المعنى الاصطلاحي :

The Qur’an reporting human"s inability to imitate the Qur’an or produce a single surah of the like thereof in respect to its words, meanings, style, and so on.

الشرح المختصر :

"Al-i‘jāz al-lughawi" (linguistic inimitability) is the main and most prominent scope of challenge. It is the challenge that suited the Arabs" conditions most during the time when the Qur’an was revealed given their superiority in eloquence and rhetoric. They did not excel, however, in sciences, industries, or knowledge of the Unseen. The challenge then emerged at a time when motivation and need to imitate the Qur’an were quite available, owing to their disbelief and denial of the speech of Allah brought by Muhammad, may Allah"s peace and blessings be upon him. The Qur’an came to challenge them in all Arabic language-related fields, such as the beauty and eloquence of diction, elegance and easiness of style, broadness and high quality of expression, and its glorious and wondrous meanings. The challenge was recurrent in each and every surah and verse. This kind of inimitability is also called: the rhetorical, linguistic, and expressional inimitability.