Ibn Kullāb, al-Ash'arī, and others like them were driven to adopt this principle because they believed that nothing connected with Allah’s will and power—neither action, nor speech, nor anything else—could subsist in Him. At the same time, the falsity of the position of those who say,

“The Quran is created,”

had become clear to them. Those who hold this position do not affirm speech subsisting in Allah Himself, exalted is He; rather, they identify His speech with what He creates in something other than Himself. They recognized that speech cannot be a product existing separately from the speaker, and that an entity cannot possess an attribute that is separate from it. Rather, when Allah creates an attribute or an action in a locus, it is an attribute of that locus, not of Allah. Thus, if He creates movement in a locus, that locus is what moves by virtue of it. Likewise, if He creates life in it, that locus is what lives by virtue of it. Likewise, if He creates knowledge or power, that locus is what knows or has power by virtue of it. Thus, if He creates speech in something other than Himself, that locus is what speaks it.

This line of reasoning is agreed upon by those of all groups who maintain that the Quran is uncreated, including the adherents of hadith and the Sunnah, the Karrāmiyyah, the Kullābiyyah, and others.

The necessary implication for anyone who says,

“The Arabic Quran is created,”

is that the Arabic Quran is not Allah’s speech, but rather the speech of the locus in which it was created. And whoever