The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “Be aware! I have been given the Book, and with it something equal to it.” Thus he taught his community the Book, namely the noble Qur’an, and informed them that it is the speech of Allah, not his own speech. Concerning this Book the Almighty said:

“Say: If all mankind and the jinn banded together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they would never produce its like, even if they were to back one another up.” ⦗al-Isrāʾ 17:88⦘.

He also laid down the ruling that his community must recite it in their prayers, and that no prayer is valid without it. Alongside it he taught them the Wisdom that Allah sent down to him, and he distinguished the Wisdom from the Qur’an in several ways.

• First: the Qur’an is inimitable.

• Second: it is the Qur’an—rather than the Wisdom—that is to be recited during the prayer.

• Third: the Arabic wording of the Qur’an was revealed according to the fixed order of its verses, so no one may alter that wording in Arabic; this is agreed upon by all Muslims. Nevertheless, its meanings may be explained in Arabic and it may be translated into languages other than Arabic.

As for reciting it in Arabic with wording other than its own, that is unanimously forbidden among the Muslims. This is unlike the Wisdom he taught them, for the rulings governing its wording are not the same as those governing the wording of the Qur’an.