but he makes this known by mentioning the name.

Anyone who supposes that what is described as coming and arriving is the word “Zayd” or “Amr” is mistaken. Likewise, when someone says, “This is Allah’s speech, and Allah’s speech is uncreated,” what is intended is the speech itself, considered in itself, even though it becomes manifest and is heard only through the reciter’s movements and voice. Anyone who supposes that the reference is to the reciter’s voice and movements is mistaken.

Thus, when Abū Tālib al-Makkī recited before Imam Ahmad, may Allah be pleased with him,

“Say, ‘He is Allah, the One,’”

and asked him, “Is this Allah’s speech, and is it created?” he answered that it was Allah’s speech and was uncreated. Abū Tālib then mistakenly reported that Ahmad had said, “My utterance of the Quran is uncreated.” Ahmad summoned him and, angered with him, asked, “Did I tell you, ‘My utterance of the Quran is uncreated’?”

He replied, “No, but I recited before you, ‘Say, He is Allah, the One,’ and said to you, ‘This is uncreated,’ and you said, ‘Yes.’”

Ahmad said, “Then why do you attribute to me something I did not say? Do not say this, for no scholar has said it.”

This account is well known. It was related by ‘Abd Allāh, Sālih, Hanbal, al-Marwazī and Fawrān, and al-Khallāl presented it at length in his Book of the Sunnah. Al-Marwazī also wrote a work on the question of utterance, in which he recorded the statements of the leading scholars.

What Ahmad stated here is among the finest and most precise explanations. For an unqualified demonstrative reference applies to the intended object—Allah’s speech, which He spoke—not to