I said: Imam Aḥmad used as proof what the angels heard of the revelation when Allah spoke it, as is confirmed by numerous transmitted reports (1). They heard the sound of the revelation and therefore exclaimed, “What has your Lord said?” (2); they did not say, “What has your Lord created?” This makes it clear that Allah’s speaking the revelation whose sound they heard is His very speech, not something He created. Al-Bukhārī—the author of the Ṣaḥīḥ—used the same wording, whether he received it from Aḥmad, from someone else, or happened upon it independently. He recorded it in the Ṣaḥīḥ (3) and in the treatise “The Creation of Acts” (4). In the Ṣaḥīḥ, at the end, in the “Book of Refutation of the Jahmiyyah” (5), he opened a chapter under the verse:

“Intercession will be of no benefit with Him except for those to whom He grants permission; and when the dread is lifted from their hearts, they will ask, ‘What has your Lord said?’ They will answer, ‘The truth,’ and He is the Most High, the All-Great.” (6)

He added, “They did not say, ‘What has your Lord created?’” (7). He also cited the verse:

“Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission?” (8).

He (9) then reported that Masrūq related from Ibn Masʿūd (10): “When Allah speaks revelation, the inhabitants of the heavens hear something; and when the dread is lifted from their hearts and the sound subsides, they realize that it is …”