Al-Buruj: (21) "Nay, but it is a glorious Qur’an..."

"Nay, but it is a glorious Qur’an," is a refutation of their disbelief, an invalidation of their denial, and a verification of the truth. That is to say: rather, it is a noble book of a high rank among the divine scriptures in both composition and meaning; it is not fitting to deny it or disbelieve in it.

It has been said that this is a disjunctive particle (idrab) and a transition from informing of the intensity of their denial and their refusal to desist from it, to describing the Qur’an in order to indicate that there is no doubt in it and that the denial of these people does not harm it. The first interpretation is more appropriate.

Some have claimed that the first disjunction is from the story of Pharaoh and Thamud to all disbelievers, and the meaning thereof is that all disbelievers are in a state of denial, and no prophet has been free from denial, yet Allah Almighty does not neglect their affair; in this, there is consolation for the Prophet (may Allah Almighty bless him and grant him peace). However, the sequence of this disjunction makes that unlikely.

Ibn al-Sumayqa’ read Qur’anu Majidin (a Qur’an of Glory) as an idafa (genitive construction). Ibn Khalawayh said: "I heard Ibn al-Anbari say that its meaning is: 'Nay, but it is a Qur’an [belonging to] a Lord who is Glorious (Majid),' just as the poet said: 'But Wealth is the Lord who is Forgiving,' meaning: 'The Wealthy is the Lord who is Forgiving.'"

Ibn ‘Atiyyah said that al-Yamani read it as an idafa, intending that the "Glorious One" (al-Majid) is Allah Almighty; this is possible both with and without an implied word. It has also been permitted that it is an instance of attributing the described to its attribute. Abu Hayyan said: "This is more appropriate, so that the two recitations correspond."