Several historical accounts of divine speech must be distinguished. Some theologians, especially Muʿtazilites, regarded speech as originated and created. Some accepted the temporality of letters and sounds but denied an eternal inner meaning. Others proposed originated speech subsisting in the divine subject.
For each view, the key question is: what does “speech” mean? Sounds, letters, their expression, or an underlying attribute? Failure to distinguish these senses produces false equivalences.
A position should be evaluated against what it actually claims, not against a simplified claim ascribed to it.