9إِنّا نَحنُ نَزَّلنَا الذِّكرَ وَإِنّا لَهُ لَحافِظونَMuhammad AsadBehold, it is We Ourselves who have bestowed from on high, step by step, this reminder:1 and, behold, it is We who shall truly guard it [from all corruption].2I.e., the Qur'an. The grammatical form nazzalnd implies a gradual revelation ("step by step") over a period of time, as has been pointed out by Zamakhshar! in his commentary on 2:23 (see the last sentence of my corresponding note 14).This prophecy has been strikingly confirmed by the fact that the text of the Qur'an has remained free from all alterations, additions or deletions ever since it was enunciated by the Prophet in the seventh century of the Christian era; and there is no other instance of any book, of whatever description, which has been similarly preserved over such a length of time. The early-noted variants in the reading of certain words of the Qur'an, occasionally referred to by the classical commentators, represent no more than differences in respect of diacritical marks or of vocalisation, and, as a rule, do not affect the meaning of the passage in question. (See also note 11 on 85:22, explaining the expression lawh mahfuz.)