The Twelfth Inquiry

Surah Bani Isra’il, 17:86

They ask you who has made the Quran.

The answer given is to tell them: —This Quran is by the command of my Lord; and it is indeed His Word.

Bear in mind that I have translated —ruh to mean the Quran. This is for several reasons:

First, in the Quran itself this revelation and the Divine Word has been called rūh, and some parts of the Quran explain other parts. See:

Surah ash-Shura, 42:53

And thus have We revealed to you the —rūh by Our command.

Secondly, before and after the verse under discussion, there is mention only of the Noble Quran. However, it is possible to take the word rūh to mean the angel who used to bring revelation, who is called Jibrā’īl [Gabriel] by the Muslims.

We could also say that the question was asked whether rūh was a creation or something outside of creation. The answer given was that the rūh is —hādith [a nascent creation] and came into being by the direct command of the Lord.