If you say: His saying, "They will surely say, 'The Almighty, the All-Knowing created them,' and what has been enumerated of the attributes afterward, if it is from their saying..." Ahmad said: What appears is that the speech is divided; part of it is from their saying, and part of it is from the saying of Allah, the Exalted. What is from their saying is 'created them,' and what follows is from the saying of Allah, the Exalted. The essence of the speech is that they said: 'Allah created them,' and this is indicated by His saying in another verse, 'And if you ask them who created the heavens and the earth, they will surely say...' Then when they said: 'Allah created them,' Allah, the Exalted, described Himself with these attributes. Since the entire prior speech has its context and has been taken, the described was omitted from their words, and the mentioned attributes in the words of Allah, the Exalted, were placed in its place as if it were one speech. An example of this is when you say to a man: 'Who honored you from the people?' He says: 'Zaid honored me,' then you describe the mentioned: 'the generous, the giving, whose attributes are such and such.' Then when the transition occurred from their words to the words of Allah, the Exalted, His speech flowed according to what is known of eloquence, so the beginning came in the form of the third person and the end transitioned from it to the first person in His saying, 'So We brought forth.' All of this is a display of eloquence in various forms. From this pattern is His saying, the Exalted, as a narration from Musa: 'The knowledge of it is with my Lord in a Book; my Lord does not err and does not forget. He who made for you the earth a cradle and made paths for you in it, and sent down from the sky water, so We brought forth thereby pairs of various plants.' The beginning of the speech is a narration from Musa, up to His saying, 'and does not forget,' then the transition occurred from the speech of Musa to the speech of Allah, the Exalted, describing His essence with attributes connected to the words of Musa, until it is as if it were one speech. He began mentioning His attributes in the form of the third person until His saying, 'So We brought forth thereby pairs of various plants.' Look at the accuracy of the application between the two verses; you will see wonders. And Allah is the Grantor of success. What do you make of His saying, 'So We brought forth thereby a dead city; thus you will be brought forth'? And if it is from the saying of Allah, what is its meaning? I say: It is from the saying of Allah, not from their saying. The meaning of His saying, 'They will surely say, 'The Almighty, the All-Knowing created them,' is that He attributes the creation to the One whose attributes are such and such, and He will ascribe it to Him. In proportion that ensures the safety of the lands and the servants, and it was not a flood.