that they spoke 1 with a chest cavity and lips, 2 with a mouth and a tongue? Rather, it was Allah who made them speak as He willed—and, likewise, Allah speaks as He wills 3, without needing 4 a mouth, a tongue, or lips. 5
He went on: When the proofs pressed him hard, he said, 6 “Allah did speak to Moses, but His speech is something other than Himself.” We asked, “And is that ‘other’ created?” He replied, “Yes.” We responded, 7 “This is exactly the same claim you made at first; you are merely deflecting reproach from yourselves 8 by the wording you parade.”
And in the report of al-Zuhri 9: When Moses heard the speech of his Lord, he said, “My Lord, is this speech that I have heard truly Your speech?” He answered, “Yes, O Moses, it is My speech. I have spoken to you with the power of ten thousand tongues; I possess the power of every tongue, and I am mightier than that. 11 I spoke to you only according to what your body could bear, and had I spoken to you with more—”
(1) In al-Radd 'ala al-Jahmiyyah the phrase 'annaha nataqat' ('that she spoke') appears.
(2) 'wa-shafatayni' ('and the two lips') is omitted in al-Radd 'ala al-Jahmiyyah.
(3) The text in braces is an addition from al-Radd 'ala al-Jahmiyyah; I find the passage coherent with it.
(4) The text in braces is an addition I have made to render the passage coherent.
(5) In the ṭ edition: 'wa-shafatan' ('two lips'); in al-Radd 'ala al-Jahmiyyah: 'bijawfin wala famin wala shafatayni wala lisan' ('neither cavity, nor mouth, nor two lips, nor tongue').
(6) In the s edition: 'wa-qala' ('and said').
(7) In al-Radd 'ala al-Jahmiyyah: 'fa-qulna' ('so we said').
(8) In al-Radd 'ala al-Jahmiyyah: 'tadfa'una 'an anfusikum ash-shin'ah…' ('you repel the reproach from yourselves…').
(9) He is Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Muslim ibn Ubayd Allah ibn Abdullah ibn Shihab al-Qurashi al-Zuhri, the most learned of the huffaz. 'Amr ibn Dinar said: 'I have seen no one more faithful to hadith than al-Zuhri.' Imam Malik said: 'Ibn Shihab endures, and none in the world matches his excellence.' He was born in 50 AH (670 CE) and died in 124 AH (742 CE). See Ibn Naim, Hilyat al-Awliya’, vol. 3, pp. 360–381; al-Nawawi, Tahdhib al-Asma’ wa-l-Lughāt, vol. 1, pp. 390–392; al-Dhahabi, Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, vol. 1, pp. 108–113.
(10) 'al-kalam' ('the speech') is omitted in al-Radd 'ala al-Jahmiyyah.
(11) The text in parentheses is omitted in al-Radd 'ala al-Jahmiyyah.