—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—one meaning, and another in the terminology of grammarians.

Thus, in their language, kalimah (“word”) means a complete sentence, whether nominal or verbal. As the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in the hadith whose authenticity is agreed upon:

“Two utterances are light on the tongue, heavy in the balance, and beloved to the Most Merciful: Glory and praise be to Allah; glory be to Allah, the Magnificent.”

He also said, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“The truest utterance ever spoken by a poet is the saying of Labīd: ‘Surely everything apart from Allah is vain.’”

He said:

“A servant may speak an utterance pleasing to Allah, without imagining how far-reaching it will be, and because of it Allah’s pleasure with him is recorded until the Day of Resurrection. And a servant may speak an utterance displeasing to Allah, without imagining how far-reaching it will be, and because of it Allah’s displeasure with him is recorded until the Day of Resurrection.”

He said to the Mother of the Believers:

“Since leaving you, I have said four utterances which, if weighed against everything you have said today, would outweigh them: Glory be to Allah as many times as the number of His creation; glory be to Allah in a measure that pleases Him; glory be to Allah equal to the weight of His Throne; glory be to Allah to the extent of the ink needed to record His words.”

Another example is the saying of the Most High:

“Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak nothing but a lie.”

And His saying:

“He bound them to the word of piety, for they were more entitled to it and worthy of it.”

And the saying of the Most High:

“O People of the Scripture, come to a word common between us and you: that we worship none but Allah.”

And His saying:

“He made it an enduring word among his descendants, so that they might return.”

And His saying:

“He made the word of those who disbelieved the lowest, while the word of Allah is the highest.”

And the saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Whoever fights so that the word of Allah is supreme is fighting in Allah’s cause.”

There are many similar examples. The term kalimah is never found in the Quran, the Sunnah, or the speech of the Arabs except