the messengers?’ (1) Is it not Allah who will pose the question?

They replied, ‘All of this simply means that (2) Allah brings into being (3) something that speaks on behalf of Allah.’

We said, ‘You have perpetrated (4) a tremendous falsehood against Allah (5) when you claimed that Allah does not speak, thereby likening Him to the idols that are worshipped apart from Allah, for idols neither speak nor move, nor do they shift (6) from (7) one place to another.

When the proof overcame him, he said, “I now say that Allah does (8) speak, but His speech is created.”

We responded, ‘Likewise, the words of the children of Adam are created—so you have likened Allah, blessed and exalted, to His creation when you alleged that His speech is created (9). According to your doctrine, then, there was a time when Allah did not speak until He created speech, and likewise the children of Adam did not speak until He created (10) speech for them. Thus (11) you have combined disbelief with anthropomorphism; highly exalted (12) is Allah above such an attribution. Rather, we affirm (13) that Allah—magnified be His praise—has never ceased to speak whenever He wills, and we do not say that He once existed without speaking until He created speech (14), nor do we say that He…"}