are “the worst of the Muslims” and “the tongue of the devil.” He instituted their inquisition. Over the course of fifteen years and the reigns of three caliphs, Muslim thinkers in major cities who believed in the eternality of the Quran were interrogated, flogged, and threatened with execution because of their challenge to tawhid. One such man, Ahmad bin Nasr al-Khuzai, was brought before Caliph al-Wathiq, who questioned him about the Quran. When it became clear that Ahmad did not subscribe to its createdness but believed in its eternality, the caliph flew into a rage and personally decapitated him. Ahmad’s head was taken to Baghdad and displayed publicly as a warning to others who might be tempted to make the same mistake.