ceased to speak, that His speech nevertheless consists of letters and sounds, and that Allah has always spoken these many letters.”

I say:

Some of this position, which al-Shahrastānī attributed to the early generations, is reported from them in precisely these terms. Examples include their rejection of the claim that Allah created the letters and of the claim that Allah does not speak with a voice, as well as their distinction between the reciter’s voice and the voice heard from Allah, and other similar matters. All of this is indeed reported from the early generations and the leading scholars.

Other aspects of the position he described are not known to have been held by the early generations and the leading scholars, such as affirming that a particular composite utterance itself is eternal and beginningless. What they unanimously agreed upon, however, was that Allah’s speech is uncreated. People have nevertheless disputed what they meant by this. Such disagreement exists among most groups, including the followers of Ahmad and others, as explained at length elsewhere.

This disagreement turns on a fundamental question: although His speech is uncreated and subsists in Him, and although He has always been speaking, is His speech linked to His power and will, or not? Al-Shahrastānī and others like him did not mention this seventh position, for there are seven recognized positions on the question of divine speech.