because it encompasses both. It does not literally denote wording alone, as some maintain, nor meaning alone, as others maintain. Nor is it an equivocal term denoting either separately, as some maintain. Nor is it equivocal when applied to human speech but literal in denoting meaning when applied to Allah’s speech, as some maintain.

Examples include the Prophet’s saying, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Allah has pardoned my community for what they say within themselves, so long as they neither voice it nor act upon it.”

And Mu‘ādh’s question to him, “Will we really be held accountable for what we say?” He replied:

“May your mother be bereaved of you, Mu‘ādh! What casts people into the Fire upon their noses except the harvests of their tongues?”

And his saying:

“Two phrases are heavy in the balance, light upon the tongue, and beloved to the Most Merciful: ‘Glory and praise be to Allah; glory be to Allah, the Magnificent.’”

And his saying:

“The truest words ever spoken by a poet are the words of Labīd: ‘Indeed, everything apart from Allah is vain.’”

And his saying:

“I know a saying which no one utters at the time of death without his soul finding comfort in it. Whoever’s last words are ‘There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah’ will enter Paradise.”

There are also passages in the Quran, such as His saying:

“To Him good words ascend, and righteous deeds raise them.”

And His saying:

“When you speak, be just, even if it concerns a close relative.”

All such terms for saying and speech, and other similar expressions, encompass both wording and meaning when used without qualification.