even though they were eloquent Arabs, and the believers nevertheless accepted it as true and were certain that it is, in reality, the word of Allah.

The Qur’an was revealed in the Arabs’ own language, employing the very letters with which they speak. They were bent on opposing the Messenger ﷺ, and had they been able to counter this Qur’an they would have spared no effort. Their total inability to do so proves that it is Allah’s speech—“falsehood cannot overtake it, neither from before it nor from behind it.”

Thus the people of faith affirm that the Qur’an is the word of Allah, while Muhammad ﷺ is only the one who conveyed it from Him.

As for the Almighty’s words, “Indeed, it is the speech of a noble messenger, endowed with power, secure in the presence of the Lord of the Throne” (At-Takwir 81:19–20), its ascription to Gabriel is from the angle of transmission. The Qur’an cannot simultaneously be the speech of Allah and the speech of Gabriel, for speech can issue only from one speaker; it cannot be described as the speech of more than one. Its attribution to Allah is literal, whereas its attribution to Gabriel is by way of conveyance.

In another verse He says, “Indeed, it is the speech of a noble messenger, and it is not the speech of a poet—how little you believe!” (Al-Haqqah 69:40–41), meaning Muhammad ﷺ; here again the attribution is one of delivery. Allah has therefore attributed the Qur’an at times to Himself, at times to Gabriel, and at times to Muhammad, yet a single discourse cannot be spoken by multiple speakers. Its relation to Allah is that of origination—it is His speech—whereas its relation to Gabriel and to Muhammad is that of transmission.

This is not figurative, as the Jahmiyyah and the Muʿtazilah claim; they contend that