for this to be what is intended by the words “speech,” “utterance,” “command,” and “prohibition,” whose wording and meaning are among the best-known concepts to both laypeople and scholars. It is therefore clear that what you have asserted is unquestionably false.

Twenty-sixth argument:
You maintain that Allah’s speech, consisting of commands, prohibitions, and informative statements, is established (1) by consensus and by mutawātir transmission (2) from the prophets, peace be upon them. Yet it is well known that this particular notion (3) which you claim to be the meaning of Allah’s speech did not appear in the Muslim community until the rise of Ibn Kullab and, after him, al-Ashʿari. Before Ibn Kullab’s view (4) (5) no one in the ummah is known (6) to have interpreted Allah’s speech in such a way.

Accordingly, when al-Ashʿari listed the various positions people held concerning the Qur’an, he mentioned many opinions (7) but attributed this one only to Ibn Kullab, giving it a separate heading and declaring (8): “This is the view of ʿAbdullah ibn Kullab.”

ʿAbdullah ibn Kullab said: “Allah has never ceased to be speaking, and Allah’s speech is an attribute…"