ذَلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ هُدًى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ
This[1] Book[2] whereof there is no doubt, is a guidance unto the God-fearing.
[1] The demonstrative pronoun ذالك usually indicates remoteness of distance, but sometimes, as here, has the force of suggesting esteem, honour, grandness, and high value.
[2] كتاب is literally a writing, or a written revelation. The Qur'an thus at its very beginning declares itself to be a written, not an oral, Revelation, passing only from mouth to mouth for generations. It is 'Book' essentially, and not by accident. Unlike the 'sacred literatures' of other religions, it is single Book from the very start, and not a collection or a literature grown and developed and composed at different periods by different hands reflecting the history of their times. It is even in this 20th century of the Christian era, The Book par excellence, 'the most widely-read book in existence.' (Encyclopedia Britannica XV, p.88 11th ed.) 'Though the youngest of the epoch-making books, the Koran is the most widely-read book ever written.' (Hitti, History of Arabs, p.126)
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