Sixty-seventh point:

Some of their later scholars (1) have argued that it is possible for His speech to consist of a single utterance, relying on what their so-called “Imam,” Fakhr al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Rāzī, said:

“Since al-Bārī—subḥānahu (the Creator—glorified be He) possesses one single knowledge that encompasses the totality of the infinite things that can be known, why should it not be possible for Him to convey, by a single report, information about an unlimited number of matters? Let us give an illustration (2) of this.

Imagine a man who says to one of his servants, ‘Whenever I say, “Strike,” strike so-and-so.’ He says to the second (3), ‘Whenever I say, “Strike so-and-so,” then do not speak to so-and-so.’ He says to the third, ‘Whenever I say, “Strike so-and-so,” (5) inquire about so-and-so.’ And he says to the fourth, ‘Whenever I say, “Strike,” inform me about such-and-such a matter.’

When all the servants stand before him, he then says simply, ‘Strike.’ This single word, for the first servant, is a command; for the second, a prohibition; for the third (6) a report; and for the fourth, a request for information. If one and the same expression can, with respect to four different persons, be simultaneously a command, a prohibition, a report, and an inquiry, what is so unlikely about the speech of the True One—subḥānahu—being likewise? It is therefore established that He, exalted be He, speaks with a single speech.”

It may be said in reply to such people: The very argument on which the leader of his followers, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Rāzī, relied is one from which he himself later retracted in his most esteemed works, and he clarified