The Statement of the Belief of the People of the Sunnah and the Community Regarding the Noble Qur'an, with a Refutation of Those Who Disagree with Them on This Matter

The Shaykh : We return to the text of this hadith, where it says: .
Here is an issue related to the science of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), and many of the later scholars, whom we call the Khalaf (the later generations), have deviated from the truth in this matter. This issue is the speech of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Is the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) truly speech such that it was not heard before, and when Allah spoke it, it became heard? Is it so? Or is it as the Asha'irah, the Maturidiyyah, and other Islamic sects say, that the speech of Allah is not heard, but rather it is internal speech, which they refer to as "internal speech" (kalam nafsi); that is, the speech from which the Qur'an and the noble hadiths originate was not spoken by Allah; this is the meaning of internal speech: that Allah did not speak it, and no one heard it from Him (Blessed and Exalted is He), neither from the angels nor from the humans, absolutely. And because of this deviation from the indication of the truth in the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), they came up with very strange things, such as distorting the verses of the Qur'an. For example, when Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) said to Musa: , the scholars of the Khalaf say: Allah did not say to Musa: , but rather the speech of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), and all His speech, is like His knowledge (Blessed and Exalted is He), subsisting in His essence, and no one can hear it, or rather perceive it as a human being. So how did Allah address Musa? Allah created speech in the tree, and the tree said to Musa: , and the tree said: !! This is what the people of the Mu'tazilah say, and those who were deceived by their words and misguidance in this matter from the Asha'irah and the Maturidiyyah.
Whereas there are explicit verses that the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is heard, and there are texts indicating that the speech of Allah is of two types: one is internal speech, but the other type, which is heard speech, is denied by the people of innovation, including those we mentioned and others. For example, in the authentic hadith—also a noble hadith: , , meaning among My servants . So the speech of Allah is of two types: internal speech, and what do we call it? Spoken speech. So internal speech is what was made explicit in this hadith; if a person remembers Allah in seclusion, remembering Allah secretly, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentions him in His self. But if he supplicates to Allah and remembers Allah within the hearing of people, Allah (Mighty and Majestic), by the principle of: , mentions this servant in an assembly better than the assembly from which this person remembered his Lord among them.
And this assembly, which is better than that assembly, without a doubt, is the angels. So if Allah mentions His servant with good in the presence of the angels, that means the angels hear Allah's mention of this servant who remembers Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in public. So this issue is, in reality, one of the issues in which the Khalaf (the later generations) opposed the righteous Salaf (the earliest generations), for they denied the reality of the speech of Allah and described it as internal speech.
And among the dangers of this deviation is that this Qur'an, which we Muslims take pride in over all other humans, is the speech of Allah, preserved in every letter that Allah revealed, and it is so. Among the dangers of saying and interpreting the speech of Allah as internal speech is denying that this Noble Qur'an is the speech of Allah. So here a question arises: Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned the disbelievers.

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Welcome, good evening, please go ahead.
He rebuked some of the disbelievers who said about this Noble Qur'an that it is the speech of humans, and they said: . This is a false statement, self-evident to Muslims. So what is the truth and the correct view that opposes this misguidance in speech? It is to say that the Qur'an is the speech of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and His saying; because the disbelievers said: . So what does the Muslim say and believe? It is nothing but the saying of the Lord of humans; that is, the saying and speech of the Lord of the worlds. So do these Khalaf (the later generations) say the opposite of what these disbelievers said, whom Allah rebuked for their saying this ?!
Unfortunately, their interpretation of the speech of Allah inscribed in the Noble Qur'an and in the noble hadiths, like this hadith that is now in your hands; all this speech is, in their view, not actually the speech of Allah, but rather it is created. And thus you know the danger of this belief; because there is no difference for the Muslim between a disbeliever who says: "This Qur'an is the speech of humans," and another who says: "This speech is not the speech of any human, but rather it is the speech of the master of humans." Is there a difference in misguidance between one who says: "This Qur'an is the speech of any human," and one who says that this speech is the speech of Muhammad, the master of humans?! Is there a difference in misguidance?!
Of course, the answer is: there is no difference; because the intention is to acknowledge that this speech—which is the Qur'an and the noble hadith—is the speech of Allah, not the speech of anyone else. So if Allah (Mighty and Majestic) condemned the polytheists for their saying about the Qur'an ; then whoever says: "This Qur'an is the saying of Muhammad (peace be upon him)," is also a disbeliever. And likewise—and there is absolutely no difference—if he says: "This speech is from the saying of Jibril (peace be upon him)," he is also a disbeliever; because the intention is for the believer to believe that the Qur'an is the speech of Allah and not the speech of anyone else. So there is no difference then, whether he attributes this Qur'an to any human, or to the master of humans, who is Muhammad (peace be upon him), or to the master of the angels, who is Jibril (peace be upon him); all of this is misguidance; because the intention is for the Muslim to believe that the Qur'an is the speech of Allah and nothing else.
So those who say that the speech of Allah is internal speech are faced with a question: Who spoke it? Who was the first to speak it? You find very strange statements and answers; some of them say: The Qur'an was written in the Preserved Tablet, and Jibril conveyed it. So what is the meaning of this? Who was the first to speak it? Jibril. So this speech is not the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) with this interpretation.
And others explicitly say: We do not know who was the first to speak it, but the speech of Allah is created. The Mu'tazilah differ from the Asha'irah in one aspect and agree with them in another. The Mu'tazilah are explicit in this misguidance; they say: The speech of Allah is created; that is, this Qur'an is created. And therefore, the dispute arose in the time of al-Ma'mun and after al-Ma'mun in this matter between the Mu'tazilah and the people of the Sunnah, led by Imam Ahmad (may Allah have mercy on him). So the Mu'tazilah explicitly state that this Qur'an is the speech of Allah, and based on that, it is not the speech of Allah but rather it is created. And based on that, they say: Who said to Musa: ?! The tree. And who said: , and , and so on; who said it in the opinion of the Mu'tazilah?! They say: This is speech that Allah created in the tree, so the tree spoke and Musa heard it.
As for the Asha'irah, they introduced innovations in speech so that they would not agree with the Mu'tazilah regarding the reality of their statement. They do not say that the speech of Allah is created; rather, they say, as the people of the Sunnah and the people of hadith say, that the speech of Allah is an attribute of Allah, and the attributes of Allah are like His essence; they are all eternal, and none of them is created. The Asha'irah do not hold the view of the Mu'tazilah, but in reality, they agree with them on that speech, albeit with some circumlocution and evasion in their explanation. They say: The eternal, ancient speech of Allah is the mental speech, the mental speech that is not heard, like knowledge. In truth, the mental speech and knowledge are the same; they are not something else. As for this speech that Musa heard and Muhammad (peace be upon him) heard, that is created. This is the statement of the Asha'irah in all their books, and it is part of the deviation that occurred among the later Muslims. We must all know that the Qur'an is the speech of Allah, from Him it originated—as the Salaf believed—and to Him it returns. The speech of Allah was heard by Musa directly from Him, and it was heard by Muhammad (peace be upon him) on the night he was ascended, from behind a veil. Yes, and the angels hear it. Indeed, it is mentioned in some hadiths that when Allah (Mighty and Majestic) speaks, His speech has a sound like the clanging of iron, like the sound of iron. The angels hear it and become humble and prostrate, fearing the Lord of the worlds. Then some of them ask one another: . The angels then speak about what Allah spoke to them. Before the mission of the Messenger (peace be upon him), the jinn would ascend to the layers of the sky to steal this speech that the angels discuss, which is what Allah spoke. The angels heard it and discussed it among themselves, and the jinn would steal the hearing. Then one of these jinn listeners would descend and convey it to his companion among the humans. Thus, the speech of Allah is heard by the angels and by the prophets. It is truly speech, not created, and it is not the mental speech that the Asha'irah claim. Rather, the mental speech is less than worth mentioning in relation to the true speech, as in that hadith we mentioned earlier: . As Imam al-Dhahabi says: This hadith combines the two types of speech; it establishes both, the mental speech and the verbal speech, if this expression is correct.
This is a topic that is actually lengthy, so this extent is sufficient for us.