from your Lord in truth.”

He, glorified be He, thus states that it is sent down from Allah. He has not described anything as being sent down from Allah except His speech, in contrast to the descent of the angels, rain, iron, and other things. Hence the well-known position of the early generations was that the Quran is Allah’s speech, uncreated: from Him it originated, and to Him it returns. Those who say that it is created maintain that it was created in one of the created entities that exist in their own right. It would therefore have descended and originated from that created entity, not from Allah. Allah Most High’s statement that it is sent down from Allah is incompatible with its having descended from other than Allah. For this reason, Imam Ahmad explained the phrase “From Him it originated” as meaning that He is the One who spoke it. Ahmad also said: “Allah’s speech is from Allah; it is not separate from Him.”

Furthermore, if it were created in something other than Him, it would not be His speech; rather, it would be the speech of the created entity in which it was created. The same applies to all the other attributes with which He has described Himself—will, love, volition, pleasure, anger, abhorrence, and so forth. Had these been created in something other than Him, the Lord Most High would not be characterized by them; rather, they would be attributes of the subject in which they subsisted. For when a quality subsists in a subject, it is an attribute of that subject, not of another. It is therefore impossible for a created being or the Creator to be characterized by an existing attribute that subsists in another, for this is known innately. Thus, regarding the intransitive acts with which He has described Himself, it is impossible for a subject to be characterized by something that does not subsist in it. This has been discussed at length elsewhere.