thus, when the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

“Actions are judged only by intentions, and each person shall have only what he intended,”

and this hadith was transmitted from him by one person after another until it reached us, it is understood that, when we hear it from someone narrating it, we hear the speech of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which he uttered in both its wording and meaning. We hear it through the act of transmission and the voice of the person conveying it from him. We have not heard the actual voice with which the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, spoke; rather, we have heard the voice of the person narrating it from him. Yet the speech is that of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, not that of the narrator.

Whoever says, “This speech is not the speech of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,” would be making a false claim. Likewise, whoever says, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not utter this; rather, he brought it into being in someone else,” or, “The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not utter its wording and letters, but remained silent or was incapable of uttering it, so someone else discerned what was within him and composed these words to express what was within the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,” or anything similar, would be making a false claim. Whoever says, “This voice that we hear is the voice of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,” would also be making a false claim.

If this is intelligible with regard to the speech of a created being, then, with regard to the Creator’s speech, it is all the more fitting to affirm the attributes of perfection that befit Him and to declare Allah far above His attributes and actions being those of His servants, or resembling their attributes and actions.