all other names and letters have counterparts only in the speech of His servants, not in Allah’s speech.”) When we say that their counterparts occur in Allah’s speech, this is an approximate expression: we mean that they occur in what we read and recite. The sound heard when the names Muhammad, John, and Abraham are pronounced in the Quran resembles the sound heard when they are pronounced outside the Quran, and both sounds are created. As for the voice with which Allah speaks, nothing resembles it; it does not resemble the attributes of created beings. Allah’s speech is His speech in its arrangement, its prose, and its meanings. That speech does not resemble the speech of created beings.

Thus, when we say:

“Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds,”

intending thereby to recite the Quran which Allah spoke, Allah spoke that Quran in both its wording and its meaning, neither of which resembles the wording or meaning of created beings. But when we intend these words as remembrance in our own right, without intending to recite Allah’s speech, we intend only a remembrance that we ourselves initiate, whose meaning resides in our hearts and whose wording we utter with our tongues. The remembrance we initiate is not part of the Quran, even though its counterpart occurs in the Quran.

For this reason, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in an authentic hadith:

“The best speech after the Quran consists of four phrases, and they are from the Quran: Glory be to Allah; praise be to Allah; there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah; and Allah is the Greatest.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, thus described these phrases as the best speech after the Quran, placing them below the Quran in rank. This entails that they are not part of the Quran. Then he said:

“They are from the Quran.”

Both of his statements are true and correct. For this reason, Ahmad forbade saying, “Faith is created.”