The Children of Israel
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE
[17:85]
AND THEY will ask thee about [the nature of] divine inspiration. Say: "This inspiration [comes] at my Sustainer’s behest; and [you cannot understand its nature, O men, since] you have been granted very little of [real] knowledge."


* v.85 : For this interpretation of the term rūh, see sūrah 16, note 2. Some commentators are of the opinion that it refers here, specifically, to the revelation of the Qur’ān; others understand by it the “soul,” in particular the soul of man. This latter interpretation is, however, unconvincing inasmuch as the preceding as well as the subsequent verses related explicitly to the Qur’ān and, hence, to the phenomenon of divine revelation.