and His intention, when they affirm them, are affirmed only in a universal sense, without singling out anyone. This rests on their claim that He knows universals but knows particulars only in a universal manner. Those who maintain that His knowledge extends unrestrictedly over individual accidents may approach, or come close to, their doctrine. Although this discourse constitutes unbelief by the consensus of Muslims, people distinguished in speculative theology, Sufism, and similar fields have fallen into much of it. Were I not reluctant to name individuals in this response, I would name leading figures of later times.

The sound a person hears may also originate outside his own soul, coming from the True One, exalted is He, through the tongue of one of His angels or someone other than an angel. This is what the Jahmiyyah among the Muʿtazilah and others have recognized, believing that Allah has no way of speaking other than this. It falls within the category of revelation, which is one of the forms of divine speech, or a category parallel to speech through a messenger. This is “the second category,” as the Exalted says:

“Or He sends a messenger who reveals, by His permission, whatever He wills.”

This is revelation conveyed by the messenger. It differs from the first kind of revelation from Allah, which is one of the forms of divine speech in its broader sense. Revelation conveyed by the messenger also takes various forms. In the two Sahīh collections, ʿĀʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, reported that al-Hārith ibn Hishām asked the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, “How does revelation come to you?”

He replied: “Sometimes it comes to me like the ringing of a bell, and this is the hardest form for me. Then it ceases, and I have grasped what was said. At other times, the angel appears to me in the form of a man and speaks to me, and I grasp what he says.”

ʿĀʾishah, may Allah be pleased with her, said: “I have indeed seen him