if the mirror is small, and elongated if the mirror is elongated. Likewise, with speech transmitted from another person, what is intended is that person’s very speech, even though the voice of the person conveying it must serve as an intermediary. Thus, its sound varies with the voice of the one conveying it: sometimes it is soft, sometimes coarse, sometimes loud, and sometimes hushed.

If you say, “What is heard, then, is the like of the original speaker’s speech, or an imitation of his speech”—as some speculative theologians among the Mu‘tazilah and others have stated without qualification—such unqualified language is mistaken. Likewise, if you say of what you see in water or a mirror, “This is the like of the sun,” or, “This imitates the sun,” such unqualified language is mistaken. Allah Most High says:

“Say, ‘If mankind and the jinn gathered together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce its like’”—to the end of the verse.

He has thus made clear that created beings are incapable of producing its like, even though they are capable of conveying and reciting it. It is therefore clear that what is heard should not be called the like of Allah’s speech. Rather, it is His speech, as He Himself has called it, but conveyed through an intermediary, not heard directly from Him. Allah, glorified is He, has distinguished between these two ways of speaking. He Most High says:

“It is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger who then reveals, by His permission, whatever He wills.”

He thus distinguishes between His speaking from behind a veil—as He spoke to Moses—and His speaking by sending a messenger who reveals by His permission. The former is speech without