the letters are written. All the ink is created; none of it is uncreated. The voice with which people recite the Quran is the voice of Allah’s servants, but the speech is the speech of Allah Most High. He says:

“If any of the polytheists seeks your protection, grant him protection so that he may hear the speech of Allah.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Beautify the Quran with your voices.”

Thus, the speech is the Creator’s speech, while the voice is the reciter’s voice. This is not the voice with which Allah calls His servants and which Moses and others hear, as established by the Quran and the Sunnah.

According to the early generations of the Muslim community and its leading scholars, Allah’s speech is uncreated. They also hold that He speaks by His will and power: He has always spoken whenever He wills, and His speech is therefore eternal in kind. As for the particular “call” with which He called Moses, and other such instances, He issued that call to him at that particular time. As He Most High says:

“When he came to it, he was called: ‘O Moses!’”

The same applies to similar instances. Thus, the early generations distinguished between speech as a kind and a particular utterance. He Most High says:

“Say, ‘If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even if We brought as much again to replenish it.’”

Allah’s speech, including His calling and all else that falls within His speech, is not a created thing separate from Him; rather, it is from Him. Gabriel heard the Quran from Allah and brought it down to Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He Most High says:

“Say, ‘The Holy Spirit has brought it down from your Lord in truth.’”

He Most High also says:

“Those to whom We have given the Scripture know that it has been sent down from your Lord in truth.”

And He Most High says:

“The revelation of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the All-Wise.”

There are other similar passages.