The statements of Ibn Sab'īn, Ibn Rushd the Younger, Ibn al-Tūmart, Ibn 'Arabī al-Tā'ī, and others like them among the Jahmiyyah—those who deny the divine attributes—revolve around this principle, as has been explained at length elsewhere. Something approaching this union is also found in the statements of many speculative theologians and Sufis, into whose thought certain strands of the doctrine of union had entered without their realizing the corruption they contained.

The discussion of “the question of Allah Most High’s speech,” and people’s confusion concerning it, rest upon this principle, for it is one of “the questions concerning the divine attributes.” It has ramifications that distinguish it from all the other questions concerning the attributes. People have fallen into great confusion over it, as we have explained elsewhere. We have also explained that “the early generations of the Muslim community and its imams” adhered to the faith with which Allah sent His Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. They described Allah as He described Himself and as His Messenger described Him, without distorting or denying His attributes, specifying their modality, or likening them to those of creation.

They affirmed that the Quran is the speech of Allah Most High. They attributed to Allah the speaking, private discourse, and calling with which He described Himself, as well as what the Prophetic traditions and transmitted reports affirm in accordance with the Book of Allah Most High.

None of the Companions, those who follow them in goodness until the Day of Judgment, or the other imams of the Muslims said that Allah’s speech is created—that He created it in something other than Himself, with no speech subsisting in Him—as the “Jahmiyyah” among the Mu'tazilah and others claimed. Rather, when they openly introduced this innovation, the early generations and the imams condemned it vehemently. They recognized that its true implication was that Allah neither speaks, commands, nor forbids, for speech, like every other attribute, is predicated only of the one in whom it subsists.