the Messenger of Allah—Peace and blessings of God be upon him—regarding that, as we have previously described, is the clearest indication of the invalidity of the view that the seven letters are merely seven letters scattered across the surahs of the Qur'an, rather than different dialects in a single word with identical meanings.

Furthermore, when a reflecting person reflects upon the statement of this speaker in his Interpretation of the Prophet's—Peace and blessings of God be upon him—statement: "The Qur'an was revealed in seven letters," and his claim that its meaning is that they are seven dialects scattered throughout the Qur'an, and then combines this statement of his with his reasoning for it using the reports narrated from those Companions and Successors from whom it was reported that they said: "It is like your saying: come, approach, and draw near," and that some of them said: "It is like the reading of ʿAbd Allāh: 'Except a single cry (zaqyah),' while in our reading it is 'Except a single shout (ṣayḥah)'" and similar arguments of his (1)—he would realize that his arguments invalidate his assertion, and that his assertion contradicts his arguments.

For that with which the Qur'an was revealed according to him is one of the two readings—either "ṣayḥah" or "zaqyah," or "come," "approach," or "draw near"—not all of them. This is because every dialect among the seven dialects according to him belongs to a word or letter in the Qur'an distinct from the word or letter in which the other dialect resides.

And since that is so, his reasoning for his statement using the report of the one who said: "That is like 'draw near,' 'come,' and 'approach'" becomes invalid, because these words are different expressions that share a single meaning in Interpretation. And the proponent of this view whose statement we quoted has negated the gathering of seven dialects in a single letter of the Qur'an. Thus, it becomes clear that his argument invalidates his statement, and his statement invalidates his argument (2).

It is said to him: The correct view in this matter is neither of the two ways you described. Rather, the seven letters in which Allah revealed the Qur'an are seven dialects in a single letter and a single word,