then produce a surah like it and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you are truthful. But if you do not—and you will never be able to—then beware of the Fire whose fuel is people and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.’ 1
From this verse two matters are made clear:

1. His words, ‘But if you do not—and you will never be able to—then beware of the Fire.’ In other words, once you fail to meet the challenge you must acknowledge that the Qur’an is the truth; therefore fear persisting in denial, lest the punishment promised to those who belie it overtake you.
2. His words, ‘and you will never be able.’ The particle lan is used to negate a possibility in the future, establishing that at no point in time will they be able to produce a single surah comparable to it, exactly as He has declared.

Allah, exalted be He, also commanded His Prophet ﷺ to proclaim in Surah Subḥān (al-Isrā’), a Makkan chapter that opens with the mention of the Night Journey—which, by the text of the Qur’an and the mass-transmitted reports, occurred in Mecca:
‘Say: Were mankind and jinn to gather together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could never produce the like of it, even if they were to support one another.’ 2
He instructed him to announce this declaration to all creation as a decisive miracle, affirming that even if they were to join forces and help one another they would still be incapable of producing anything comparable to this Qur’an. This is a challenge addressed to every creature, and everyone who has heard and recognized the Qur’an—elite and common alike—knows that no one has ever matched it or produced even a single surah like it. From the moment he ﷺ was sent until today the situation remains the same, despite the fact that all people were disbelievers before his mission and that, once he had been sent, only a small number followed him. The disbelievers were among the most zealous of people in their determination to refute his message, striving by every possible means: at times they would go to the People of the Scripture and query them about matters of the unseen so they could question him about them—such as the accounts of Joseph, the Companions of the Cave, and Dhū al-Qarnayn; they convened meeting after meeting to agree on what to say about him; and they began fabricating analogies, likening him to those who in reality bore no resemblance to him—despite the glaring difference—sometimes calling him a madman, at other times a sorcerer, a soothsayer