Seven Ways of Reading, One Eternal Speech

There is another thing that this also makes easy to understand: the seven, the sabʿat aḥruf of the Qur'an, meaning that the Qur'an has been revealed in seven ways of reading. There is a huge discussion about exactly what that means, and so on. But one thing is that, for example, one reads:

Ihdinā al-ṣirāṭa al-mustaqīm, ihdinā al-sirāṭa al-mustaqīm, with a sīn instead of a ṣād; or even al-zirāṭ al-mustaqīm, with the ishmām, as it is called. One reads:

Al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabbi al-ʿālamīn, al-raḥmāni al-raḥīm, māliki yawmi al-dīn, maliki yawmi al-dīn.

These are various different ways of reading the Qur'an. The word Ibrāhīm, read as Ibrāhām: there are different ways of reading that as well. Wa-l-ḍuḥā, wa-l-ḍuḥā, wa-l-ḍuḥā. This does not mean that there are various different forms in the speech of Allah. In the divine eternal speech of Allah (swt), it is one form; it is that eternal form. Though Allah allowed it to be read in different ways, that does not compromise the meanings. The meaning is all the same; there are just different ways of reading it, to facilitate it. That is another clarification.

The speech of Allah (swt) was discussed so deeply that a great many things have been mentioned about it. Only a few are mentioned here: those that are interesting, and relevant to us.

A few further points follow. Can it be said that the Qur'an is created? It is bad adab to say that; it is wrong to say that. Because when we say the Qur'an, we have to say the Qur'an is eternal, the Qur'an is the speech of Allah, because what we are referring to is the divine archetype. Yes, in order to educate, in a forum of education, these points need to be clarified, just so that we can avoid going to the level of those who say that the kalām of Allah includes words and sounds. This is actually the opinion of some of the Ḥanābilah: Ibn Taymiyyah (raḥimahullāh), and some of the people who follow him today; that is their opinion.

What do we have to say? We have to say that the Qur'an, the speech of Allah, is eternal. But in a forum of education, when it comes to that, one can say: look, this is different; this is not the eternal speech of Allah. We just make that distinction.