The below is an excerpt from Imam Ālūsi’s commentary on Sūrah Yūnus, āyah 38.
“Bring a surah” – a long one or a short one – “similar to it” in terms of balagha, and beauty of interconnectedness/arrangement, and magnificence of meaning in a fabricated way (i.e. fabricate something similar).
The overall meaning of this verse according to what has been said is as follows:
“If this is a fabrication from me, then you fabricate a surah like it, because you are like me in terms of the Arabic language and eloquence, and you are more experienced in and more accustomed to poetry and prose.”
The intent by the addressees “bringing a surah” would be for them to compose it and speak it of their own accord (i.e. make it up). Or it could have a broader meaning indicating bringing something similar from the poets and people of eloquence who preceded them. Perhaps that is the secret behind opting away from saying “say a surah like it” to the exact words contained in al-nadhm al-kareem (i.e. the Qur’an).
That is, “If the matter is as you claim, then bring a surah like it from yourselves or from the fusahā and the bulaghā of the Arabs who preceded you, such as, Imru’ul Qays and Zuhayr, which resembles it in its magnificent attributes. So when you are helpless of doing that in spite of the extreme experience you have, and [when] it is also not found in the speech of those people – and it is for them that pulpits of ‘ukadh were erected [to compete in] fasaha and balagha, and the windmill of prose and poetry would revolve around them, and their whole day would be consumed in composing and reciting poetry – then [all of that] would indicate that it is not from the speech of humans, but rather from the Creator of faculties and aptitudes.”
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Qur'anic Reflections 
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