and a servant’s speech contains letters, and he speaks with his own voice.

These attributes may be considered in three ways: as ascribed to the Lord, as ascribed to a servant, or without qualification, without being specific to either the Lord or a servant.

When a servant says, “Allah’s life, Allah’s knowledge, Allah’s power, Allah’s speech,” and the like, all of these are uncreated and do not resemble the attributes of created beings. When he says, “A servant’s knowledge, a servant’s power, a servant’s speech,” all of these are created and do not resemble the Lord’s attributes. But when he says, “Knowledge, power, speech,” these are general, unqualified terms. They cannot all be described indiscriminately as either created or uncreated. Rather, those attributes possessed by the Lord are uncreated, while those possessed by a servant are created. An attribute thus takes its status from the one who possesses it: if that is the Creator, His attributes are uncreated; if it is a created servant, his attributes are created.

Furthermore, when someone recites the Opening Surah and other passages of Allah’s speech, the Quran itself is Allah’s uncreated speech, even though the servants’ movements and voices are created.

If a person in a state of major ritual impurity says:

“All praise is for Allah, Lord of all worlds,”

intending it as Quranic recitation, he is prohibited from doing so, and it counts as Quran. But if he says it intending to praise Allah, without intending recitation, he is not reciting the Quran, and doing so is permissible for him. An example of this is the saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: “The best speech after