Whoever Alleges It to Be Human Speech Has Disbelieved

Almost everything al-Ṭaḥāwī goes on to say has now been explained, so the rest of this section can be gone through quickly. The Qur'an is the word of Allah that emanated from Him without modality in its expression. He sent it down to His messenger as a revelation. The believers accept it as such, literally; they are certain it is, in reality, the word of Allah, the Sublime, the Exalted. That is our belief. No word of this book that we have, which is the Qur'an, is other than the speech of Allah (swt). Laysa bi-makhlūqin ka-kalāmi al-bariyyah: unlike human speech, it is eternal and uncreated.

Then he says:

Fa-man samiʿahu fa-zaʿama annahu kalāmu al-bashari fa-qad kafar. Whoever hears it and alleges it to be human speech has disbelieved.

This basically means saying: no, this is just human speech; it is not Allah's speech. But to say that this particular speech is done by the human being, that it is created, but that it is reflective of the eternal speech of Allah (swt), would be fine. But that is not something to go around doing. It is only done in a forum of education, when trying to educate, and to speak about the reality of this.

Fa-qad kafar, wa qad dhammahu Allāhu wa ʿābahu wa awʿadahu bi-saqar, ḥaythu qāla taʿālā: sa-uṣlīhi saqar. Fa-lammā awʿada Allāhu bi-saqara li-man qāla in hādhā illā qawlu al-bashar, ʿalimnā wa ayqannā annahu qawlu khāliqi al-bashar, wa lā yushbihu qawla al-bashar.

So whoever hears it and alleges it to be human speech has disbelieved, and is an unbeliever. This is serious, and it applies to any verse of the Qur'an, in fact. For Allah has rebuked, censured and promised such a one an agonising punishment, stating that He will roast him in the Hellfire. That is a serious translation. Because Allah threatened those who allege this is merely human speech.

This was the criticism; this was the point that some of the Quraysh would make in front of the Prophet (peace be upon him): in hādhā illā qawlu al-bashar. That is why Allah says: sa-uṣlīhi saqar. So Allah threatened those who alleged this is merely human speech with an inferno of torment. We acknowledge and assert that it was the word of the Creator of humanity, and does not resemble human speech.