“upon your heart,” down to His words:

“And indeed, it is in the scriptures of the former peoples. Is it not a sign to them that the scholars of the Children of Israel know it?”

What is in the scriptures of the former peoples is not the Quran itself that was sent down to Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This Quran was not sent down to anyone before him, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Rather, those earlier scriptures contain mention of the Quran and information about it, just as they contain mention of Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and information about him. Likewise, people’s deeds are in the records, as the Most High says:

“Everything they have done is in the records.”

One must therefore distinguish between these things being in the records and speech itself being in the records, as the Most High says:

“Indeed, it is a noble Quran, in a well-guarded Book.”

And the Most High says:

“Reciting purified scriptures, containing upright writings.”

Whoever says that the ink is eternal without beginning is mistaken. Whoever says that Allah’s speech is not in the written copy of the Quran, and that it contains only ink representing Allah’s speech, is also mistaken. Rather, the Quran is in the written copy just as other speech is on paper. This is the consensus of the Muslim community and accords with Muslims’ innate understanding.

Each level has its own distinctive status. The presence of speech in a book is not like the presence of an attribute in the one possessing it—for example, knowledge and life being present in their respective subjects—such that one could say that Allah’s attribute has come to dwell in something other than Him or has become separated from Him. Nor is its presence there that of a mere indication, like the existence of the world that points to the Creator, Most High, such that one could say: “It contains nothing but a sign pointing to the speech of Allah, Mighty and Majestic”;