—such as Labid ibn Rabiʿah’s famous line:

alā kullu shayʾin mā khalā Allāha bāṭilun
“Indeed, everything apart from Allah is worthless.”

This, and whatever resembles it, is Labid’s own speech. When we refer to it, we are pointing to the discourse itself—its meanings, its composition, and its very letters—not to anything peculiar to the one who conveys it, such as his motions or his voice, nor even to the voice or action of the original author.

The mere fact that a living being moves or makes a sound is a trait shared by both the articulate and the mute; it is not, in itself, a defining quality of speech. What truly distinguishes the articulate speaker from the inarticulate is the meanings that reside within him and the matching verbal form composed of letters arranged into segmented sounds.

This distinctive feature belongs solely to the one who actually utters the words, not to the one from whom the words are transmitted; the transmitter’s role is only to deliver.

Hence, if someone were to recite Labid’s line—

alā kullu shayʾin mā khalā Allāha bāṭilun—

and then claim, “That is my poem, my own words,” merely because he recited it in his own voice, people would accuse him of lying. Likewise, were he to say, “What I have just recited is something like Labid’s poem,” people would still reject his claim, saying, “Rather, it is Labid’s very poem; you have only conveyed it in your voice.”