thing, then every utterance that exists would be His speech. This is the position of the Hulūliyyah among the Jahmiyyah, such as the author of al-Fusūs and his like. Hence they say:

“All speech in existence is His speech;
To us, its prose and verse are alike.”

Sound reason plainly establishes that when Allah Most High creates an attribute in a subject, it is an attribute of that subject. Thus, when He creates motion in a subject, that subject is what moves by it. When He creates a colour or an odour in a body, that body is what bears the colour or odour. When He creates knowledge, power, or life in a subject, that subject is what knows, possesses power, or lives. Likewise, when He creates will, love, or hatred in a subject, that subject is what wills, loves, or hates. When He creates an act for a servant, the servant is the one who performs it. Thus, if He creates lying, wrongdoing, or disbelief for him, the servant is the liar, wrongdoer, or disbeliever. If He creates prayer, fasting, or pilgrimage for him, the servant is the one who prays, fasts, or performs pilgrimage.

Allah Most High is not described by any of His created things; rather, His attributes subsist in His own Essence. This is consistent with the principles of the early generations and the majority of Muslims, both Ahl al-Sunnah and others. They maintain that Allah’s creation of the heavens and the earth is not the heavens and the earth themselves; rather, the act of creation is distinct from what is created. This is especially true of the position of the early generations, the leading scholars, and those of Ahl al-Sunnah who agreed with them in affirming Allah’s attributes and acts. For the Mu'tazilah and those Jahmiyyah and Qadariyyah who agreed with them challenged the consistency of this principle as upheld by those who did not maintain that the act of creation is distinct from what is created, such as al-Ash'arī and those who agreed with him. They said: