Is the speech of Allah described as sequential?

The questioner : The questioner asks, May the Shaykh be respected, is the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) described as sequential? We request clarification.

The Shaykh : With what?

The questioner : Sequential.

The Shaykh : Sequential?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Sequential?

The questioner : Yes, that is right.

The Shaykh : Yes. The speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is described as sequential, without doubt. As for the one who says it is not described as sequential, based on the idea that speech is the meaning subsisting in Himself (Blessed and Exalted is He), or based on the joining of letters to one another in the Book of Allah, that is a misguided statement and not correct. Did not Allah reveal the Qur'an to His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)? And did He not name it His speech? He said: . Is the Qur'an arranged and sequential or not? Without doubt, some of it was revealed before some, and it is arranged accordingly. Which comes first, "Al" or "al-Alamin"? "Al," without doubt. Without doubt. And there is no dispute in this. But these estimations and these thoughts appeared after the appearance of the condemned science of kalam, which the Ummah has not been afflicted with anything like, until they followed those scholars they followed, and those who were misguided were misguided in it. Otherwise, if the matter had remained on the fitrah (the innate natural disposition), these problems would not have occurred. Many of the scholars of kalam, who are imams in the science of kalam, say at the time of death, "I die upon the creed of my mother." Meaning, they abandoned everything they used to say and returned to what? To the fitrah. For this reason, whoever is afflicted with the science of kalam—may Allah protect us and you from it—whoever is afflicted with the science of kalam, it is possible that his end will be sealed with a bad ending. Some scholars said that the people most anxious about death are the people of kalam who make such estimations. "The speech of Allah is not sequential; the speech of Allah is a meaning subsisting in the Self, and so on." My brother, Glory be to Allah! The Lord (Mighty and Majestic) speaks with His prophets and messengers and says: . And you say, "No, there is no voice, no call, no nearness." Glory be to Allah! Are you more knowledgeable about Allah than Allah? The cause of all this is the science of kalam and returning to the intellect and making the intellect the judge in matters concerning the names and attributes of Allah. Glory be to Allah! We deny with the utmost denial those who make laws the judge in the actions of the servants. So how do these people come and make intellects the judge in the names and attributes of Allah? We seek help from Allah.
Then, as Imam Malik or others said: "I wish I knew by what intellect the Book and the Sunnah are weighed? By the intellect of Zayd or 'Abd? By the intellect of whom?" And Imam Malik says: "Do we take the word of every man who comes to us who is more eloquent than another, and leave the Book and the Sunnah?" I warn students of knowledge, and I also warn those who have read in the science of theology (kalam). I warn them lest they be afflicted by this science and say what Allah has informed us about Himself: We have heard and we obey, and we believe. He rose above the Throne in reality. And its meaning is not that He took possession, for Allah has taken possession of everything. He rose above the Throne, exalting above the Throne with an exaltation befitting His Majesty and His Greatness. The end. The Face of Allah is true. But is it like our faces? Never. up to His saying: . The result is that Allah has a Face that does not resemble our faces. Now, the Hand of Allah . We affirm the Hand for Allah, and that Allah has two hands; we affirm this. Then, if Satan comes to you and says, "If you affirm this, you have likened Allah to creation," say, "No, I affirm it and pair it with His saying: . And I say, I affirm for Allah two hands that do not resemble the hands of creation, neither humans nor other than humans. So, my brother, fear Allah in yourself. Do not be held accountable, do not meet your Lord on the Day of Resurrection, and before the Day of Resurrection, after death, while you deny something of His attributes based on weak intellects with which you contradict the speech of Allah and the speech of His Messenger. If the speech of Allah is true, it is heard, both with a faint voice and with a non-faint voice. And the speech of Allah is sequential. Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim: the sin after the ba, and the mim after the sin, and the alif after the mim. And so on. What defect is there if we describe Allah with this attribute? Answer. Nothing, nothing. This is the truth. By Allah, no one has harmed Islam as the scholars of theology have harmed it, for they led nations astray. And glory to Allah! Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and may Allah grant us and you his intercession. He did not go to what these people went to. The Companions, who were the most eager of people to know Allah and His names and attributes, did not follow this path, nor did they ask the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) such a question. Rather, they would say, "We believe and we have believed, and glory to You, there is nothing like You." And by this you are safe, safe in creed, safe from sin, safe from misguidance. And if the scholars of theology, indeed the foremost of the scholars of theology, all acknowledge that they have not achieved anything. Al-Razi, who is one of their scholars, one of their foremost, says: "By my life, I have traversed all the academies". He says:
"The limit of the intellect's advance is a halt *** And the most of the scholars' effort is misguidance.
And our souls are in loneliness from our bodies *** And the limit of our worldly life is harm and calamity." .
Listen to "the limit of our worldly life." Listen: "The limit of our worldly life is harm and calamity." .
"And we have not benefited from our research throughout our lives *** Except that we gathered therein 'it is said' and 'it is said.'
We have not benefited from our research throughout our lives *** Except that we gathered therein 'it is said' and 'it is said.'" .
I have reflected upon the paths of kalam and the philosophical methodologies, and I have not seen them quench thirst or cure illness. And I have seen the closest paths to be the paths of the Qur'an. I read the saying of Allah the Exalted: . And I read: . "And whoever has experienced what I have experienced knows what I know." .
Listen, from the great ones, from the great imams of the people of kalam. And yet, they admitted that they did not gather in their long lives except what? What? Except "it is said" and "it is said." And that the closest paths are the paths of the Qur'an. I read in negation and I read in affirmation , meaning, and I affirm the rising above. And I say, it is not like our rising above. This is the meaning of his statement, and this is the truth. And we accept from Al-Razi and others that they say the truth. But we do not accept falsehood in any way. My advice to you, O brothers, is to believe in Allah and His Messenger, to believe in what came in the Book and the Sunnah regarding the names and attributes of Allah, not to seek an alternative to them, not to return to weak intellects. Return to the speech of the One who is more knowledgeable about Himself and about others than who? Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is the advice I say to you from this place, from the Prophet's Mosque, the mosque of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). Yes.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O honorable Shaykh.