What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “None touches it except the purified”?

The Shaykh : Why did Professor Mahmoud not bring forth anything new that had not been preceded by the previous scholars in his interpretation of the verse first, and in his position on the permissibility of reading the Qur'an or touching the Qur'an without being in a state of ritual purity? All of this has been preceded by earlier scholars.
This is, in reality, part of the nature of the Salafi methodology and one of its conditions, namely that the Salafi call does not adopt an opinion on an issue where practice has been established in some form, or an opinion among the opinions. The Salafi do not adopt an opinion that has not been preceded by earlier scholars; rather, their path, plan, and methodology is...

The questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Sit down, you are there in the back.
It is merely the selection of one of the opinions that have been stated, whether that be in legal rulings or in the interpretation of the noble verses. The interpretation of the verse that they are the angels brought near is a precedent interpretation.

The questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and Allah's mercy and blessings.
It is a precedent interpretation among the Salafis by a group of scholars, foremost among them being Imam Malik ibn Anas, the Imam of the City of Emigration. He mentioned in his famous book, al-Muwatta', that the best I have heard in the interpretation of this verse is that it is like the verse in Surat 'Abasa: . They are the purified ones in the first verse . And so, the Qur'an interprets part of itself with another part.
Imam Malik has, among the Imams, the distinction of being the first to draw our attention to the fact that the verse is interpreted by the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in the preceding verse: . Among the scholars who interpreted the verse as mentioned above with a simplified scientific interpretation is the famous researcher Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah. He has a delightful book titled “Categories of the Qur'an” in which he addressed the interpretation of this verse in light of the saying of Allah before it: . On the occasion of the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: , Ibn al-Qayyim addressed the interpretation of this verse in that book “Categories of the Qur'an”. He mentioned many aspects supporting the view that the purified ones in the verse are the angels. I recall some of those aspects now.
First, he says that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: and did not say “except those who purify themselves.” From the perspective of Arabic style, there is a great difference between al-mutahhar (the purified) and al-mutatahhir (the one who purifies himself). Al-mutahhar is one who is purified by creation and nature, and those are none other than the angels, whom our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, described in His saying: . As for us, the people of humankind, we are not purified; rather, we are of two types: a group that becomes defiled and then purifies itself. These are the beloved of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, as He said in the well-known verse: . Because al-mutatahhir is the one who seeks purity, strives for it, and acts in accordance with the purification of his soul through repentance to Allah and his performance of expiatory righteous deeds. As for the angels, they do not become defiled so that they might purify themselves; rather, they are, since our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, created them, as He said: .
So when we return to the verse I mentioned, we observe that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: . It becomes clear to us that the intended meaning is the angels, not humans, because we know from the other verse that when Allah intended humans, He said “those who purify themselves” . This is evidence, or one of the aspects, upon which Ibn al-Qayyim relied in affirming that the intended meaning of the verse is the angels only.
Another aspect is the one you quoted from Professor Mahmoud. Here, the pronoun in —to what does it refer? Many people think it refers to the mushaf, which confines the Qur'an between its covers. Ibn al-Qayyim refutes this with the argument that the mushaf was not mentioned previously in the context of those verses; rather, a book described by His saying was mentioned: . A book described as being concealed (makanun)—this description does not apply to the mushaf in our hands, because it is apparent and not concealed, for the intended meaning of the concealed is that which is hidden. So what is the book to which this description of being concealed applies? It is the one whose mention also came in another verse: . This Preserved Tablet is the concealed book. Therefore, the pronoun in “none touches it” refers to this concealed book. This is supported by the aforementioned Imam Malik, who said: . These noble, righteous ones are those who touch this concealed book which is in the Preserved Tablet. That is, the meaning of the verse is: . That is, the origin of this book in our hands is the concealed, preserved one, which hands do not reach except the hands of the angels. This book is the one .
This is one aspect, and there is another aspect he mentions, saying that the saying of Allah: is a declarative sentence, and the news of Allah does not delay or fail. It cannot be contrary to reality. If Allah, Mighty and Majestic, intended by the verse this mushaf in our hands, we know by observation that it is touched by those who are not purified, certainly by Muslims who, first of all, do not consider ritual purity obligatory for touching the Qur'an, like us, and by Muslims who consider ritual purity obligatory but are lazy and do not care, like those who abandon all the obligatory duties. It is even more fitting for them to abandon purifying themselves for the mere touching of the Qur'an.
And finally, there are the disbelievers who do not believe in the origin of the entire Qur'an. They touch the Qur'an while in a state of major ritual impurity because they are always not purified. How can all of this be reality when Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, informs and says: ? It is one of two things: either the news of Allah is not true because it is contrary to reality, or our understanding of the news of Allah is wrong. This wrong understanding is what actually conflicts with reality, not the news of Allah, because the news of Allah does not fail or delay. So if the matter revolves between accusing Allah of informing contrary to reality and accusing our minds, thoughts, and understandings of a mistake in understanding, what do we choose? Without doubt, we choose the latter, because it is not permissible for a believer in Allah and His Messenger to think or to have it cross his mind that it is permissible for Allah to inform contrary to reality.
Since that is the case, it remains that the meaning of the verse is not as people think, that this meaning conflicts with reality. Allah the Exalted said: . So we understood that the purified ones are the Muslims who purify themselves. We saw these Muslims touching it while not purified. Therefore, this understanding is the error, because Allah does not err. What is the correct meaning? The correct meaning is known from what preceded: the purified ones in the verse are the angels, not humans. At that point, the verse does not conflict with reality.
This is if we understand, and it is the reality, that the verse is a declarative sentence, an information from Allah that the concealed book is not touched except by the purified ones. It might be said here that it is possible to say that the verse is a declarative sentence, but the intended meaning is command and creation (insha'), meaning the verse is a negation in the sense of prohibition. However, this is refuted by the fact that the original rule is that one does not resort to such an assumption unless it is not possible to understand it as a pure declarative sentence. So if it is possible on the established path, the verse remains declarative and contains nothing of insha'. When we look at these data, all of which were articulated by Ibn al-Qayyim in his aforementioned book “Categories of the Qur'an”, it becomes clear to us that the correct interpretation of this verse is that it has no relation to the issue of touching the Qur'an without purity. Rather, it is a declarative sentence in which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, informs that the concealed book preserved in the Preserved Tablet is not reached by the hands of the devils, as Allah the Exalted said: , but it is reached and brought down by the honored angels: . This is regarding the issue of touching the Qur'an.