Third was their assertion that the meanings and wording brought down by Gabriel, and the meanings and wording conveyed by Muhammad to his community, are not Allah’s speech.

The “question of the Quran” has two aspects: first, Allah’s speaking it, which is the more important of the two; and second, its being sent down to His creation. Discussing the latter is straightforward once the former has been established.

We have discussed this at length in several places, explaining the views of all the peoples of the earth on these questions, the confusion that has arisen concerning them, the grounds for each group’s position, and the meaning of the early generations’ statement:

“The Quran is Allah’s speech, uncreated.”

We explained that they intended thereby to refute those who say that no speech subsists in Allah’s essence. This is why the leading scholars said: “Allah’s speech is from Allah; it is not separate from Him.” We also discussed the disagreement among those who affiliate themselves with the Sunnah over whether His speech is connected to His will and power, and the statement of some leading scholars of the Sunnah: “Allah has always been One who speaks whenever He wills.”

When the early generations said, “From Him it originated,” they did not mean that it departed from His essence and came to subsist in another. A created being’s speech—indeed, all its attributes—does not leave it and pass into another. How, then, could Allah’s speech or any other attribute of His depart from His essence? Rather, they said, “From Him it originated,” meaning that He is the One who spoke it. This was a rebuttal of the Muʿtazilah, the Jahmiyyah, and others who said that it originated from the created being in whom it was created.

Their statement, “To Him it will return,” means that it will be taken away by night, leaving not a single letter of it in the written copies of the Quran, nor a single verse of it in people’s hearts.