and that He produced a sound which was heard. They further alleged that speech can issue only from a chest, a tongue, and two lips.

So we asked them: Is it conceivable that a created thing—or anything other than Allah—could say, “O Moses, indeed I am your Lord” (Ta Ha 20:11–12), or declare, “Indeed, I am Allah; there is no deity but Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance” (Ta Ha 20:14)? Whoever makes such a claim is effectively asserting that something other than Allah has laid claim to Lordship. If the matter were as al-Jahm contends, namely that Allah merely brought a creature into being, then it would have been that creature pronouncing, “O Moses, indeed I am Allah, Lord of all the worlds” (Al-Qasas 28:30).

Yet the Exalted has said, “Allah spoke to Moses directly” (An-Nisāʾ 4:164); and He said, “When Moses came at the appointed time, his Lord spoke to him” (Al-Aʿrāf 7:143); and He said, “Indeed, I have chosen you over the people through My messages and through My speech” (Al-Aʿrāf 7:144). These are explicit Qur’anic texts.

As for their assertion that Allah does not speak, what will they do with the ḥadith narrated by al-Aʿmash, from Khaythama, from ʿAdī ibn Ḥātim al-Ṭāʾī? He reported that the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “There is none among you but that his Lord will speak to him, with no interpreter between them.” 1

And regarding their claim that speech can only arise from an interior, a mouth, lips, a tongue, and physical organs—did not Allah say to the heavens and the earth, “Come, both of you, willingly or unwillingly.” They replied, “We come willingly” (Fussilat 41:11)? Do you imagine they answered with a chest, a mouth, lips, a tongue, and organs? And He said, “We subjected the mountains to glorify along with David” (Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:79).