I was most struck by something she said early on, about the nature of the language in the Quran, that it's like a poetic incantation that needs to be spoken aloud, felt rather than understood, and that the Quran is truly the Quran only in Arabic. On one level I understand that, I've read poetry in English that has a similar quality, but it also seems to me to mean that the full import of the Quran is available only to people who know Arabic, which in turn means the message will be forever unavailable to most people. Strikes me as a pretty ineffective way for a deity to send a message to humanity, from which I conclude that's not what it is.
1- The Quran is in Arabic
The Quran was revealed in Arabic: the apostle was an Arab: his people were the Arab who spoke Arabic. Every apostle speaks the language of his people: how can he instruct them and how can they understand then?
This is in the Quran 41: 44
وَلَوْ جَعَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا أَعْجَمِيًّا لَّقَالُوا لَوْلَا فُصِّلَتْ آيَاتُهُ أَأَعْجَمِيٌّ وَعَرَبِيٌّ قُلْ هُوَ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا هُدًى وَشِفَاء وَالَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ فِي آذَانِهِمْ وَقْرٌ وَهُوَ عَلَيْهِمْ عَمًى
The explanation:
(Had We appointed it a Quran in a foreign [language], they would have said: "Why are not its revelations expounded [in Arabic]?
How could [the Quran] be in a foreign [language], and [the messenger] be an Arab?"
Say [Mohammed, to them]: "[The Quran], to those who believe, is guidance and healing, [whereas] those who unbelieve have deafness in their ears, and it is blindness for them.)
And in the Quran 12: 2
إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
The explanation:
(We have revealed it, an Arabic Quran; haply you [people] may understand.)
2- The Quran is not poetry
The Quran is not poetry; it struck the Arab with its fluency and eloquence of language and they could not imitate it.
The Arab poetry is known to the Arab, but the Quran is something else.
As in the Quran 69: 40-43
إِنَّهُ لَقَوْلُ رَسُولٍ كَرِيمٍ
وَمَا هُوَ بِقَوْلِ شَاعِرٍ قَلِيلًا مَا تُؤْمِنُونَ
وَلَا بِقَوْلِ كَاهِنٍ قَلِيلًا مَا تَذَكَّرُونَ
تَنزِيلٌ مِّن رَّبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
The explanation:
(That the [Quran] is the speech of [Gabriel:] a messenger most honorable.
And it is not a speech of a poet [as you think]; but only a small number of you do believe [in God and His messenger.]
Nor is it the speech of a soothsayer [as you imagine]; but only a small number of you receive admonition [of the Quran.]
A revelation from the Lord of the worlds.
And if [Mohammed] had invented any words in Our name.
We would then have taken [the revelation] from him by force,
And We should then have discontinued for him the going-on [revelations.]
Nor could any of you [Meccans, even his comrades] withhold [Us] from him.
And the [Quran] is indeed an admonition to those who ward off [God's punishment.]
But surely We know that among you are some who deny [the afterlife and the Judgment.]
And the [Quran will cause] a regret for unbelievers [in the afterlife because they did not believe in it.]
And it is the very truth.
Then glorify the name of your Lord, the Most Great.)
And it is in the Quran 36: 69
وَمَا عَلَّمْنَاهُ الشِّعْرَ وَمَا يَنبَغِي لَهُ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرٌ وَقُرْآنٌ مُّبِينٌ
The explanation:
(We have not taught [Mohammed] poetry; it is not even seemly for him [to learn it.]
This [revelation] is only an admonition and a manifest recitation [: lit.Quran.] )
3- The Quran is for all man-kind and genie-kind
At the start the message was directed to the tribe: the most close to the apostle in kindred, then to the people of Mecca and those round about it, then was to all Arabia then it became for all nations.
As God - be glorified - said in the Quran 34: 28
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا كَافَّةً لِّلنَّاسِ بَشِيرًا وَنَذِيرًا وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
The explanation:
(We have sent you [Mohammed] only as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner to all mankind, but most people do not know [the truth.] )
Q:34
The plain and the ambiguous ayat of the Quran
The Quran was revealed in two categories of ayat: some of it are straightforward, understandable and clearly obvious.
The other category are the ambiguous ayat that are like puzzles and even the apostle himself did not give their meaning, but he answered: I don't know; it has been revealed to me as such; God only knows its implication and meaning, which will be told to you in the future.
Objection of the People of the Scripture to the Quran