acts is impossible in their view and in that of the speculative theologians who agree with them, such as the Muʿtazilah and their followers.

They say that His speech consists of letters and sounds that come into being within the Lord’s essence through His power and will. They do not say that the sounds heard or the ink in the written copy of the Quran are eternal; rather, they say that these came into being.

The sixth position:

The position of the majority, the scholars of hadith, and their leading authorities is that Allah Most High has always spoken whenever He wills, and that He speaks with a voice, as the transmitted reports indicate. The Quran and the other divine scriptures are Allah’s speech, which He spoke by His will and power; it is not something created and separate from Him. They do not say that He began to speak after previously not speaking, nor that Allah Most High’s speech, considered in itself, originated in time. Rather, He has always spoken whenever He wills, although He spoke to Moses and called out to him by His will and power. His speech is inexhaustible, as He Most High says:

“Say: ‘If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even if We brought another like it as a replenishment.’”

They affirm what the authentic prophetic texts convey and what sound, unclouded reason establishes. They do not deny Allah Most High His attributes of perfection—glorified and exalted is He—thereby making Him like inanimate objects that neither speak nor hear nor see, that neither speak to their worshippers nor guide them to any path, that give them no answer and have no power to harm or benefit them.