And the second usage is illustrated by Allah’s words:

“To Him ascends good speech, and righteous deeds raise it.” [Fātir: 10]

And His words:

“You are not engaged in any matter, nor do you recite any of the Quran, nor do you perform any deed, without Our being witnesses over you as you engage in it.” [Yūnus: 61]

Thus, the scholars of knowledge and the Sunnah who said that recitation is identical to what is recited meant by “recitation” the utterance and speech accompanying movement—that is, the speech being recited.

Others said: “Rather, recitation is distinct from what is recited, and reading is distinct from what is read.” Those among the people of the Sunnah and hadith who said this meant that people’s actions are not Allah’s speech, nor are their voices Allah’s voice. This is what al-Bukhārī intended, and it is a sound meaning.

The reason is that the terms “recitation,” “reading,” and “utterance” are ambiguous and have more than one sense: they can refer either to the act itself or to its object.

Whoever says, “Utterance is not what is uttered, and speech is not what is spoken,” using “utterance” and “speech” as verbal nouns denoting the act itself, means that movement is not the speech that is heard. This is correct.

Whoever says, “Utterance is what is uttered, and speech is itself what is spoken,” and means by “utterance” and “speech” what the verbal noun designates, is effectively saying that utterance and speech, understood as the words spoken and uttered, are those very words. This too is correct.

Thus, whoever says, “Uttering the Quran, reading it, or reciting it is created,” or says this of “my utterance of the Quran” or “my recitation,” includes within his statement the very speech being read and recited, which is the speech of Allah Most High.

If he means only his own action and voice, the meaning is correct; nevertheless, using the expression without qualification encompasses both this and other meanings.