who follows discourse or an utterance put forward in opposition to the Quran—of which it is said that its speaker receives it through inspiration and revelation, or that he composes and originates it—is among the gravest wrongdoers. Thus, when Allah, glorified be He, mentioned the statement of those who failed to give Him His due esteem by denying that revelation was sent down to human beings, He mentioned the three categories of those who imitate him and claim to match him.

For someone claiming to match him either says, “Allah has revealed to me”; or says, “It was revealed to me,” “It was imparted to me,” or “I was told,” without naming the speaker; or attributes it to himself and states that he himself composed it.

These possibilities exhaust the alternatives because he either leaves the agent unnamed or names him. If he names him, he presents it either as Allah’s speech or as his own. If he presents it as the speech of devils, it will not be accepted from him. Whatever he presents as the speech of angels falls within what he attributes to Allah or what he expresses without naming its agent. Allah Most High therefore said:

“Who does greater wrong than someone who fabricates a lie against Allah, or says, ‘Revelation has come to me,’ when nothing has been revealed to him, or says, ‘I will send down the like of what Allah has sent down’?”

Reflect on how He grouped the first two within the category of someone who presents it as revelation from Allah without naming the revealer. Both belong to the same class in claiming to receive communications, whereas He placed the other in the category of someone who claims to produce its like. Thus He said:

“Someone who fabricates a lie against Allah,”

then said:

“Or says, ‘I will send down the like of what Allah has sent down.’”

The fabricator of lies and the person who says, “Revelation has come to me,” when nothing has been revealed to him, both fall under the first designation, to which the other designation is conjoined. These, then, are the three who lay claim to a semblance of prophethood. Before them, the denier of prophethood had already been mentioned.