He—glorified be He—knows what is in minds and has created what exists in external reality; both are made by Him. Yet He brings about what exists externally by creating it, and what exists in the mind by teaching it. He is the One who “created,” “created man from a clinging clot,” and He is “the Most Generous,” “who taught by the pen,” “taught man what he did not know.”

His words, “taught by the pen,” include His teaching the recording angels and His teaching the writing of the revealed Books. Through the pen, He taught how to write down His speech which He revealed, such as the Torah and the Quran. Indeed, He Himself wrote the Torah for Moses.

The fact that Muhammad was an unlettered prophet makes what he brought all the more miraculous and extraordinary, and demonstrates all the more clearly that the teaching he received surpasses all other teaching. As the Most High said:

“You did not recite any Scripture before it, nor did you write it with your right hand; otherwise, those who follow falsehood would have doubted.”

Others know what others have written—such is people’s knowledge of what they write—whereas Allah taught him this through what He revealed to him. This speech revealed to him is a sign and proof of his prophethood, for neither mankind nor jinn can produce it:

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

“Or do they say, ‘He fabricated it’? Say, ‘Then produce a surah like it and call upon whomever you can besides Allah, if you are truthful.’”

And in the other verse: “Then produce ten surahs