Muhammad ibn Bashshar related to us; Ghundar narrated to us; Shuʿbah narrated to us from Yaʿlā ibn ʿAtāʾ who said: I heard ʿAmr ibn ʿĀṣim, who heard Abū Hurayrah — may Allah be pleased with him — report that Abū Bakr — may Allah be pleased with him — said, “O Messenger of Allah, tell me some words that I may recite when morning comes and when evening falls.” He replied:

“Say:
‘O Allah, Knower of the unseen and the seen, Originator of the heavens and the earth, Lord and Sovereign of everything. I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek refuge in You from the evil within myself, from the evil of Satan and his partnership, and from bringing harm upon myself or dragging it onto a Muslim.’
Recite it when you enter the morning, when you enter the evening, and when you lie down to sleep.”

Saʿīd ibn al-Rabīʿ also narrated it from Shuʿbah and mentioned the whole report, and Muʿādh and Bahz transmitted it from Shuʿbah as well. ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn narrated to us; Hushaym related from Yaʿlā, from ʿAmr ibn ʿĀṣim, from Abū Hurayrah — may Allah be pleased with him — from the Prophet ﷺ with the same wording, “Lord and Sovereign of everything.” Qutaybah narrated to us; Hushaym transmitted it likewise ⦗114⦘.

In the same way, every language spoken by creation conveys this meaning without any discrepancy among them: there is only the agent, the action, and the acted-upon. The action is an attribute, while the acted-upon is something other than it. This is clarified by His words, “I did not make them witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor even their own creation” (18:51). By “the creation of the heavens” He did not mean the heavens themselves; rather, He distinguished the act of creating the heavens from the heavens. The same separation applies to the act involved in bringing all creatures into existence. Likewise, in His words, “nor even their own creation” (18:51), He differentiated between the action and the selves, and His action did not itself become a created entity.

As for description (waṣf) in relation to an attribute (ṣifah): description is merely the utterance of someone who says, “This man is tall, heavy, handsome, sharp.” Tallness, beauty, sharpness, and heaviness are the man’s attributes, while the speaker’s utterance is a description. In the same manner, when someone says, “Allah is Merciful, Allah is All-Knowing, Allah is All-Powerful,” the speaker’s words are a description and, at the same time, an act of worship. Mercy, knowledge, power, majesty, and might are all His attributes.

With truth and falsehood the matter is similar: if a person says, “So-and-so is here” while the person is actually absent, that statement is a lie; had the person been present it would have been true. The sentence itself is one and the same; it becomes true or false according to the actual state of affairs. Likewise, if someone were to say, “Allah is Merciful and shows mercy; Allah is All-Knowing and knows; Allah is All-Powerful and exercises power; Allah is All-Hearing and hears,” yet his words had no real meaning—as we explained regarding truth and falsehood—then his words would be a lie. Only because of the reality they signify do such utterances become true, an act of worship, and obedience.

Abū ʿAbd Allah said: People have differed concerning the agent, the action, and the acted-upon. The Qadariyyah said, “All human acts come solely from humans; none are from Allah.” The Jabriyyah said, “All acts come entirely from Allah.” The Jahmiyyah said, “The action and the acted-upon are one and the same; therefore the action is created.” The scholars, however, said, “Origination (takhlīq) is Allah’s action, and our deeds are created,” citing His statement, “Conceal your speech or declare it; He is fully aware of what is within the breasts. Should He who created not know?” (67:13). Here He refers to both hidden and open speech. Thus Allah’s action is an attribute of Allah, whereas the acted-upon is something other than Him among the creation.

It is therefore said to anyone who claims, “I do not say that the Quran is written in the muṣḥaf; rather, the Quran itself is in the muṣḥaf,” that he is obliged to assert that everything Allah mentions in the Quran—jinn, humankind, angels, the cities, Mecca, Medina, Iblis, Pharaoh, Hāmān, their armies, Paradise, and Hell—is present in its very essence before his eyes in the muṣḥaf, since the name ‘Pharaoh’ is written there just as the Quran is written. He would be forced to accept even more absurdities whenever he speaks about the muṣḥaf. This is patently false, for you can place your hand on the verse and see with your own eyes: “Allah—there is no deity but Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting” (2:255). No intelligent person doubts that Allah is the One worshipped, and that the words “Allah—there is no deity but Him, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting” (2:255) are Quran; likewise, the whole Quran is His speech. Speech is an attribute of the One who speaks, and He is described by it, so the Quran is the speech of Allah.

Recitation, writing, and memorisation of the Quran, on the other hand, are the acts of created beings, in accordance with His command, “Recite, then, whatever is easy for you of it” (73:20). His words, “Recite, then, whatever is easy for you of it,” indicate that the recitation is an act performed by the creation and is an act of obedience to Allah. The Quran itself is not the act of obedience; rather, it is the command to obedience. The proof lies in His statement, “And a Quran that We have divided so that you might recite it to the people gradually” (17:106), and in His words, “Indeed, those who recite the Book of Allah” (35:29), as well as, “We have certainly made the Quran easy for remembrance, so is there anyone who will remember?” (54:17).