Imam Ahmad:

“Allah’s speech is from Allah; it is not separate from Him.”

They also said:

“The Quran is Allah’s speech, uncreated; it originated from Him.”

Ahmad said:

“‘It originated from Him’: He is the One who spoke it. It did not originate from a created being, as those who say it is created maintain.”

Allah Most High said:

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

For this reason, no one says that He created His descent, His rising over the Throne, or His coming. The same applies to His speaking to Moses and calling him: He called him and spoke to him by His will and power. Speaking is an act subsisting in His essence; it is not creation. Likewise, when a human being speaks, he performs an act of speech and brings speech into being, but within himself, not separate from him. Thus, according to the early generations and the imams, speech is an attribute of action and also an attribute of essence.

Those who say that it is created say that it is an attribute of action, and regard both the act and the speech as separate from Him.

Those who say that it is an attribute of essence say that He speaks independently of His will and power. The position of the early generations is that He speaks by His will and power, and that His speech subsists in Him. Thus, it is an attribute of