His speech as belonging to this category; this is necessarily evident and unanimously agreed. For that would place the Quran on the same footing as the speech He has commanded, such as testimony, reports, valuations of goods, estimates of the yield of date palms, and all other kinds of truthful speech that must be uttered. Anyone who uttered any such statement would then have uttered the speech of Allah, and the Quran would be Allah’s speech in this same sense. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, would have no speech of His own except what created beings utter. The invalidity of this is necessarily known in the religion of Islam.

Moreover, when someone says, “Speech that Allah loves, approves of, and commands,” or “Speech that He hates and forbids,” this implies that there are love, approval, and a command distinct from what is commanded, and speech constituting a prohibition distinct from what is prohibited. That is His speech, which constitutes His command and prohibition. The command and prohibition are thus distinct from what is commanded and prohibited.

This addresses the view of someone who is confused about the nature of attribution in these passages. The correct understanding, however, of the Prophet’s words—may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“You have made marital relations with them lawful by the word of Allah,”

is that this is the word He Himself spoke.

Likewise, His words, Exalted is He:

“And the word of Allah is supreme.”