Thus, when people understand these issues properly and fully, the correct view becomes clear to them, personal inclinations and partisan loyalties diminish, and they recognize the points of disagreement. Whoever sees the truth clearly in any of these matters should follow it; whoever remains uncertain should withhold judgment until Allah makes it clear to him. He should seek help in this by supplicating to Allah. Among the best such supplications is what Muslim narrated in his Sahīh from ‘Ā’ishah: whenever the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, rose to pray at night, he would say:

“O Allah, Lord of Gabriel, Michael, and Isrāfīl, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of the unseen and the seen! You judge between Your servants concerning that over which they differ. Guide me, by Your permission, to the truth concerning which there is disagreement. Indeed, You guide whom You will to a straight path.”

As for the other speaker’s statement, “His speech was written with them,” this implies that by “letters” he meant both spoken and written letters. Thus the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever recites the Quran will have ten good deeds credited to him for every letter. I do not mean that alif lām mīm is one letter; rather, alif is a letter, lām is a letter, and mīm is a letter.”

Al-Tirmidhī said: “An authentic hadith.” Here, by “letter,” the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, did not mean the ink itself or the shape formed by the ink; rather, he meant the spoken letter.

There are two views concerning what he meant by “letter.” According to one, it means this individual utterance. According to the other, by “letter” he meant the name, as in his words: “Alif is a letter, lām is a letter, and mīm is a letter.”

The terms “letter” and “word” have, in the Arabic language of the Prophet