11 –
“And those who disbelieve say, ‘This is nothing but a lie he has devised, and other people have helped him with it.’ Thus they have produced injustice and falsehood. (4) And they say, ‘It is nothing but the tales of the ancients that he has had written down; they are recited to him morning and evening.’ (5) Say, ‘It has been sent down by the One who knows every secret in the heavens and on the earth. Truly He is ever-Forgiving, ever-Merciful.’ (6) [al-Furqan 4–6].

Allah, exalted is He, mentions here the slander cast by those who denied Muhammad—may blessings and peace be upon him—and the spurious objections they raised, objections whose falsehood they themselves and everyone else knew full well. They claimed that he had fabricated this Quran (1), and that other people had assisted him in doing so. Allah rebutted this hideous assertion, declaring it outrageous injustice and brazen falsehood; the listener wonders how their souls could have emboldened them to utter such nonsense. It is sheer calumny and wrongdoing, for they were certain of his unmatched truthfulness and trustworthiness. They knew he had never sat with scholars nor travelled in search of learning, that he had grown up among an illiterate nation mired in ignorance and waywardness, yet he brought them this magnificent Book—unparalleled in greatness, unsurpassed in profundity of meaning and abundance of knowledge, unrivalled in eloquence of wording and content, and perfect in its rulings, wisdom, and structure.

He challenged the furthest and the nearest of them, their individuals and their groups, their first and their last, to produce its like, or ten surahs like it, or even a single surah like it. He declared plainly that if they could do so they would be truthful, and they were the foremost masters of eloquence and rhetoric—yet they were utterly incapable of rivaling it or bringing anything comparable. Their impotence became evident to themselves and to others, and the falsity of their claim was laid bare.

Everyone who has ever tried to fashion speech in opposition to what the Messenger brought has seen his words become a laughingstock for children, let alone for people of reason and insight.