The first interpretation, although correct in meaning, is only part of this explanation. As for taking the second to be what the verse means, that is mistaken, because the fact that the Lord—glorified is He—knows something does not indicate that it is either praiseworthy or blameworthy. He knows all things. No one would say that He sent it down without knowing it. Yet someone might suppose that He sent it down without His knowledge—meaning that it does not contain His knowledge—and that it was sent down by Satan, as the Most High says:

“Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend? They descend upon every sinful liar.”

He Himself sends the devils forth and causes them to descend, but the speech they bring is not sent down from Him, nor is it sent down with Allah’s knowledge. Rather, it is sent down bearing the lies and other things the devils utter. This is why, whenever He—glorified is He—mentions the Quran being sent down, He specifies that it is sent down from Him, as in His words:

“The revelation of the Book is from Allah.”

“Those to whom We have given the Scripture know that it has been sent down from your Lord in truth.”

“Say: The Holy Spirit has brought it down from your Lord in truth.”

This is among the evidence used by Imam Ahmad and other leading scholars of the Sunnah to establish that the Quran is Allah’s speech, not something created that He brought into being in a locus other than Himself. Had that been the case, it would have been sent down from that locus, not from Allah. He also stated that it was sent down with Allah’s knowledge, that it is from Allah’s knowledge, and that Allah’s knowledge is uncreated.