They retorted, “Do you have any evidence from Allah Himself that He brought creation into being by His very word and speech—when He said,
‘Our only word to a thing, when We will it, is that We say to it, “Be,” and it is’ (al-Naḥl 40)?”
Then they explained, “What this verse really means is: ‘Our word to a thing, when We will it, is that it comes into existence.’”
We replied, “Why, then, did you conceal the phrase ‘that We say to it’?”
They answered, “Everything in the Quran is merely its underlying meanings. Allah speaks the way the Arabs do in their idioms, such as when they say, ‘The wall said…,’ or, ‘The palm-tree said, and it fell.’ In truth, the Jahmiyyah affirm nothing at all.”
So we asked, “Is this the fatwa you give people?”
They said, “Yes.”
We continued: “If, according to your doctrine, Allah does not speak, then by what did He create the creation?”
They replied, “By His power.”
We asked, “Is His power itself a thing?”
They said, “Yes.”
We responded, “Then His power, along with…"
—meaning the names in the sense that He originated them in what is other than Himself, not in the sense that He personally uttered the everlasting speech that subsists in His essence. Discussing His names, therefore, is simply one aspect of discussing His speech.
He—may Allah have mercy on him—then said: The point here is that the well-known position of the Sunni Imams is to censure anyone who says, “The names of Allah are created.” Those who declared “the name is other than the One named” intended precisely this claim.
Al-Darimi—may Allah have mercy on him—states in his refutation of the obstinate Jahmi al-Mirisi (Naqd ‘ala al-Mirisi al-Jahmi al-‘Anid, 1/161-162):
“Whoever maintains that any attribute of Allah Most High is created or ‘borrowed’ has fallen into unbelief and wickedness. For when you say ‘Allah,’ that is Allah. When you say ‘al-Rahman’ (the All-Merciful), that is al-Rahman, and He is Allah. When you say ‘al-Rahim’ (the Compassionate), the same applies. When you say ‘Hakim, Hamid, Majid, Jabbar, Mutakabbir, Qahir, Qadir’ (All-Wise, All-Praiseworthy, All-Glorious, Compeller, Supremely Great, Subduer, All-Powerful), each is likewise Allah—no name of His differs from His attribute, nor does any attribute differ from His name.
He further said—may Allah have mercy on him: Allah, blessed and exalted, and His name are alike: He has ever been as He is and will ever remain so. No attribute has ever been allotted to Him, nor any name newly attached to Him. Before creating the creation He was already the Creator, before providing sustenance He was the Provider, before there were known things He was the All-Knowing, before hearing the voices of creatures He was the All-Hearing, and before seeing their visible forms created He was the All-Seeing.