I say:

Most scholars dispute his statement that a short surah possesses no inimitability. They maintain that even a short surah is inimitable. Indeed, some of our fellow scholars disputed his claim even regarding one or two verses. Abū Bakr Ibn al-‘Imād—the teacher of my grandfather Abū al-Barakāt—said:

“I do not consider his statement correct that a person in a state of major ritual impurity may recite a small portion of the Quran only because it possesses no inimitability. The whole of it is inviolable. Such a person was permitted to recite part of a verse only to afford ease to the legally accountable person, with consideration for attaining reward and for hardship, while its inviolability remains intact. Likewise, he was permitted to pray with a small amount of blood present, despite its impurity.”

I say:

As for his statement that the Quran was revealed in the language of the Arabs, that is true. More specifically, it was revealed in the tongue of Quraysh, as the Most High says:

“We never sent a messenger except in the language of his people.”

‘Umar and ‘Uthmān said: “This Quran was revealed in the language of this tribe, Quraysh.” Thus, anyone who says that the expressions it contains are not figurative, while their counterparts in Arabic speech are figurative, contradicts himself. However, our fellow scholars who said that the Quran contains no figurative expression are not known to have acknowledged that the Arabic language contains figurative expression. They therefore need not be guilty of contradiction.

Moreover, one may say that Arabic contains figurative expression of a kind whose counterpart is not found in the Quran. The speech of created beings contains exaggeration and reckless overstatement—in praise, satire, al-murā’ī, and other forms—from which the speech of a wise person should be kept free, let alone the speech of Allah. If someone applies the designation “figurative” only to speech of this kind, he is not obliged to apply that designation to