“Indeed, everything apart from Allah is vain,”

or the words of Abd Allāh ibn Rawāha, who said:

“I bear witness that Allah’s promise is true,
And that the Fire is the unbelievers’ abode;
That the Throne floats above the water,
And above the Throne is the Lord of all worlds.”

Or his words:

“Among us is Allah’s Messenger, reciting His Book
When dawn’s unmistakable radiance breaks forth.
He spends the night keeping his side from his bed,
While the polytheists lie heavily upon theirs.
He showed us guidance after blindness; through him
Our hearts are certain that what he said will come to pass.”

The composer uttered this poetry—both its wording and its meaning—with his own movements and voice, and with its meaning present within him. It is his speech, not anyone else’s. Then, when a reciter recites it and conveys it from him, it is understood to be the original composer’s poetry, speech, composition and utterance, even though this second person recites it with his own movements and his own voice, and a meaning corresponding to that present in the first person’s heart is present in his own heart. The voice heard from the reciter is not the voice heard from the composer, and the poetry belongs to the composer, not the reciter—and one who narrates from the Prophet