—whether speech or any other attribute—characterizes only the subject in which it inheres, not anything else. Thus, if Allah creates motion, taste, color or odor in a body, it is that body which moves, has the color, bears the odor or possesses the taste. If He creates life, knowledge, power, will or speech in a subject, it is that subject which lives, knows, has power, wills or speaks.
If He were to create speech in a tree or any other body, it would be that body which spoke those words, just as it would possess will, life or knowledge if He created these in it. Allah would not be the one speaking those words. Likewise, if He creates life, power, hearing or sight in a subject, it is that subject which lives, has power, hears or sees by virtue of those attributes.
He, glorified be He, cannot be characterized by the attributes He creates, whether they presuppose life or not. Thus, He is not the one moving by virtue of the movements He creates in something other than Himself, nor the one producing sound by virtue of the sounds He creates in something other than Himself. Nor are His hearing, sight and power the hearing, sight and power He creates in something other than Himself. Likewise, His speech is not the speech He creates in something other than Himself, nor does He speak by virtue of that speech.
(Third: A term derived from a particular meaning cannot truly apply in the absence of that meaning. Thus, the meanings of active and passive participles, adjectives denoting inherent qualities, and comparative and superlative forms cannot hold true without the meaning of the verbal noun from which they are derived. And people