seas [to be] drawn upon for the pens, the pens would break, the sea would be exhausted, and the scribes would die, yet the words of Allah would not be exhausted, meaning in [describing] what He has created.
Muhammad said: Whoever reads "wal-baḥru" (the sea) in the nominative case (rafʿ), it is based on it being the subject of an incipient clause (mubtadaʾ).
أَبْحُرٍ؛ يُسْتَمَدُّ مِنْهُ لِلْأَقْلَامِ لَانْكَسَرَتِ الْأَقْلَامُ وَنَفِدَ الْبَحْرُ وَلَمَاتَ الْكُتَّابُ، وَمَا نَفِدَتْ كَلِمَاتُ اللَّهِ يَعْنِي بِمَا خَلَقَ.
قَالَ مُحَمَّدٌ: مَنْ قَرَأَ: ﴿وَالْبَحْر﴾ بِالرَّفْع فَهُوَ على الِابْتِدَاء.
