so worship Me.’ He will speak to His devoted servants on the Day of Resurrection and greet them with a spoken salutation of peace in His abode of eternal residence. He will call out to His servants, saying:

‘What answer did you give the messengers?’

And He will say:

‘To whom belongs sovereignty today? To Allah, the One, the All-Prevailing.’

He will address the inhabitants of the Fire with rebuke and punishment, saying to them:

‘Remain despised therein, and do not speak to Me.’

The Compeller will speak privately to every one of His creatures, with no interpreter between Him and any of them, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said. ‘Our Lord will speak to Hell, saying to it, “Are you filled?” He will cause it to speak, and it will say, “Is there any more?”’

Whoever claims that Allah spoke only once, and spoke only what He spoke, after which His speech came to an end, has disbelieved in Allah. Rather, Allah has always spoken and will always speak. Nothing is like His speech, for it is one of the attributes of His essence. Allah has denied that anything is like His speech, just as He has denied that anything is like Him. He has denied that His speech can be exhausted, just as He has denied that He can perish. He says:

‘Everything will perish except His Face.’

And He says:

‘Say: If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted.’

Allah’s speech is not separate from Allah. It is neither something besides Him, nor other than Him, nor He Himself. Rather, it is one of the attributes of His essence, like His knowledge, which is one of the attributes of His essence. Our Lord has always been knowing and will always be knowing; He has always spoken and will always speak. He is thus the One described by the attributes