and how what will never occur would unfold if it were to occur. Created beings can know these things only by being informed.”

[Abū al-Qāsim al-Asbahānī’s Statements in The Proof against One Who Abandons the Clear Path]

Abū al-Qāsim Ismā‘īl ibn Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Tamīmī al-Asbahānī al-Shāfi‘ī said in his book known as The Proof against One Who Abandons the Clear Path:

“Muslims unanimously agree that the Quran is Allah’s speech. Once it is established that it is Allah’s speech, it follows that it is an attribute of Allah Most High, that He possesses this attribute, and that it is inseparable from His essence.

The Arabs say, ‘Zayd speaks.’ Speech is thus an attribute of his, and we understand the reality of this attribute to be nothing other than speech. This being so, the Quran is Allah’s speech, and this attribute is inseparable from Him and eternal, without beginning.

The proof that speech does not depart from the speaker is that, if it did, the speaker would have only a single word: once he uttered it, no speech would remain with him. Since the speaker can utter many words, one after another, this shows that those words spring from his speech, which is an attribute inseparable from him.”

He said:

“The proof that the Quran is uncreated is that it is Allah’s speech, and Allah’s speech is a means of bringing things into being. Allah Most High says:

‘Our word to a thing when We intend it is only that We say to it, “Be,” and it is.’ (al-Nahl: 40)

That is, when We intend to create it, bring it into existence, and make it manifest. His saying ‘Be’ is Allah’s speech and His attribute, and the attribute from which arise