I say:

Error concerning this principle lies at two extremes, just as it does concerning the first principle. Regarding the first principle, some say that He has no speech subsisting in Him, while others say that His speech is nothing but an abstract meaning or nothing but sound.

Regarding this principle, some say that no one else utters His speech, or that it cannot be heard from anyone else. Others say that when someone else conveys and delivers His speech, its condition is the same as when it is heard from Him and recited. Rather, His messengers and servants utter His speech, speak it, recite it and read it. It remains His speech however it is conveyed, wherever it is recited and wherever it is written. His speech is uncreated however it is conveyed.

Nevertheless, its condition when His servants recite and write it is not the same as when Allah recites it and they hear it from Him. Nor is someone who hears it from a reciter in the same position as Moses son of ʿImrān, who heard the speech of the Lord of the worlds from Him. As stated in the hadith:

“When creation hears the Quran from Allah on the Day of Resurrection, it will be as though they had never heard it before.”

Indeed, even the Messenger’s recitation and hearing it from him are not like another person’s recitation and hearing it from that person. Nor is one person’s recitation and hearing it from him like another person’s recitation and hearing it from him. In all its conditions, it is the speech of Allah Most High, which is uncreated, even though its conditions differ.

The following must also be understood concerning the declaration of Allah, His Messenger and the believers about what Allah has revealed, “This is Allah’s speech”; indeed, concerning people’s declaration about human speech they hear, “These are so-and-so’s words,” as when they say of a statement such as his saying, “Actions are only according to intentions, and for each