on His behalf or relayed on His behalf. Once this meaning is understood, the confusion is dispelled. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, narrates from his Lord, reports from his Lord, and recounts from his Lord. He thus relates the speech that his Lord spoke, narrating and recounting it from Him.

If someone who says that the Quran is a “recounting” meant that Muhammad recounted it from Allah—just as one says that he conveyed it from Allah and relayed it from Allah—he would have intended a sound meaning. But what they intend is the meaning conveyed by saying, “So-and-so imitates so-and-so,” meaning that he does as the other does: namely, that he utters speech like Allah’s speech. This is false. Allah Most High says:

“Say, ‘If mankind and the jinn gathered together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce its like, even if they helped one another.’”

The crux of the matter is that what counts is the intended reality, not the means sought for the sake of something else. Thus, if someone wishes to see a face, for example, and sees it in a mirror, his purpose is fulfilled, and he says, “I saw the face,” even though this occurred through the reflection of light rays in the mirror. Likewise, someone may wish to hear the words spoken by another person, who composed their wording and intended their meanings. If he hears them from that person or from someone else, his purpose is fulfilled, even though hearing them from someone else involves the intermediary of that person’s voice, which varies from speaker to speaker.

Hearts are directed only toward what is intended, not toward that through which it becomes manifest. This is likewise the case with “the name and the one named.” When someone says, “Zayd came and Amr went,” his sole intention is to report that “the one named” has come