“Then grant him protection until he hears the Speech of God.” (al-Tawbah 9:6)

The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Beautify the Qur’an with your voices.” Thus, speech is attributed to God, while the voice is attributed to the reciter.

A group, however, contended: “The very voice that is heard is itself the eternal voice, or at least contains the eternal voice. The Eternal, they said, becomes manifest alongside newly originated motions, and voices are not the deeds of the servants, for they would only be their deeds were they generated by their own actions—and we do not accept such generation. Rather, voices are ascribed to God in keeping with the required mode of attribution: when they concern something other than the Qur’an, they are His created works; but when they concern the Qur’an, they are His attribute—the eternal voice.”