Thus, whoever says, “The Quran is in physical copies and in people’s hearts,” speaks the truth. Whoever says, “They contain its memorization and its written form,” speaks the truth. Whoever says, “The Quran is written in physical copies and preserved in people’s hearts,” speaks the truth. But whoever says that the ink, paper, a servant’s attribute or action, or his memorization and voice are eternal or uncreated is mistaken and astray.

Likewise, whoever says that what is in the physical copy is not Allah’s speech, or that what is in the reciters’ hearts is not Allah’s speech; or says that Allah did not speak the glorious Quran, but that it is created or was composed by Gabriel or Muhammad, and says, “The Quran is in physical copies just as Muhammad is in the Torah and the Gospel”—such a person is also mistaken and astray.

For the Quran is speech, and speech itself is written in the physical copy. This differs from concrete entities, of which only the names and references to them are written. Thus, what is written of the Messenger in the Torah and the Gospel is his mention and description, just as the Quran is in the scriptures of earlier peoples, and our deeds are in the records.

Allah Most High says:

“Indeed, it is in the scriptures of earlier peoples.”

And He says:

“And everything they have done is in the records.”

Muhammad is recorded in the Torah and the Gospel just as the Quran is in those scriptures and our deeds are in the records. As for the Quran, it is itself written in physical copies: what is written is not a mention of it or an account of it, as when Allah’s name is written on paper.

Whoever fails to distinguish between the writing of names and speech and the recording of the things named and concrete entities—as has happened to a group of people—has made an error that equates distinct realities, just as