It is well known that the early generations taught that the Noble Quran is Allah’s speech, uncreated: it originated from Him and to Him it returns.

As for the Jahmiyyah and the Mu‘tazilah, they say that He has no speech subsisting in His Essence; rather, His speech is separate from Him and created by Him. The Mu‘tazilah state without qualification that He speaks by His will, but what they mean is that He creates speech separate from Himself.

The Kullābiyyah and the Sālimiyyah say that He does not speak by His will and power; rather, His speech subsists in His Essence without involving His power or will, just like His life. They say that speech is an attribute of His Essence, not an attribute of action connected to His will and power. The former groups say that it is an attribute of action, but by “action” they mean the created result brought about by His will and power.

The early generations and the imams of the Sunnah, along with many speculative theologians—such as the Hishāmiyyah, the Karrāmiyyah, the followers of Abū Mu‘ādh al-Tūmanī and Zuhayr al-Yāmī, and other groups—say that speech is “an attribute of both His Essence and His action”: He speaks by His will and power, with speech that subsists in His Essence.

This is what is understood by the attribute of speech in any speaker. Whoever is described as speaking—whether angels, humans, jinn, or others—must have speech that subsists in themselves, and they speak by their own will and power. Speech is an attribute of perfection, not deficiency, and one who speaks by his own will is more perfect than one who does not speak by his own will. How, then, could created beings possess attributes of perfection that the Creator does not?