(م)
“Mute milk,” meaning thickened milk that makes no sound in its vessel; “a mute cloud,” one without thunder or lightning; and “a mute landmark,” when no echo from it is heard in the mountain. They also say, “a mute military formation.” Abū Ubayda said: “It is one rendered silent by the abundance of armour, making no clattering sound.”

An even stronger example is silence and refraining from speech: these describe someone capable of speaking who refrains from doing so, unlike muteness, which is an inability to speak. Nevertheless, the Arabs say, “He possesses neither anything silent nor anything speaking.” Here, “silent” means gold and silver, while “speaking” means camels and sheep. “Silent” milk is thickened milk, and “silent armour” is armour that makes no audible sound.

They also describe an animal as “speechless” and “mute” because it does not speak and cannot ordinarily do so. Hence the Prophet’s saying, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Injury caused by a speechless animal entails no compensation.”

The same applies to expressions denoting blindness. The Arabs say, “‘Amā al-mawj,” with the present tense ya‘mī and the verbal noun ‘amyan, when waves cast forth debris and foam. “The two blind ones” are a torrent and a raging camel. They also say that a matter “became blind to him” when it became unclear. Hence Allah Most High says:

“But the information will be obscured to them that Day.”

Of some of these examples, it may be said that they involve the absence of an attribute which the subject is capable of possessing, such as sound. Others, however, involve attributes which the subject cannot possess, as in the death of idols.

Second: Inanimate things can possess these attributes, for Allah, glorified be He, is able to create life in them, just as He made Moses’ staff a serpent that swallowed the ropes and staffs—and if it is