Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
This matter requires clarification and detail. It is not correct to make the unrestricted statement that “the Arabic letters are created” in a way that includes the Speech of Allah Almighty. Likewise, it is not correct to say that the sounds and letters produced by human beings are uncreated. The correct position is that the Qur’an is the Speech of Allah Almighty, uncreated in both its letters and meanings, whereas human speech, sounds, and movements are created.
The Noble Qur’an is the Speech of Allah Almighty. Allah truly spoke it; therefore, it is uncreated, both its letters and meanings.
As for a person when he recites the Qur’an, his voice, movement, and act of recitation are created, because these are the actions and sounds of a servant. However, the speech he recites is the Speech of Allah Almighty and is not created human speech.
Therefore, it is incorrect to confuse the Speech of Allah with the reciter’s voice through which he conveys the Speech of Allah.
Letters may occur in the Speech of Allah and may also occur in the speech of created beings. Therefore, they cannot be given one single ruling merely because they are letters.
A letter pronounced by a human being in his own speech belongs to human speech, and human speech is created, as are their sounds and movements.
As for the letters with which Allah Almighty spoke in the Qur’an, they are part of His Speech, and the Qur’an is uncreated.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, explained this matter in detail and clarified that the rulings differ according to the speaker, the meaning, and the context, and that merely sharing some letters between the Speech of Allah and human speech does not make their rulings identical.
For example, if a person says a word from the Qur’an, the word, insofar as it is Qur’an, is the Speech of Allah. As for the reciter’s voice and movement in pronouncing it, these are created.
No.
The sounds of human beings are created, and their movements are created. The ink of the muṣḥaf and the paper on which it is written are also created.
As for what is written—the Speech of Allah—it is uncreated.
Thus, Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, distinguished between the two matters: all human speech is created, both its letters and meanings, whereas the Qur’an is uncreated, both its letters and meanings.
This distinction removes the confusion that arises when some people mix up speech in terms of its speaker with the voice or writing in terms of the servant’s action.
If what is meant by “the Arabic language” is the language spoken by people, consisting of words, structures, sounds, rules, and usages, then it is among the things learned and spoken by created beings, and the actions and sounds of servants are created.
But if the expression “the Arabic language” is intended to mean the Arabic Speech with which Allah Almighty spoke in the Qur’an, then it should not be said that the Qur’an is created. Rather, the Qur’an is the Speech of Allah Almighty and is uncreated.
Therefore, the unrestricted statement:
“The Arabic language is created”
may be ambiguous and misleading, and it should not be stated without clarification, because the listener may understand from it that the Qur’an is created speech, which is false.
It is more precise to say:
The language, sounds, and speech of human beings are created, whereas the Qur’an that Allah spoke is the Speech of Allah, uncreated in both its letters and meanings.
The Qur’an is the Speech of Allah Almighty, and it is written in the Preserved Tablet.
Allah Almighty says:
“Rather, it is a Glorious Qur’an, in a Preserved Tablet.” [al-Burūj 85:21–22]
The fact that the Qur’an is written on something created does not mean that the Qur’an itself is created. The ink, paper, and tablet are created, whereas the speech written upon them is the Speech of Allah Almighty.
This is similar to what Ahl as-Sunnah have stated concerning the muṣḥaf: the paper, ink, and writing, insofar as they result from the actions of human beings, are created, whereas the Qur’an written therein is the uncreated Speech of Allah.
No.
The letters used by human beings may be the same in terms of their written forms, but the ruling differs according to what they are attributed to.
If a person writes speech of his own, his speech is created.
If he writes a Qur’anic verse, the written speech is the uncreated Speech of Allah, even though the movement of his hand, the paper, and the ink are created things.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, established that the rulings concerning letters differ according to their meanings and according to the speaker who utters them.
This is one of the reasons for honoring the Speech of Allah Almighty and not treating it like human speech.
It is not correct to say without qualification, “The Arabic language is created,” if this is intended to include the Qur’an in that ruling. Likewise, it is not correct to say that human speech and their sounds are uncreated.
The correct distinction is:
Therefore, when discussing this matter, it is preferable to avoid ambiguous expressions and to state clearly:
The Qur’an is the Speech of Allah, uncreated, and human speech is created.
And Allah knows best.