On the Relative Merit of Qur’anic Verses

The Qur’an was revealed to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and is now written in the maṣāḥif (codices). Viewed purely as divine speech, all of its verses are equal in excellence and majesty. Nevertheless, some verses possess a twofold superiority: the superiority of the wording itself and the superiority of what is being described. A case in point is Āyat al-Kursī (the Throne Verse), for it speaks of the sublime majesty, greatness, and attributes of Allah Most High; hence it gathers within itself both kinds of excellence—excellence of expression and excellence of subject. Other verses enjoy only the excellence of expression, such as those that recount the stories of the disbelievers; the ones mentioned therein—the disbelievers—possess no merit. In the same manner, all of the divine names and attributes share an equal degree of greatness and merit; there is no disparity among them.