action, and its precedence is beginningless; for if it had a beginning, it would be an act preceded by another utterance, leading to an infinite regress.”

He said:

“They pursued the matter further, saying: Revelation contains something clearer than what we have mentioned concerning the command: it explicitly affirms the words of Allah. The Most High says:

‘And the word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and justice; none can change His words.’
(Al-An‘ām: 115)

And He says:

‘Had it not been for a word that had already gone forth from your Lord’
(Yūnus: 19)

And the Most High says:

‘Say: If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted.’
(Al-Kahf: 109)

And the Most High says:

‘If all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea were replenished by seven more seas, the words of Allah would not be exhausted.’
(Luqmān: 17)

And the Most High says:

‘But My word has come to pass.’
(Al-Sajdah: 13)

And He says:

‘But the word of punishment has come to pass.’
(Al-Zumar: 71)

Thus, speech is sometimes expressed as ‘command’ and is affirmed to possess a creative unity in which there is no multiplicity:

‘And Our command is but one, like the blink of an eye.’
(Al-Qamar: 50)

At other times, it is expressed as ‘words’ and is affirmed to possess a vast multiplicity in which there is no unity and which has no end:

‘The words of Allah would not be exhausted.’

Allah Most High thus has a command and many words, and this is inconceivable without letters.