Attribute of Speech of Allah: Ashāri vs Salafi - A Comprehensive Analysis
Introduction
The question of Allah’s speech (kalam) has been one of the most significant theological debates in Islamic history. This article examines the fundamental differences between the Ash’ari and Salafi positions on this crucial matter of aqeedah, presenting the evidence and arguments from both perspectives.
The Ash’ari Position: Internal Speech (Al-Kalam Al-Nafsi)
The Ash’aris uniquely affirmed the attribute of internal speech (al-kalam al-nafsi) for Allah, Glory be to Him. They maintain:
“Indeed, Allah’s speech is eternal, and it is all one. Thus, command, prohibition, and information are all one speech, and they do not affirm what Ahl al-Sunnah wal Jama’ah established regarding Allah speaking whenever He wills with letter and sound.”
According to the Ash’aris, His speech is an eternal attribute that does not renew, while Ahl al-Sunnah say: Allah’s speech is eternal in type but temporal in individual instances.
Historical Development of the Ash’ari Position
Abu Nasr Al-Sijzi said:
“Know – may Allah guide us and you – that there was no disagreement among creation, despite their different creeds from the beginning of time until the era when Ibn Kullab, Al-Qalanisi, Al-Ash’ari, and their contemporaries appeared, regarding the fact that speech consists only of letters and sound with composition and arrangement, even though languages may differ…”
The consensus was established among rational people that speech consists of letters and sound. When Ibn Kullab and his associates emerged and attempted to refute the Mu’tazilites through mere rational argument, they faced a logical challenge:
“Whatever has these characteristics cannot be among the essential attributes of Allah, because Allah’s essence, Glory be to Him, cannot be described with combination and separation, wholeness and parts, or movement and stillness.”
Key Ash’ari Scholars and Their Statements
Al-Ash’ari (d. 324 H) said:
“We say: Allah’s Speech is not created, and that He, Glory be to Him, does not create anything except He says to it: ‘Be’… and whoever says the Quran is created is a disbeliever.”
Al-Baqillani (d. 403 H) stated:
“Allah’s Speech is an attribute of His essence that has always existed and will always exist as His attribute, and it subsists in His essence and is specific to His essence, and its existence cannot be valid in other than Him.”
Al-Ghazali explained:
“A person is called a speaker in two considerations: 1. through sound and letter, 2. the other: through speech of the soul (kalam nafsi) which is not sound and letter, and that is perfection, and it is not impossible regarding Allah the Exalted, nor does it indicate temporal occurrence, and we only affirm for Allah the Exalted the speech of the soul (Kalam nafsi).”
The Salafi Position: Eternal Speech with Letters and Sound
The position of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, as represented by the Salaf and their followers, maintains that Allah speaks with letters and sound when He wills, and His speech is eternal in type but temporal in individual instances.
Evidence from the Salaf
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal said:
“The Quran is Allah’s speech and is not created. And one should not be weak in saying: it is not created, for Allah’s speech is not separate from Him, and nothing of it is created.”
Abu Bakr Al-Marwadhi reported:
“I heard Abu Abdullah – meaning: Ahmad bin Hanbal – and it was said to him: Abdul-Wahhab has spoken and said: ‘Whoever claims that Allah spoke to Moses without sound is a Jahmi, an enemy of Allah and an enemy of Islam.’ So Abu Abdullah smiled and said: ‘How excellent is what he said! May Allah grant him health!’”
Abdullah bin Ahmad said:
“I asked my father, may Allah have mercy on him, about people who say: When Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, spoke to Moses, He did not speak with a sound. My father said: Yes, indeed your Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, spoke with a sound. We narrate these hadiths as they came.”
Evidence from Quranic Verses
Allah the Most High said:
“But when he came to it, he was called from the right side of the valley in the blessed spot from the tree, ‘O Moses, indeed I am Allah, Lord of the worlds.’” [Al-Qasas: 30]
And Allah, Glorified is He, said:
“And the Day He will call them and say, ‘What did you answer the messengers?’” [Al-Qasas: 65]
And Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said:
“And when your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.’” [Al-Baqarah: 30]
Evidence from Hadith
Zaid bin Khalid Al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him) said:
“The Prophet ﷺ led us in the morning prayer at Hudaibiyah. Then he said: ‘Do you know what your Lord said last night?’ They said: ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said: ‘This morning some of My servants became believers in Me and some disbelievers…’”
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said:
“When Allah decrees a matter in heaven, the angels beat their wings in submission to His word, [making a sound] like a chain [being dragged] on a smooth rock. When fear is removed from their hearts, they say, ‘What has your Lord said?’ They say to the one who asked, ‘The truth, and He is the Most High, the Most Great.’”
Abdullah ibn Masud (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said:
“When Allah speaks with revelation, the inhabitants of heaven hear for the heaven a sound like the dragging of a chain on a smooth rock, and they fall unconscious. They remain in that state until Jibreel comes to them. When Jibreel comes to them and fear is removed from their hearts, they say: ‘O Jibreel, what did your Lord say?’ He says: ‘The Truth,’ and they say: ‘The Truth, The Truth.’”
Ibn Taymiyyah’s Analysis
Ibn Taymiyyah provided a comprehensive analysis of the different positions on Allah’s speech:
“The position of the Salaf, the jurists, and the majority is that speech is a name for the utterance and the meaning in a general way. So when it is said: ‘Someone spoke,’ what is understood from it unconditionally is both the utterance and the meaning together.”
He identified nine different positions on the matter of Allah’s speech:
- First: That Allah’s speech is what overflows upon souls from meanings that emanate
- Second: That it is created, Allah created it separate from Himself
- Third: That it is one eternal meaning subsisting in Allah’s essence
- Fourth: That it consists of eternal letters and sounds combined in pre-eternity
- Fifth: That it consists of letters and sounds, but He spoke with them after not being a speaker
- Sixth: The position of those who say: He has always been speaking when He wills, whenever He wills, and however He wills
- Seventh: His speech returns to what occurs from His knowledge and will
- Eighth: His speech includes a meaning subsisting in His essence and what He creates in others
- Ninth: Allah’s speech is shared between the eternal meaning subsisting in the essence and what He creates in others of sounds
The Correct Position: Ahl al-Sunnah
Ibn Taymiyyah explained the correct position:
“The Salaf and the Imams of Sunnah and Hadith say: Indeed Allah speaks by His will and power, and His speech is not created, rather His speech is an attribute of His that subsists in His essence… They agree that He has always been speaking when He wills and however He wills… They say: It is an attribute of essence and action, He speaks by His will and power with speech that subsists in His essence.”
Ibn Uthaymeen summarized the Ash’ari position and its refutation:
“The Ash’aris said: Allah’s speech is a meaning existing in itself that is not connected to His will, and these letters and audible sounds are created to express the meaning that exists in Allah’s Self! We respond to them with the following: 1- It contradicts the consensus of the Salaf. 2- It contradicts the evidences, because they indicate that Allah’s speech is heard, and only sound can be heard, not the meaning that exists within oneself. 3- It contradicts what is known, because known speech is what the speaker utters, not what they conceal within themselves.”
Conclusion
The fundamental difference between the two positions lies in their understanding of what constitutes speech:
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Ash’aris: Maintain that Allah’s true speech is an eternal meaning existing in His essence, while the letters and sounds we hear are merely expressions or narrations of that eternal speech.
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Salafis: Maintain that Allah’s speech consists of letters and sounds, and He speaks whenever He wills, however He wills, with speech that subsists in His essence.
The evidence from the Quran, authentic hadith, and the statements of the Salaf overwhelmingly support the position that Allah speaks with letters and sound, and this is the position that aligns with the understanding of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah throughout Islamic history.
Source: Adapted from World Dawah