so that not a single word of it will remain in people’s hearts, nor a single letter in written copies.” Most of those present agreed with this.

I then said: This is likewise what the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Nothing brings servants closer to Allah than that which came from Him”—meaning the Quran.

Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt said: “You there, draw near to Allah by whatever means you can, for nothing brings one closer to Allah that is more beloved to Him than that which came from Him.”

I also said: “Allah truly spoke it, and this Quran, which Allah sent down to Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is truly Allah’s speech, not the speech of anyone else. It is not permissible to say without qualification that it is a reproduction of Allah’s speech or an expression of it. Rather, when people recite the Quran or write it in written copies, it does not thereby cease to be truly the speech of Allah Most High. For speech is properly attributed to the one who originally uttered it, not to someone who conveys and transmits it.”

One of them took exception to affirming that it is truly Allah’s speech, despite having conceded that Allah truly spoke it. He then conceded this too, once it was explained to him that a figurative attribution may validly be negated, whereas this attribution cannot; and that the sayings transmitted from earlier generations, and the poetry attributed to its poets, are truly their speech.

When I stated in it that speech is properly attributed to the one who originally uttered it, not to someone who conveys it, they approved of this statement and held it in high regard.

I also mentioned that what the early generations of the Ummah unanimously affirmed—that He, glorified be He, is above the Throne and that He is with us—is true in its actual sense. It requires no distortion, but must be protected from false assumptions.