ʿAmr ibn ʿAwf narrated to us; Ibn al-Mubarak transmitted; from al-Ajlah; from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abzā; from his father; from Ubayy ibn Kaʿb (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told me, “I have been commanded to recite the Qur’an to you.” I asked, “Did my Lord—or your Lord—actually mention me by name?” He replied, “Yes,” and then he recited: “Say: In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy—in that let them rejoice; it is better than all that they accumulate” (10:58).

⦗108⦘ Bishr ibn Muḥammad narrated to us; ʿAbd Allah related; al-Ajlah conveyed this same report. Isḥāq ibn Naṣr narrated to us; Abū Usāmah related; al-Ajlah related; ʿAbd Allah conveyed something similar.

Abū ʿAbd Allah said: “As for his statement, ‘Does one turn back to Allah with anything other than the utterance he has articulated?’, then if what he articulated is Qur’an, it is the speech of Allah. He is asked, ‘What do you mean by the utterance you articulate?’ The lafẓ (act of articulation) is distinct from that which is articulated, for you utter the word ‘Allah,’ yet Allah Himself is not your utterance. Likewise, when you utter one of Allah’s attributes by reciting His words, your statement is not saying that Allah is that very attribute; rather, you are describing the One described—you are the describer, and Allah is the One described. By His own speech, Allah resembles a describer who speaks of Allah with words other than Allah’s own. The One actually described by His own attribute and His own speech is Allah alone.

Hence, your expressions ‘you articulate it’ and ‘you recite the Qur’an’ clearly show that the utterance is other than the recitation itself, just as you say, ‘I read according to the reading of ʿĀṣim,’ and, ‘your recitation is upon the reading of ʿĀṣim.’ That does not mean that your words are the very words of ʿĀṣim himself. Do you not see that if ʿĀṣim swore, ‘I shall not recite today,’ and you then recited according to his reading, ʿĀṣim would not have broken his oath?

Aḥmad (may Allah have mercy on him) said: ‘The reading of Ḥamzah does not appeal to me.’ Yet one must not say, ‘The Qur’an does not appeal to me.’ Some even declared, ‘Whoever recites with the reading of Ḥamzah must repeat the prayer.’ One of them argued, citing the verse, ‘…until he hears the speech of Allah’ (9:6). He was told, ‘It is only said: “…until he hears the speech of Allah,” not your speech, your melody, or your intonation; for Allah exalted Moses by His speech. If you were truly making people hear the speech of Allah exactly as Allah made Moses hear it, Moses would have no distinction—since you hear the speech of Allah and Moses hears the speech of Allah. Allah, Exalted is He, said to Moses: “Indeed, I have chosen you above mankind with My messages and with My speech” (7:144).”