And be not like those Meccans, who came out of their houses insolently and to be
seen of men and who turn others away from God. Sura Anfal (viii) 49.
Against all this opposition, Muhammad is instructed in the Sura Qalam (lxviii)
to say of himself., as from God :
Thou, by the grace of thy Lord, art not possessed. 2.
During the next year or two the theory of divine inspiration becomes more
fully developed and the infallibility of the Prophet more strenuously asserted.
The revelations as they come are not only declared to be the very words of God
himself, but their original is said to be in Heaven :
Yet it is a glorious Qur'an,1
Written on the preserved Table. Sura Buruj (lxxxv) 21.
This table is the Lauhu'l-Mahfuz, or preserved table, kept near the throne of
God. The Qur'an
Is an admonition in revered pages; exalted, pure;
Written by scribes honourable and just. Sura Abasa (lxxx) 13-14.
The commentator Zamakhshari explains this thus: 'Being transcribed from the
preserved table, kept pure and uncorrupt from the hands of evil spirits, and
touched only by the Angels.' Baidawi says: 'Angels wrote it, or prophets
transcribed the book from the (preserved) table, or by revelation, or the
scribes wrote it by the revelation between God and His Prophet.'2