Our aim in clarifying the truth and refuting those who deny it (1) will not become evident until we have set out several sections on the very nature (2) of speech and its observable reality. Once the objectives of those sections are clear, we shall return to our main purpose. Although this creed is brief, we have pledged to rely only on decisive proofs, and we have preferred to present it (3) in a manner different from what we have encountered (4) in the creeds of the leading imams (5). [This stipulation] (6) obliges us to devote a measure (7) of elaboration to the issue of speech, and so we now embark upon it.

He next discussed the formal definition of speech (8), then demonstrated that the “speaker” is the one in whom speech subsists, not merely the one who produces it (9). From that he concluded that speech must exist within Him, and he went on to say (10):

“Once this is established, it follows that it is impossible for it to be something originated, for proof has been given (11) of the impossibility of His accepting temporal events. After these (12) alternatives, nothing remains but the doctrine of the people of truth: that the Creator—exalted is He—is to be described as One who speaks with speech that is eternal, without beginning.”

He has thus shown that this conclusion rests on the impossibility of temporal events subsisting in Him, and he had