is like a human being, a human being is like a horse and a donkey, a horse and a donkey are like a quince and a pomegranate, a pomegranate is like gold and silver, and gold and silver are like bread and meat. Nor does the language in which the Quran was revealed imply that any two things sharing dimensionality—each having dimensions such as length, breadth, and depth—are therefore alike. Nor does it imply that they are alike if each can be pointed to as a perceptible object. Indeed, it does not even imply that any two things composed of indivisible atoms, or of matter and form, are alike.

Rather, the language in which the Quran was revealed makes clear that two human beings may not be alike, although both are bodies endowed with sensation, growth, voluntary movement, reason, the capacity to laugh, and exposed skin. As the Most High says:

“If you turn away, He will replace you with another people, and they will not be like you.”
[Muhammad: 38]

He thus makes clear that He will replace them with people unlike those being addressed. He has denied that they are alike, despite their sharing the characteristics we have mentioned.

How, then, could their language imply that every human being is like every other human being—indeed, like every animal, every growing body endowed with sensation, every generated elemental body, and every body, celestial or otherwise?

Allah sent the Messenger only in the language of his people: the Quraysh in particular, and the Arabs in general. He did not reveal the Quran in the language of those who say, “Bodies are alike,” such that the Quran should be interpreted according to their usage.