The Shaykh’s response to the Mu’tazilah’s denial of the attribute of speech for Allah (Mighty and Majestic)

The Shaykh : Now I want to give you another example of its gravity. I think many of you know the disagreement between the Mu’tazilah and the people of the Sunnah and the community in general regarding the Noble Qur'an. The Mu’tazilah say that it is created, while the people of the Sunnah say it is ancient and eternal. This is because the people of the Sunnah say that the Qur'an is the speech of Allah, so it is one of the attributes of Allah. Allah is eternal in His attributes, so the attribute of speech is not created; rather, it is an eternal, ancient attribute of Allah. The Mu’tazilah say, "No, the speech of Allah, which is the Qur'an, is created." And how did Allah speak? How is that? Allah says: Allah has affirmed for Himself speech in this verse and in other verses. He said, "Allah said such and such," and "He said," and "He spoke." All of this indicates that Allah has the attribute of speech. The Mu’tazilah denied all these texts. Did they deny them by saying, "It is not in the Qur'an "? No, rather they denied them by interpreting them, meaning by denying their meanings. Why? The Mu’tazilah said, "If we say that Allah speaks, then the human being speaks, so we have likened Allah to the human being. And there is nothing like Him, so it is not permissible for us to say that Allah speaks." So what is this speech that is before us? We say it is the speech of Allah. They say this speech is imagined things. They say Allah recorded this speech in the Preserved Tablet, then Jibril (Gabriel) conveyed it to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). So who spoke it? It must have been spoken by either Jibril when he revealed it, or Jibril imagined this speech in the heart of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and the Messenger of Allah expressed it to the Companions. So the meaning of the Mu’tazilah’s statement that "this Qur'an is not the speech of Allah" is that someone other than Allah spoke it. In that case, they joined those who said: . Who are those who said it is the word of humans? They are the polytheists who lied to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in his saying: Every person knows that disbelief is established whether one says this Qur'an is the word of humans or the word of angels; it is all disbelief. Because the truth is that it is the speech of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So what led the Mu’tazilah to this deep abyss where they denied that the Noble Qur'an is the speech of Allah? Therefore, they said it is created. It is from... interpretation, meaning from the evil of interpretation that led them to deny that Allah has speech at all, and consequently they denied that this Qur'an is the speech of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So what is it? It is, they say, the word of Muhammad, or the word of Jibril, or the word of a creation of Allah. The important thing is that they explicitly say it is not the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The reason is their failure to notice the difference between the existence of Allah and His attributes, which is a real existence that contradicts the existence of the created, and the attributes of the created contradict the attributes of the Creator in a real way. They did not notice this, so they said, "As soon as the created shares with the Creator in one of the attributes, such as speech, it follows that we have likened Allah to His creation, or the creation to its Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He)." The answer is: There is nothing like Him. Allah speaks, but His speech is not like our speech, just as His Essence is not like our essence, and all His attributes are not like our attributes. Then Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) created in this era a sign that is a practical refutation of the Mu’tazilah and their like. This is because the Mu’tazilah say, "If we say that Allah speaks, it means He has lips, it means He has a tongue, it means He has teeth, it means He has gums, it means... and so on." All of this is due to the narrowness of their understanding and the shortness of their thinking. Their minds did not expand to accept that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is a real entity that contradicts these realities that Allah created. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created in this era, among the things He created, a deaf and dumb machine, which is the radio. We hear the radio speak in clear Arabic. It has no lips, no teeth, no palate, and no anything. This is, in fact, one of the greatest signs of Allah in this era to refute the interpreters, meaning the deniers, who imagine the necessary in His speech, but He is not like us. If we deny His speech, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created the radio to speak without what? Any machine, any tongue, from what is known to us. Because the mute, for example, why does he not speak? There is a defect in him. Of course, I am not a doctor. There is a defect in his physical composition... He speaks, so Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created.