He will call to them and say, ‘Where are those you claimed were My partners?’” And His saying:
“Their Lord called to them, ‘Did I not forbid you that tree?’”
In Arabic, a “call” is a raised voice. The term “call” is not applied to anything that is not a sound, either literally or figuratively. Since a call is a kind of sound, evidence establishing the particular kind necessarily establishes the broader category. Thus, if evidence indicates that a human being is present, one knows that an animal is present.
Similarly, when He states that He possesses knowledge and power, this indicates that He possesses an attribute, because knowledge and power are types of attribute—even if the wording of the Quran does not state that knowledge is an attribute or that power is an attribute. Likewise, when He states in the Quran that He creates, provides, gives life, and causes death, this indicates that He acts, since these are particular kinds within the broader category of action. If this attribute is established by what the Quran indicates in several places, then the hadiths concerning it accord with the Quran’s indication, and this attribute is not established solely on the basis of this report.
The third answer is that what Allah states in His Book about His speaking to Moses and Moses hearing Allah’s speech indicates that He spoke to him with a voice, for only sound can be heard. Allah says in His Book concerning Moses:
“So listen to what is revealed.”
And He says in His Book:
“Indeed, We have revealed to you as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him. And We revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, the Tribes, Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon; and to David We gave the Psalms