he brought is speech of great worth, issuing from a pure soul perfected in knowledge and action, possessing three qualities that distinguish it from others: exceptional powers of intuition and knowledge; the power to influence the lower world through his own soul; and an imaginative faculty that corresponds to realities, enabling him to hear sounds within himself and see forms that imaginatively represent those realities. They also hold that his speech may be attributed to Allah and called Allah’s speech, on the grounds that He commanded it through an imagined command.
In fact, in their view, the knowledge and words that flow into all other pure souls are likewise Allah’s speech, just as this is Allah’s speech. This, however, is nobler, and his discourse indicates that he is the Messenger to creation, whom they must obey as the messengers have taught. Nevertheless, they describe him as speaking.
For this reason, they say that “prophethood” can be acquired. More than one of them therefore aspired to become a prophet, as did al-Suhrawardī, Ibn Sab‘īn, and other heretics.
We have explained the foundations of their views and their falsity elsewhere, as in our refutation of their claim that the prophets’ miracles are powers of the soul.
As for the Mu‘tazilah and others like them, they agree with these people that Allah does not speak in the real sense in which people understand someone to speak. Rather, His speech is separate from Him, though they claim that this is speech in the literal sense. His speech, in their view, amounts to nothing more than His creating in the air or elsewhere