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Explanatory Note
At this point, the Qur’ān offers them a proposition that indicates God’s highest possible regard for man, his intelligence and insight, bestowed upon him by God Himself. It invites them to judge the Qur’ān by their own intelligence and intellectual appreciation. It points out the proper approach to adopt and identifies the key aspect by which they can judge the Qur’ān. When they do this, they will have ample, irrefutable evidence that the Qur’ān originates with God Almighty: “Will they not, then, try to understand the Qur’ān? Had it issued from any but God, they would surely have found in it many an inner contradiction!” (Verse 82) This invitation to reflect on the Qur’ān and consider it carefully is particularly significant. Full and absolute harmony and integrity is an unmistakeable feature of the Qur’ān. It is a feature that allows different people and generations to benefit by the Qur’ān according to, and within, their respective aptitudes, education, experience and piety. This verse addresses all people and all generations, everyone of whom is capable of appreciating as much of the harmony and congruity of the Qur’ān as their ability, education, experience and piety allow. The first generation of Muslims were being addressed with ideas they understood and were able to verify within their own existing intellectual environment.