What do the honoured and eminent scholars, the imams of the religion—may Allah be pleased with them all—say concerning the following:

Is this Quran that we recite, which subsists in us during recitation, the speech of Allah that subsisted in Him when He spoke it and was an attribute of His, or not? If it is His speech, then when we recite it and it subsists in us, is it to be called Allah’s speech and His attribute, or Allah’s speech but not His attribute? Or are there distinctions here that must be explained?

When it subsists in us, has it transferred from Allah after having subsisted in Him? Or does it subsist in both us and Him at the same time? Or is what subsists in us an expression of Allah’s speech or a representation of it, such that calling it Allah’s speech is figurative? Is it a newly originated attribute of ours, subsisting in a newly originated being, since the eternal cannot subsist in a newly originated being, and what is newly originated cannot be eternal? And is “recitation” identical to what is recited, or not? Give us your ruling; may you be rewarded.

Shaykh al-Islām Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-‘Abbās Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah sanctify his soul—answered:

Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds. This “question” can be answered at length, or briefly.

He then elaborated somewhat on the answer. As for the brief answer, it is as follows:

The answer to