98.2 – a messenger from God, reciting purified pages
The construction of verses 1–2 in Arabic has “the clear sign” right up against “a messenger,” implying that the clear sign is the messenger himself. Certainly this is how the classical Muslim commentators understood this passage. Muqātil ibn Sulaymān (d. 767), for example, author of the earliest extant complete commentary, wrote on verse 4: “Those who disbelieve never ceased agreeing on the truth of Muhammad until he was sent, because they had his description in their books. When Allah designated him from the offspring of someone other than Isaac, they disagreed about him. Some of them believed.” Translations of seven important Muslim commentaries on this sūra are provided in Classical Islam: A Sourcebook of Religious Literature.
Verses 2–3 also assert that the messenger recites from “purified pages,” making this passage a claim for both the messenger and his recitation.