If the majority dispute with you, then frame (1) the dispute as one between you and your leading authorities among the Shi'a and those who agree with them. For they agree with you that His speech is temporally originated, but they say that it subsists in the essence of Allah. They will therefore say: “We have combined our argument with yours (2). We maintain that what does not exist cannot be commanded (3) or forbidden, and we also maintain that speech must subsist in the speaker.”

If you say to us, “You have affirmed that temporally originated things subsist in the Lord,” they will say to you (4): “Yes. This is our position, as established by revelation and reason. Whoever does not affirm that the Creator speaks, wills, loves, hates, is pleased, comes, and arrives has contradicted the Book of Allah [Most High] (5). Anyone who claims that He has always (6) been calling Moses from all eternity has contradicted the words of Allah and willfully defied reason. For Allah says:

{When he came to it, he was called}

[Surah al-Naml: 8]

And He says:

{His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, ‘Be,’ and it is}

[Surah Yā Sīn: 82]

Thus, He used particles indicating futurity.”

They say: “In sum, we affirm every argument advanced by the Mu'tazila and the Shi'a which indicates that His speech is connected with His will [and His power] (7), that He speaks (8) whenever He wills, and that He speaks one thing after another. We likewise affirm what is maintained by those who say that Allah’s speech subsists in His essence, that it is an attribute of His, and that an attribute can subsist only in that which is characterized by it. Thus, we have taken