al-Junayd:

“Affirming Allah’s oneness” is the heart’s utterance, and “reliance on Allah” is the heart’s action.

They thus attributed speech and power to the heart, just as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, attributed inner speech to the soul when he said:

“Allah has pardoned my community for what they say to themselves”—then he added—“so long as they neither speak of it nor act upon it.”

It is therefore clear that “speech,” without qualification, consists of letters corresponding to meaning, although, when qualified, the term may apply to other things. Indeed, they may call any intentional communication or indication an utterance, whether conveyed through words, gestures, or finger positions—bending the fingers.

They may also call an indication an utterance even when it is unintentional, as with the indications given by inanimate objects. Thus, they say:

“It said: ‘The breadth of his belly.’”

And:

“The cistern filled and said, ‘Enough, enough!
Gently now—you have filled my belly.’”

And:

“His two eyes said to him, ‘We hear and obey.’”

This is called “the language of circumstance” or “indication through circumstance.” An example is their saying:

“Ask the earth: Who made your rivers gush forth, watered your fruits, and planted your trees? If it does not answer you in words, it answers you through reflection.”

Another example is their saying:

“The eyes tell me what the heart conceals;
There is no good in bashfulness and sidelong glances.”

Another example is their saying: