With regard to what it is permissible to say or not to say, whether that is obedience or disobedience, this is my guardian. We have detailed for you the people’s take on these demands.

[ Similarity and transcendence through meaning ]

As for beneficial knowledge in this matter, we say that just as He, Glory be to Him, does not resemble anything, likewise things do not resemble Him. The rational and legal evidence has been established to deny analogy and prove transcendence through meaning, and what remains of the matter is Except in applying the word to Him, Glory be to Him, who permitted it to be used in the Qur’an or on the tongue of His Messenger. As for using it to Him, it is not the case that the servant is commanded to do so, so using it is an obligatory obedience, and the one who utters it is rewarded and obedient, like his saying in the opening takbir, “God is Great,” and it is a word whose weight requires comparison. And He, Glory be to Him, [page 195 of the Cairo edition] does not make any difference, or He has a choice, so it is according to what the one who pronounces it and according to God’s ruling regarding it. And if we release it, then the person is not free to either divorce it and accompany himself in that release with the meaning understood from him in placing it with that tongue, or he does not release it except out of worship. legally according to what God intended in it without imagining the meaning that was placed for it in that language, like the Persian who does not know the Arabic language while reciting the Qur’an and does not understand its meaning, and he has the reward of recitation. Likewise the Arab in what is similar to the Qur’an and the Sunnah.