Pharaoh denied the Creator and accused Moses of lying when he said that Allah had spoken to him. These people’s position likewise leads ultimately to denying the Creator; and even if they affirm His existence, they say that He does not speak and has never called anyone or spoken privately to him. Their principal basis for denying His very being is their denial of corporeality, while their basis for denying His speech and His speaking to Moses is that temporally originated events cannot subsist in Him. Thus, their position leaves neither a Lord nor a messenger. In reality, it contradicts the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. A messenger conveys the message of the One who sent him, and that message is His speech with which He sent him. If He does not speak, there can be no message.

For this reason, the prophets agreed that Allah speaks. Whoever does not affirm that He speaks by His will and power, with speech that subsists in His essence, has not affirmed that He speaks. Among those who negate His attributes, some say that speech is an attribute of action, meaning that it is created and separate from Him. Others say that it is an attribute of His essence, meaning that, like life, it subsists in His essence, but that He does not speak by His will and power. Each group is correct in refuting the other’s falsehood.

The evidence establishes that speech is an attribute both of His essence and of His action, subsisting in the Lord’s essence, and that the Lord speaks by His will and power. All the evidence advanced by those who say that it is an attribute of action establishes only that He speaks by His power and will—and this is true. The evidence advanced by those who say that it is an attribute of His essence establishes only that His speech subsists in His essence—and this is true. As for whoever affirms one of the two