of the Throne is not the same as the meaning of the Verse of Debt, and that the meaning of “Perish the hands of Abû Lahab” (111:1) is not identical to the meaning of Sûrat al-Ikhlâṣ.

If we render the Torah into Arabic, it does not thereby become the Arabic Qur’an brought by Muḥammad; and if we translate the Qur’an into Hebrew, it does not thereby become the Torah of Moses.

The assertion voiced by some of you—that it is made up of letters, or of letters and sounds that are without beginning—is patently unsound. Letters follow one another in sequence: one precedes the next, and whatever is preceded by something else cannot be beginningless and eternal. A particular sound does not remain for two successive moments, so how could it possibly be pre-eternal?

None of the early generations nor the leading imams ever held your view. Rather, they affirmed that Allah spoke the Qur’an and the other revealed scriptures, and that He called out to Moses with a voice that Moses heard with his own ears, as the texts plainly indicate. Yet none of them said that the very call Moses heard is itself eternal without beginning. They only said that Allah has always been One who speaks whenever He wills and however He wills, for speech is an attribute of perfection, not of deficiency; and it is an attribute of perfection only when it inheres in Him, not when it is something created and detached from Him. A being is qualified only by what subsists in him: one is not truly living, knowing, able, speaking, merciful, or willing through a life, knowledge, power, speech, mercy, or will that exists outside of him.

Speech that occurs by the speaker’s will and power is more perfect than speech that does not. As for speech that subsists in the speaker’s Essence yet is unconnected to his will and power, it is either impossible