The Asha'irah's belief regarding the mental speech of Allah, a mention of their evidence, and the refutation of them.

The Shaykh : The turn has come to other sects and groups, which today—regrettably—are represented by the Maturidiyyah and the Asha'irah. These people were unable to be as explicit as the Mu'tazilah; they could not say, "Allah does not speak," because that would be a blatant contradiction of the texts of the Qur'an. So they say, "Allah speaks. How could He not speak when He says: ?" But the reality is that their doctrine is that Allah does not speak.
... This is an example of how they affirm mental speech, saying that the speech of Allah is mental speech... and they cite certain things as evidence... only wanting to... previously... .
This is all verification... .
And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
And clearer than this is that if one wants, for example, to meet a king because he has a need with him, if it is... possible... he will imagine this or that, that if he goes to the king, he must say such and such and such... such and such; because of such and such, and so on. If you please... so-and-so, what must he say to him? ... Does he start or do I? He starts. What does he imagine... what must I... answer. What is this called? Mental speech. And they cited this story as evidence for affirming this mental speech as an absolute affirmation, regardless of... to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Therefore, it is mentioned in "Sahih al-Bukhari" that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed away, and the Companions gathered to choose a successor for him in place of the Messenger (peace be upon him). 'Umar wanted to precede Abu Bakr al-Siddiq to address the people, and he said: "And I had prepared in my mind a speech"... from here, "I had prepared in my mind"; meaning he had arranged in his mind a speech. This is the mental speech. So they cited this story to prove that there is mental speech.
And the reality is that we, or I personally, cannot deny mental speech. No one can deny it, neither in terms of reality, as each of us feels it, as I gave you some examples earlier, nor in terms of Arabic expression. This is 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, one of the most eloquent of those who spoke Arabic, saying about himself: "I prepared a speech in my mind." This is explicit that it is speech in one sense, and explicit that he had not yet spoken it in another sense. This is a fact that cannot be denied. But we say... .
What is the evidence that the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is of this type, the type that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, no matter how much he spoke of this type, could be counted on the fingers of one hand or the right hand? Mental speech means that the type is not determined. But... once. But his speech, which predominates constantly like that of other humans, is true verbal speech. So if this mental speech is established, what is the evidence that it is the speech of Allah? The answer: What is the evidence for this other than illusions that arise in the minds of Muslims regarding the true speech of Allah? So... because of these illusions, they resort to mental speech... .

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: So we refute, following our scholars from the scholars of the Salaf, this mental speech by the nature of the divine speech that we mentioned earlier, if this expression is correct, that it is heard speech. Is mental speech heard? The answer: No, mental speech is not heard. As for the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) which He explicitly stated in the Qur'an, it is heard speech; where He said (Mighty and Majestic) . Likewise, all the address that takes place between Allah and His prophets and messengers, between Allah and His angels, between Allah and His righteous servants, and between Allah and some of His disbelieving servants; all these addresses mean that even the disbelievers hear them.
... The believer and the disbeliever hear it. Likewise, when the believer speaks, the believer and the disbeliever hear him... this is the nature of human speech. Likewise, we say: the attribute of speech for the Divine (Exalted and Majestic is He) is that it is heard.
... Whether from the righteous or the wicked, the texts of the Book and the Sunnah are explicit in that. Therefore, it is not correct to interpret the divine speech mentioned in the Qur'an and Sunnah as being mental speech; because mental speech is not heard. And if it is necessary that we describe Allah (Mighty and Majestic) with mental speech, we say: this is one thing, and true verbal speech is another thing. When the Book and the Sunnah speak of the divine speech, they mean this second category; the heard verbal speech, and not the mental speech. And even some of the early scholars did not believe that Allah has mental speech, rather this would not harm if the text affirming true verbal speech was established.