the Scripture, who believe in superstition and false objects of worship” [al-Nisā’ 51], this wording cannot mean faith in Allah. There are many such examples.

The third point is that his argument assumes an assignment of meanings to words distinct from their actual use in speech. This might be claimed for certain nouns, such as proper names. But regarding the expressions used in the language of the Arabs, in which the Quran was revealed, anyone claiming that a group of Arabs assigned them to categories before using them for those categories would need transmitted evidence of this—and there is no way to obtain it. Had such a thing occurred, there would have been ample interest and incentive to transmit it. No one claimed that all languages arose by convention in this sense except Abū Hāshim al-Jubbā’ī, and I know of no one who held this view before him. A fuller discussion of this belongs elsewhere.

The fourth point concerns the example he gave. He said: “An example of this in the Quran is the Most High’s statement:

‘And when We intend to destroy a city, We command its affluent, but they defiantly disobey therein’ [al-Isrā’ 16].

The apparent meaning of this statement is that they are commanded to