Explaining his understanding of the concept of the Quran, Yusuf Estes says:

Now, I want you to take a dollar bill or a denomination of the money you have wherever you are, take it and look at it. Look at that dollar bill. Now take a 10 dollar bill, or a 20 dollar bill, and look at them. They are both pieces of paper. They both have ink on them. But even though they could be the same size and weigh the same amount on a scale, one, we say, is worth many times more than the other. Why? Because of what it says on it. Actually, the paper isn’t worth anything, is it? The paper’s not, but what it represents. And what the money represents is gold, or silver, or something precious that’s put up in storage somewhere else, and you don’t touch that – That’s not something that you play with…

…So, in this same way, we make the comparison that the Quran written on paper is similar to the money that we pass around every day. It means it has a value in and of itself, because we respect it, we take care of it…

Source: “Beauties of the Quran,” part 2 of 2, produced by Huda TV (2008), from the series called, “Beauties of Islam.”  On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBD3fBk14xU (at the 8:00 mark), uploaded on May 26, 2011.

Important Commentary

This is what Yusuf Estes chooses to compare the Quran to – money. 

The Quran is the Eternal Speech of Allah, the Almighty.  It is one of His perfect Attributes, which must never be considered similar to the attributes of anything else.  To say that Allah’s Speech is like such-and-such is called tashbeeh, and it is a form of kufr (disbelief).

Nu’aym ibn Hammaad, one of al-Bukhaaree’s teachers (may Allah have Mercy on both of them), said:

“Whoever likens Allah to anything in His Creation has disbelieved.”

And Is-haaq ibn Raahawayh (may Allah have Mercy on him) said:

“Whoever describes Allah by likening His Attributes to the attributes of any of the Creation of Allah is a disbeliever in Allah, the Great.”

Ibn Abil-‘Izz al-Hanafee (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“Ahlus-Sunnah are united upon the fact that there is nothing like Allah, not regarding His Actual Presence, nor regarding His Attributes or Actions… Whoever likens the Attributes of the Creator to the attributes of the creation is a Mushab-bih (someone who makes tashbeeh), a blameworthy person of falsehood.”

For the sources of these three important quotes, refer to p.25 of the following free e-book on this subject:

The Teachings of Yusuf Estes About the Quran (PDF)