بَل هُوَ قُرآنٌ مَجيدٌ

في لَوحٍ مَحفوظٍ

Rather, it is a glorious Quran,

in a protected tablet.

EXEGESIS

Qurʾān is derived from the root verb qaraʾa, meaning that which is recited.

Majīd (glorious) was discussed in verse 15.

Lawḥ (tablet) refers broadly to a flat, rigid surface, typically a plank of wood or slate^{‎[1]Lisan, 2/584, l-w-ḥ.}  used for writing or construction. The ark of Prophet Noah (a) is described as made of planks (alwāḥ) and nails (54:13). Beyond physical construction, lawḥ also denotes any inscribed surface, such as a writing tablet or slate, where knowledge is recorded.^{‎[2]See Raghib, p. 750, l-w-ḥ.}

Maḥfūẓ (protected) is the passive participle from the verb ḥafiẓa, which means to protect something, such as protecting wealth from being stolen, lost, or squandered; to protect prayer from being missed; or to protect the Quran from distortion or alteration.^{‎[3]Tahqiq, 2/296, ḥ-f-ẓ.} Here, it means protected and preserved from change. It may also mean that it is preserved from the knowledge of the creation and accessible only to God or to the highest angels.^{‎[4]Razi, 31/116.}

EXPOSITION

Rather is used here to deny the claims of Quraysh that the Quran is mere poetry, magic, or the words of an ordinary man.^{‎[5]Tabrisi, 10/711; Tabari, 30/90.} Not only is that not the case, rather it is a glorious revelation inscribed in a protected tablet. But what is the protected tablet?

As its name suggests, it is an inscription which is safeguarded from change or alteration, or any other intrusion. Certainly, the protected tablet in which the Quran is placed cannot be a physical tablet, but rather a metaphor for a repository of knowledge on a conceptual level. It belongs to the realm of the metaphysical and cannot be perceived through human senses or empirical experience.^{‎[6]Misbah Yazdi, Quranic Studies, p. 89.}  It symbolises the eternal, unchangeable record of God’s knowledge and decrees.^{‎[7]Nemuneh, 26/405.} Majlisī describes the protected tablet as a record that corresponds with God’s knowledge, containing all events of the universe in an unchangeable form.^{‎[8]Bihar, 4/122.}  As such, it should also contain the knowledge of the Quran. In fact, it is the true origin of the Quran before its gradual revelation to the Prophet. According to Tabatabai, the Quran as it exists in the protected tablet is incomprehensible to human mind; therefore, God revealed it in a lower, more understandable form.^{‎[9]Mizan, 20/323.}  That means that the Quran that we recite is a distillation of that knowledge, captured in human language, so that we can benefit from it. This is the most clearly explained in the beginning of Sūrat al-Zukhruf: By the manifest book: We have made it an Arabic Qur’ān so that you may apply reason, and indeed it is with Us in the mother-book, [and it is] surely sublime and wise (43:2-4).

As the verse clearly states, the knowledge of the Quran is with God in the mother-book. However, that is incomprehensible to human mind, so it has been made into an Arabic book, so that we may use our reason and intellect to ponder it.

In fact, considering the nature of the protected tablet, all divine scriptures revealed to the prophets are derived from the protected tablet, which is why the Quran calls it the mother-book (umm al-kitāb).^{‎[10]Mizan, 3/50.}

While this surah is the only one in the Quran that speaks of a protected tablet, there are many other verses of the Quran that allude to it in different terms like the ‘guarded book (kitābun maknūn)’ or the ‘manifest book (kitābun mubīn)’: This is indeed a noble Quran, in a guarded book (56:77-78); With Him are the treasures of the unseen; no one knows them except Him. He knows whatever there is in land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it, nor is there a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything fresh or withered but it is in a manifest book (6:59).

That said, these verses are reflections of the opening verse of this surah. The heavenly fortresses that house the armies of angels carrying out the commands of God and guarding the secrets of the high heavens. While the stories of Pharaoh and Thamūd and the Men of the Ditch are well known to us, No one knows the hosts of your Lord except Him (74:31). This links directly to the true metaphysical Quran being something that is beyond our comprehension.

Note also how like the previous verse pair, this too begins with Rather, this time to indicate that the faithless Meccans do not even comprehend the reality of what they are denying. They deny the Quran being recited to them in Arabic, but the reality of the Quran is even more glorious than that which has been distilled for them.

As for describing the Quran as glorious, if God was described as al-majīd (all-glorious) in verse 15, the knowledge of the Quran which emanates from Him is also majīd, because it is filled with His knowledge and is His words.

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Qummī reports in his tafsīr that: ‘The tablet has two ends: one at the right side of the Throne and the other upon Isrāfīl’s forehead. When the majestic Lord speaks with revelation, the tablet strikes Isrāfīl’s forehead, and he looks into it. Then, he conveys what is inscribed on the tablet to Gabriel.’^{‎[11]Qummi, 2/464.}
2. From Imam al-Ṣādiq (a): ‘While Gabriel was in the presence of the Messenger of God (s), he suddenly glanced toward the sky … Gabriel said: “This is Isrāfīl, the guardian of the Lord and the closest of God’s creation to Him. The tablet is between his eyes, made of red ruby. When the Almighty Lord speaks with revelation, the tablet strikes Isrāfīl’s forehead, and he gazes into it. Then, he conveys it to us, and we carry it swiftly through the heavens and the earth.”’^{‎[12]Safi, 5/312.}

Note: The reader should take care not to overlook the metaphorical and cosmological dimensions embedded in these narrations. Descriptions such as the ‘tablet of red ruby between Isrāfīl’s eyes’, and its ‘two ends, one at the Throne, the other at Isrāfīl’s forehead’ are not to be understood in a literal, material sense. Rather, they symbolise the hierarchy of revelation and the sacredness of the unseen realm.

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.^{‎[13]Revelation 5:1-3.}

[1] Lisan, 2/584, l-w-ḥ.
[2] See Raghib, p. 750, l-w-ḥ.
[3] Tahqiq, 2/296, ḥ-f-ẓ.
[4] Razi, 31/116.
[5] Tabrisi, 10/711; Tabari, 30/90.
[6] Misbah Yazdi, Quranic Studies, p. 89.
[7] Nemuneh, 26/405.
[8] Bihar, 4/122.
[9] Mizan, 20/323.
[10] Mizan, 3/50.
[11] Qummi, 2/464.
[12] Safi, 5/312.
[13] Revelation 5:1-3.