The gist of their objection is that speech—composed of letters and sounds—requires articulatory organs (makhārij), which is one of the attributes of created beings, and God is exalted above that. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya (may Allah have mercy on him) explains that the root of the error in this issue lies in failing to distinguish between the Creator and His attributes and the created beings and their attributes. The Salaf, however, unanimously distinguish between the Lord’s voice and the servant’s voice; they agree that God spoke in the Qur’an, revealed to His Prophet (peace be upon him), both in its letters and in its meanings, and that He calls His servants by His voice. (Majmu‘ al-Fatāwā, 2:585) Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal delivered a decisive refutation of the claim denying letters and sound, leaving no room for misinterpretation. He said: “As for their statement that ‘speech can only come from a chest, a mouth, two lips, and a tongue,’ did God say to the heavens and the earth, ‘‘Come willingly or unwillingly.’ They answered, ‘We come obediently’ ’ (Sūrat al-Fussilat 41:11) with chest and mouth, tongue and lips? And did He say, ‘‘And We subdued the mountains to proclaim His praise with David’ ’ (Sūrat al-Anbiyā’ 21:79) with chest and mouth, tongue and lips? And when the limbs bore witness against the unbeliever, they said, ‘‘Allah has given us speech, and He is the One who gives speech to all things’ ’ (Sūrat al-Fussilat 41:21). Did they speak with chest, mouth, tongue, and lips? No. Allah gave them speech as He willed, without chest or mouth, lips or tongue.” (al-Radd ‘alā al-Juhhāmīya wa al-Zanādiqa, p. 131) Affirming the attribute of voice for God and denying any resemblance between it and the sounds of creatures, Imām al-Bukhārī (may Allah have mercy on him) states: “It is reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he loved a low voice and disliked a loud one. Allah calls with a voice heard by those at a distance as much as by those nearby, and this is unique to Him. This demonstrates that God’s voice does not resemble the voices of creation: His voice is heard at a distance as it is heard up close, so the angels are struck with awe by it—yet when the angels call to each other, they are not struck. And God says, ‘And do not set up rivals to Allah’ (Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:22), indicating that none shares or resembles any of His attributes, and nothing of His attributes is found in created beings.” (Khalq Af‘āl al-‘Ibād, p. 59) Thus the Salaf hold that God speaks with an audible voice, as the decisive proofs of the Qur’an and the Sunnah affirm, and that His voice does not resemble the voices of His creation—just as His Essence does not resemble any essence: “There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.” (Qur’an 42:11)