The views expressed on this question by those who identify themselves with the Muslim community number seven or more.

First: “The view of the philosophers” and those Sufis and speculative theologians who agree with them, such as Ibn Sīnā, Ibn ‘Arabī al-Tā’ī, Ibn Sab‘īn, and others like them who adopt the position of the Sabians. They maintain that Allah’s speech has no existence outside the souls of His servants. Rather, it consists of meanings that emanate into souls, conveying information or making demands: either from the Active Intellect, as many philosophers maintain, or without qualification, as some philosophically inclined Sufis maintain. This is the position of the Sabians and others like them.

These people say that the speech Moses heard existed only within his own soul. The author of “Mishkāt al-Anwār” (The Niche of Lights), like others of his kind, sometimes makes statements resembling theirs, although at other times he declares them disbelievers. This view is further removed from Islam than the claim that the Quran is created.

The second view is that of the Jahmiyya, including the Mu‘tazila and others, who say that Allah’s speech is created: He creates it in some physical body, so it originates from that body, not from Allah. According to them, neither speech nor will subsists in Allah. The first of these was “al-Ja‘d ibn Dirham,” whom Khālid ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Qasrī offered as a sacrifice when he addressed the people on the Feast of Sacrifice, saying:

“Offer your sacrifices—may Allah accept your sacrifices—for I am sacrificing al-Ja‘d ibn Dirham. He claimed that Allah did not take Abraham as a close friend and did not