So they altered it and said:

“Speech comes from the heart.”

They claimed support for their doctrine in Allah’s words:

“And they say to themselves, ‘Why does Allah not punish us for what we say?’” (al-Mujādila: 8)

And in His words:

“So Joseph kept it to himself and did not reveal it to them.” (Yūsuf: 77)

They also cited the Arabs’ expression: “I can see words within you, and words written on your face.” The difficulties besetting their doctrine left them so hard-pressed that they said: someone who is mute is a speaker, as are those who are silent or asleep. Even while mute, silent, or asleep, they possess speech by virtue of which they are speakers. They then explicitly declared that muteness, silence, and conditions that prevent vocal utterance are not opposites of speech.

This doctrine, on its very face, exposes the disgrace of its proponent without any need to refute him. Anyone known to have violated the consensus of all and contradicted every rational and transmitted proof before him is not to be debated; rather, he should be shunned and suppressed.”

[Al-Sijzī’s statement in al-Ibāna]

Abū Nasr al-Sijzī also said in his book entitled al-Ibāna (The Clarification), concerning the question of the Quran:

When he was told:

“Recitation is an action, and an action cannot be an attribute of Allah. The proof that it is an action is that you say, ‘So-and-so recited; he will recite.’ Whatever can appropriately be expressed in the future tense is, according to the Arabs, an action.”