they said to him (1), “Describe for us the speech of your Lord.” He replied, “Subḥān Allah (Glory be to Allah)! How could I possibly describe it to you?!” They said, “Then give us a likeness of it (2).” He said, “Have you ever heard the thunderbolts (3) that come rolling in with the sweetest sound your ears have ever perceived? It is something like that.”

We said to the Jahmiyyah, “Who will be the one who says on the Day of Resurrection, ‘O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to the people, “Take me and my mother as two gods besides Allah”?’ (4) Is it not Allah Who will say this?” They answered, “Allah will bring something into being (5) that will express on behalf of Allah, just as He brought something (6) that expressed to Moses.” We said, “Then who is the one who says, ‘We shall surely question those to whom messengers were sent, and We shall surely question the messengers (6); then We shall recount to them with knowledge, and We were never absent (7)’—is it not Allah Who will do the questioning?” They said, “All of that will merely be something that speaks on behalf of Allah.”

We said, “You have committed a grave wrong against Allah: when you claimed that Allah does not speak you likened Him to the idols worshipped besides Allah, for idols neither speak, nor move (8), nor shift from one place to another.”

When the proof overcame him he said, “Indeed, Allah does speak (9), but His speech is created.” We replied (10), “So too the speech of the children of Adam—peace be upon him—is created; thus you have likened Allah, Exalted be He, to His creation when you alleged that His speech is created. According to your doctrine, there was a time when Allah did not speak until He created speech, and likewise the children of…"