Tafsir scholar Tabarī ingeniously explains this problem away by noting that the faithful believe that no one part of the Quran can be "superior" to any other part (because the Qur'an was composed by the divine author and is "Mu'jaz", or so miraculous it is impossible to imitate). However 2:106 talks of God replacing "ayah" "with something better or similar". Since all verses of the Quran are all equally wondrous, ayah in this context cannot be referring to the words of the Quran. The principle of "mu'jaz", however, does not carry over to shari'a law whose "wording" is not divine (those its substance is) and whose quality may vary in excellence. Thus, by process of elimination, John Burton explains, "the only other thing it ["ayah" in Q.2:106] can refer to is the ruling derived from the verse," i.e. "the rulings of the shari'a", "hukm".