from their innate recognition that the speaker is the one in whom speech subsists and by which he is characterized; likewise, the lover and the willing agent are those in whom love and will reside, just as the All-Knowing (1) [and the All-Powerful] (2) is the One in whom knowledge and power subsist.
Yet they maintained (3) that Allah possesses no speech except what is made to exist in something other than Himself—such as the tree—so it necessarily follows that the tree itself would be the speaker of the words with which Allah addressed Moses. For this reason (4) ʿAbd Allah ibn al-Mubarak said: “Whoever says that the statement, ‘Indeed, I am Allah; there is no deity but Me,’ is created is a disbeliever; no created being should claim such a thing.”
The true implication of their view is that a created entity is the one uttering those words.
Likewise, (5) Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Qattan (6), when told that some people say, “The Quran is created,” replied, “What will they do (7) with the verse: ‘Say: He is Allah…’”
“…what I have made lawful for them, and I commanded them to associate partners with Me in what I have not revealed any authority…" Hadith.
See Sahih Muslim, vol. 4, p. 2197 (Book of Paradise and the Description of its Delight and its Inhabitants – “Attributes by Which the People of Paradise and the People of Hell are Known”), Hadith 63.
(1) The term al-ʻAlim (the All-Knowing) is repeated in the original text.
(2) The words enclosed in brackets are a later addition in manuscripts S and T to make the passage coherent.
(3) The word “Innahu” (“Indeed He”) is omitted in manuscripts S and T.
(4) Reported by al-Bukhari in Kitab Khalaq Af‘al al-‘Ibad (On the Creation of the Servants’ Actions), p. 31, from Ibn Muqatil, who said: “I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say…”.
(5) Reported by al-Bukhari in Kitab Khalaq Af‘al al-‘Ibad, p. 33, from Abu al-Walid, who said: “I heard Yahya.”
(6) He is Abu Sa‘id Yahya b. Sa‘id b. Furukh al-Qattan, known in hadith circles as “Commander of the Faithful.” Ibn Sa‘d describes him as “trustworthy, reliable, and of high standing,” and Imam Ahmad said: “I have never seen anyone like Yahya b. Sa‘id.” He was born in 120 AH and died in Basra in 198 AH. See Ibn Sa‘d, al-Tabaqat al-Kubra, vol. 7, p. 293; Ibn Abi Hatim, al-Jarh wa al-Ta‘dil, vol. 4 (pt. 2), pp. 150–151; al-Dhahabi, Siyar A‘lam al-Nubala’, vol. 9, pp. 175–188.
(7) In Kitab Khalaq Af‘al al-‘Ibad: “tasna‘un” (“you do”).