accurately preserved; how much more so, then, given what has actually happened to it?

Al-Rāzī said: “As for his statement, ‘He placed His hand between my shoulders,’ there are two interpretations. The first is that it expresses the utmost care and concern for him. People say, ‘So-and-so has a hand in this craft,’ meaning that he is fully proficient in it.”

The reply is: This is self-evidently untenable for several reasons.

First, when he says, “Then He placed His palm between my shoulders until I felt the coolness of His fingertips upon my chest, and I came to know what is in the heavens and the earth,” this wording is explicit and unequivocal in its meaning. How, then, could it possibly be construed otherwise?

Second, it is well known that such wording does not express care and concern in the language, either literally or figuratively. What comparison is there between their saying, “So-and-so has a hand in this craft,” and someone saying, “He placed His hand between my shoulders until I felt the coolness of His fingertips between my breasts, or upon my chest”?

Third, who says that the expression “So-and-so has a hand in this craft” means that he is fully proficient in it? Admittedly, “hand” is used to express ability, so one says: