—nothing whatsoever (1) can rival it in this respect, neither in its wording nor in the meanings to which that wording points. Thus, even if the Quran is explained or translated, the explanation or translation may convey the essential meaning or approach it, but to supply wording that elucidates the meaning with the same clarity as the wording of the Quran is altogether impossible. For this reason the leading scholars of the religion have agreed that it is impermissible to recite it in any language other than Arabic, whether one is able or unable to read Arabic, because doing so strips it of the status of being the very revelation itself. Translation is permissible, just as interpretation is permissible; yet it remains impermissible to recite it in the words of an interpretation—even though those words are closer to the original than the phrasing of any translation into another tongue.

The second fundamental is that, once the Quran is translated or read in translation, it conveys a meaning unique to it that no other speech can possibly match. The distance between this meaning and the meanings of all other discourse is far greater than the distance between its Arabic wording and the wordings and structures of other languages, and its miraculous quality in meaning is far greater than its miraculous quality in expression. Allah the Exalted says:

“Say, ‘If mankind and the jinn were to gather together to produce the like of this Quran, they could never produce anything like it, even if they supported one another.’” (2) [Quran 17:88]

This verse includes all of the foregoing. How, then, can it be said that the words read in Hebrew (3) and Syriac from the tawrah and the injil, or the renderings of that speech (4) into Persian and Turkish, are identical to the Arabic recitation that is the Quran? By sheer intuition we know that they are not its equal—neither in wording nor in meaning—much less that they should be the very same thing. Would anyone with the slightest (5) degree of reason or religious sense, who understands what he is saying, claim that these books and the revealed speech they contain point to their meanings in the same way that the Names of Allah point to Him? Or is it not plain to everyone that the Names of Allah, despite their variety… (6)