the prophets were anthropomorphists: Moses, when he said, ‘This is nothing but Your trial’ [al-A‘rāf 155]; Jesus, when he said, ‘You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself’ [al-Mā’idah 116]; and Muhammad, when he said, ‘Our Lord descends every night.’”

This clarifies what ‘Uthmān ibn Sa‘īd said: “Jahm even claimed that the crux of his trial was the denial of speech. He said, ‘If we deny speech of Him, we have thereby denied Him all attributes—the Self, the two hands, the face, hearing, and sight—for speech can only be affirmed of one who has a self, a face, a hand, hearing, and sight.’”

‘Uthmān said: “They spoke falsely in denying speech to Allah, but spoke truly in claiming that speech can only be affirmed of one who possesses all these attributes. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, possesses all of them, despite their wishes.”

Thus, his inclusion of the Self here among the attributes, and his statement that speech