Another aspect of sincere counsel to the Book of Allah is to believe, with certainty, that Allah the Exalted truly spoke this Qur’an and that it is His very speech—both its letters and its meanings. Speech is not merely letters devoid of meanings, nor meanings divorced from letters; rather, it is the speech of Allah in wording and in signification. He spoke it; Gabriel received it from Him, and then brought it down to Muhammad ﷺ. Allah Most High says:

“Indeed, it is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds, brought down by the Trustworthy Spirit, upon your heart so that you may be one of the warners, in a clear Arabic tongue” (Surah al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:192–195).

Note how He says, “upon your heart,” even though the Messenger ﷺ heard it with his ears. If what the ear hears does not reach the heart, it does not take root in the soul. Nothing takes root in the soul unless it reaches the heart—whether through the ear, the eye’s sight, the hand’s touch, the nose’s smell, or the mouth’s taste. What matters is where it settles, and that is the heart; hence His words, “upon your heart so that you may be one of the warners.”

In light of this, it is no part of sincere counsel for someone to say, “This Qur’an is only an expression of Allah’s speech, not His actual speech,” or to claim that it is a created thing among Allah’s creations, or the like. Rather, sincere counsel requires believing that it is truly the speech of Allah—both word and meaning.

Still another form of sincere counsel to the Book of Allah is to show reverence for this magnificent Qur’an. Part of that reverence is that a person must not touch the Qur’an unless he is in a state of purity from both minor and major ritual impurity, in accordance with the Prophet’s ﷺ statement, “No one should touch the Qur’an except in a state of purity.” He may also handle it through a barrier, for whoever touches it through a barrier has not actually touched it directly. And it is advisable not to—