—from Him it originated, as speech whose manner is beyond our grasp, and He revealed it to His Messenger as revelation. Gabriel and Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon them—were only messengers conveying on behalf of Allah; speech is attributed to the one who first utters it, not to the one who merely transmits and delivers it.

Whoever therefore claims that Gabriel obtained it from the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ), or that Allah created it in some entity and Gabriel then took it from that entity, has disbelieved in Allah with a disbelief that expels him from the religion, as is asserted by the Jahmiyyah, the Muʿtazilah, and all who follow their path. Rather, it is the speech of Allah—its letters and its meanings alike. Allah spoke it in whatever manner He willed. We therefore describe Allah as One who speaks; speech is among His active attributes. As for the modality with which He spoke, we say: Allah alone knows it. Like all His attributes, we affirm it while relinquishing knowledge of its ‘how’; the meaning is clear, but the manner remains unknown to us.

In other words, the Qur’an descended from Allah: He spoke it and sent it down; it came from no one else and began with no one else. It did not, as they allege, originate with Gabriel, or with the Preserved Tablet, or with the air. Its inception is with Allah; Gabriel heard it and conveyed it to the Prophet ﷺ as revelation, and the Prophet ﷺ conveyed it to humankind. Had this Qur’an been human speech, anyone would have been able to produce a single surah comparable to it. Their failure proves that it is indeed the speech of Allah. The Exalted said: “If you are in doubt about what We have sent down to Our servant, then produce a surah like it and call upon your witnesses besides Allah, if you are truthful” (al-Baqarah 2:23); and He said: “Or do they say, ‘He has fabricated it’? Say: Then bring ten fabricated surahs like it” (Hud 11:13). Thus Allah rendered them powerless, even though they were eloquent Arabs,