The first is the position of the Kullābiyyah and the Sālimiyyah, and those followers of these imams who agree with them that speech is not subject to His will and power, but is like life.

The second is the position of the majority of the people of hadith and Sunnah among the followers of these imams and others. It is also the position of most speculative theologians among the Murji’ah, the Shī‘ah, the Karrāmiyyah, the Mu‘tazilah, and others.

They said: The texts of the Quran and Sunnah support this position. Thus Allah distinguishes between His imparting revelation and His speaking, as He mentions in Surah al-Nisā’ and Surah al-Shūrā. There are also the hadiths stating that He will speak to His servants on the Day of Resurrection and call them to account, and that when He decrees a matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to His words, as though it were a chain striking smooth stone, along with other reports too numerous to mention.

If this is so, it is impossible for Allah’s speech not to subsist in Him. Otherwise, it would not be His speech, but the speech of the one in whom it subsists, as has been established elsewhere.

Allah, glorified is He, calls all creation to account in a single hour; accounting for one does not distract Him from accounting for another. Likewise, when they speak intimately to Him and supplicate to Him, He answers them, as reported in an authentic hadith from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said:

“Allah Most High says: ‘I have divided the prayer into two halves between Myself and My servant: half is for Me and half is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks for.’

“When the servant says, ‘All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds,’ Allah says, ‘My servant has praised Me.’ When he says, ‘The Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful,’ Allah says, ‘My servant has extolled Me.’ When he says, ‘Master of the Day of Judgment,’ He says, ‘My servant has glorified Me.’ Then, when