This is also the view of those who agree with them among the esoteric Qarmatians and others who outwardly profess Islam while inwardly adhering to the doctrines of the Sabians, the Magians, and the like.

It is also the view of groups of heretical Sufis, such as the adherents of the oneness of existence and others like them, who took the religion of the Sabians, the Pharaohs, and the Dahriyyah and recast it in the guise of spiritual unveilings, sainthood, and realization.

Among those who said that His speech is not created, one group supposed that the only alternative to being created was to be eternal and inseparable from the divine essence. They affirmed its existence independently of the Lord’s will and power, just as they affirmed the existence of His essence, and thus adopted this position.

Then one group, seeing that letters and sounds could not be like this, said:

“His speech is simply a single meaning, which is command, prohibition, and assertion. If that meaning is expressed in Hebrew, it is the Torah; if it is expressed in Syriac, it is the Gospel; and if it is expressed in Arabic, it is the Quran.”

Their position necessarily entailed that the meanings of the Quran are the meanings of the Torah and the Gospel; that command is itself prohibition and assertion; and that these are attributes of speech rather than distinct kinds of speech—along with other consequences whose falsity is evident to sound reason.

Another group said, rather, that His speech consists of eternal letters and sounds unrelated to His will and power, as those before them had said.

Both groups agreed that Allah’s speaking to His angels, His speaking to Moses, His speaking to His servants on the Day of Resurrection, His calling to those whom He called, and the like, amount merely to the creation of perception in