The
Demand of the Quran for a Direct
Confrontation
The Noble Quran was revealed in
the Arabic language, one of the richest languages in the world from the point of view of
firmness of structure and abundance of vocabulary. It descended like a flash of lightning
in the darkness of the Age of Ignorance, and in the manner in which it conveyed various
types of subject matter in the most concise of sentences it had nothing in common with the
conventional language of the Arabs.
At the time that the Quran was
revealed, the literary talent and eloquence of the Arabs was at its peak. Works created by
poets and orators commanded the attention and admiration of everyone, and literature
constituted the only art cultivated by the Arab elite.
The Quran, which constituted the
documentary proof of the messengerhood of the Prophet of Islam and the raw materials of
which its constituent letters and words was revealed over a period of twenty-three years
in accordance with the particular needs that emerged over time. Thus it guided the Prophet
and his companions step by step toward their exalted goals.
The words and expressions of the
Quran are harmonious and its words are set together pleasingly and with the utmost beauty,
and in complete accord with the subtle meanings they express. This unique combination of
wording and meaning is a special feature of the Quran and another aspect of its
miraculousness.
With the revelation of the Quran,
the Arabs made the acquaintance of a fresh and new form of speech which was neither prose
nor poetry, but the melody of which was more beautiful and attractive than that of poetry
and the discourse of which was more eloquent and effective than that of prose. Whoever
heard it was drawn toward it and transformed by it. It was utterly different from all
forms of human speech by virtue of the superiority of its concepts, the eloquence of its
style and outward form, and its exposition of meanings in the most concise way.
The firm laws and clear logic of
the Quran showed human beings the way to correct religion and living, and inspired them
with the determination to create an epic unparalleled in history. The Quran destroyed
utterly the superstitions that the oppressors and their helpers had elaborated throughout
history.
The Quran established a mode of
thought leading to the truth, which is identified as thought that eschews all obstinacy,
caprice and fanaticism. From the very first day that the Prophet began preaching his
message of monotheism, he summoned people also to a realistic vision of the world. When
inviting them to faith, he addressed their wisdom and intelligence and called on them to
use their eyes and their ears to perceive the truth. He unshackled them from custom and
usage, from obstinately clinging to ancient heritages, and strove to convince them that
they should not perversely insist on retaining the beliefs and loyalties that had been
born of polytheism. Although these efforts earned him bitter harassment, he was not
dismayed, and he did not give up before fulfilling the role that the Creator had given him
in improving men's lives.
Many of the polytheists did not
permit themselves to listen to the Quran for they were well aware of its remarkable effect
and afraid that its profound and astonishing influence might conquer their hearts as well,
drawing them ineluctably towards it.
Ibn Hisham writes in his life of
the Prophet: "So strong was the heartfelt desire of the people to hear the Quran that
even some of the unbelievers of the Quraysh would stealthily go near the Prophet's house
at night, remaining there until dawn, in order to listen throughout the night to the
pleasing melody of the Quran as recited by the Messenger of God. This happened many
times."[30]
When the revelation of the Quran
began, the Most Noble Messenger clearly proclaimed the Quran to be the Word of God, and
said it was impossible for any human being to duplicate it; if anyone disagreed, he ought
to make an attempt to copy it, and should feel free to seek help from any source in doing
so. None was able to take up this challenge and produce even a short surah similar to the
Quran.
Still more remarkable is the fact
that the utterances of the Prophet, whose tongue would recite the Quran, bore no
resemblance whatsoever to the Quran. This is in itself a convincing proof that the Quran
originated from a source other than the mind of the Prophet.
The Quran Modifies the Conditions of its
Challenge
The Quran issued a challenge not
only to the contemporaries of the Prophet but also to men in all ages. In order to
demonstrate the incapacity and impotence of people to imitate it, it issued the following
universal proclamation: "Were all of mankind to come together and wish to produce
the like of the Quran, they would never succeed, however much they aided each other."
(17:88)
It then modifies the challenge
and reduces its scope by saying: "Do people imagine that this Quran is not from
Us, and that you, Oh Prophet, are falsely attributing it to Us? Tell them that if they are
speaking truly they should produce ten surahs resembling the Quran, and that they are free
to call on the aid of anyone but God in so doing." (11:13)
Then, at a third stage, the scope
of the challenge is reduced still further: the deniers are called on to produce only a
single surah resembling the Quran: "Oh people, if you doubt the heavenly origin of
this Book which We have sent down to Our servant, the Prophet, produce one surah like
it." (2:23)
Since we know that some of the
shorter surahs consist only of a few brief sentences, this final challenge
constituted a definitive proof of the human being's inability to imitate the Quran.
It is remarkable that the Prophet
who thus challenged the Arabs to a kind of literary contest, despite all their literary
resources, was someone who had never in the course of the forty years of his life
participated in any of their literary competitions or acquired any superiority in
eloquence over this own people.
Let us not forget that this
challenge was issued to a people whose leaders were threatened by the devastating attacks
of the Quran, their lives, their property, their ancient customs, their ancestors, their
whole social position. If it had been at all possible for the Arabs to respond to the
challenge of the Quran, they would have taken it up immediately, with the unstinting aid
of the masters of eloquence that were by no means rare in that age. Thus they would have
invalidated the proofs of the Quran and won an everlasting victory.
Furthermore, as a matter of
general principle, if one consistently follows and studies the style of a certain form of
speech, he will ultimately be able to imitate it. But the Quran forms an exception to this
rule: however much one tries to practice the use of the Quranic style, he will never be
able to create something resembling the Quran. This reveals to us a significant truth:
mere learning and study can never give us the capability to imitate the Quran. History has
not a single instance to show in which this particular aspect of the miraculousness of the
Quran has been negated; it cannot point to a single book comparable to the Quran. Even
among the speeches and sayings of the Prophet, nothing can be found which resembles the
Quran from the point of view of style and eloquence.
If the forces opposing Islam,
with all of their skilled rhetoricians, had been able to create works capable of competing
with the Quran, there would have been no need for them to endure losses and casualties by
going to war, to suffer hardship and expend material resources. They could have won an
easy victory by means of propaganda, a kind of cold war, and put paid to the rise of Islam
within itself, its place of origin.
They called into play all their
resources in an effort to meet the challenge of the Quran, but all their efforts came to
naught. They were unable to point even to a single error or defect in the Quran and were
obliged to admit that its words were situated on a higher plane than the thought and
speech of the human being.
The verses of the Quran
penetrated the depths of human beings' hearts with such unprecedented swiftness that all
people of sound mind and heroic disposition eagerly embraced its message. By contrast, the
devotees of ignorance and mental stagnation, people who assigned little value to wisdom
and thought, and whose lives were spent in the swamp of neglect and lack of awareness,
were the principal element in opposing Islam and urging others to do so. In order to
conceal from people's view the miraculous nature of the Quran, they attributed the Quran
to the workings of magic, seeking thus to explain the extraordinary attraction exerted by
its verses and its unique influence.
Sometimes they would also subject
the converts to Islam to harassment and a hail of contempt and ridicule, or through force
and coercion they would attempt to prevent the people from thinking freely. Their whole
method of struggle against Islam was, in fact, childish, and it betrayed their weakness
and utter helplessness.
For example, they instructed a
group of people to go and make a noise, to whistle and clap their hands, while the Prophet
was reciting the verses of the Quran, so that the people would not fall under the
influence of its eloquence and power to attract.
The methods followed by the
leaders of Quraysh and their insistence on preventing the message of the Quran from
reaching the ears of the people showed that a deadly serious struggle between truth and
falsehood was not indeed underway.
The Quran itself unmasks the
methods they followed and the negative role that they played: "The polytheists
said: 'Do not listen to the verses of the Quran, and make a noise while they are being
recited; perhaps you will thus triumph.'" (41:26)
But this attempt forcibly to
sever the connection between people's minds and the Quran did not last long. As soon as
the shackles of coercion and fear were loosened from the minds of people, even some of the
leaders of the polytheists who were firmly attached to the rites and customs of the Age of
Ignorance would conceal themselves behind the coverings of the Ka'bah not far from where
the Prophet was sitting, in order to listen to him reciting the verses of the Quran in
prayer. This shows how deeply the image the Quran had traced of itself was able to
penetrate deep into the souls of the people, so that the polytheists were ultimately
unable to accomplish anything effective against the message of the Quran, although it
represented a call to battle fatal to their interests.
This impotence on the part of the
enemies of Islam belongs to the dawn of Islam: the masters of eloquence were unable to
imitate or compete with the Quran.
Now that we are in the fifteenth
century since the Quran first laid down its challenge, a time when the progress of
learning has opened up new horizons of thought in front of us, we can appreciate the
Divine origin of the Quran and its infinite values by reference to other matters, quite
apart from the unique and inimitable structure and eloquence of the Quran. We can perceive
the Quran to be an everlasting miracle, because the position of revelation vis-a-vis its
deniers remains firmly the same, and the challenge of the Quran still resounds to all of
mankind: "If you doubt the heavenly origin of this book, produce one surah like
it." (2:23)
Can the person of today take up
the challenge of the Quran and produce a surah like it, thereby conquering the
stronghold of Islam and invalidating the claims of its Prophet?
Both in past and present times,
there have been obstinate and impudent enemies of Islam among the experts on Arabic
language and literature. If it had been possible for them to meet the challenge of the
Quran, that eternal miracle of harmony and symmetry, and produce a single surah
like it, they would certainly have devoted themselves fully to such a destructive
undertaking.
Islam has proposed, then, a very
simple challenge to those who oppose it. Why then do the deniers of prophethood choose
roundabout ways, avoiding this direct method of confronting and defeating Islam? Is it not
because the door is firmly closed on meeting the challenge posed by the Quran?
Gibb, a certain Christian
scholar, says: "Even if we attempt to reorder the words of the Quran, we will not be
able to put them in a new and meaningful order; we must replace them exactly where they
were before."
Despite the passage of time,
historical documents and evidence still provide such a clear picture of the Prophet of
Islam and his characteristics that all historians are unanimous that the Prophet was an
unlettered man who had never known books or teachers and never learned how to write. The
Quran itself addressed him as follows, proclaiming his characteristics to the members of
Meccan society who were acquainted with all the stages of his life: "Before this,
you did not read any book, nor did you write anything with your hands." (29:48)
The Divine nature of the Prophet's message is thus demonstrated.
Is it at all possible that
someone should proclaim to the members of his own society, in utter contradiction of the
truth, that he is unlettered and has never studied, without anyone voicing an objection?
The dark cultural environment of that day was, in any event, a stranger to scholars and
teachers; nothing existed that the Prophet might have studied. Those people who knew how
to read and write were few and far between and none of the historians records a single
instance of the Prophet having read a single line or written a single word before the
beginning of his prophetic mission.
How remarkable it is that such a
man who had never studied became the standard-bearer of a movement calling for science and
free thought! With the beginning of his messengerhood and his entry on the stage of human
history, mankind entered a new stage of progress. With the suddenness of a flash of
lightening, he introduced his people to the world of learning and writing and laid the
foundations of a movement that transformed the degenerate society of Arabia into the
nucleus of a great world civilization. A few centuries later, that civilization could
boast of the most splendid scientific accomplishments and the greatest scholars and
researchers.
A consideration of these facts
concerning the phenomenon of Islam, particularly as they are judged by non-Muslim
scholars, helps us to understand better the profoundly miraculous nature of the Quran. The
author of Muhammad, the Prophet Who Must Be Examined Anew, writes as follows:
"Although he was unlettered, the very first verses that were revealed to him contain
mention of the pen and of knowledge, of learning and teaching. There is no other religion
that places such emphasis, in its very origin, on knowledge and learning.
"If Muhammad had been a
scholar, the revelation of the Quran in the cave of Hira would not have been surprising,
for a scholar knows well the value of learning. But he was unlettered and had never
studied with any teacher. I congratulate the Muslims that the acquisition of knowledge was
so highly valued at the very inception of their religion."[31]
Laura Vaccia Vaglieri, professor
at the University of Naples, has the following to say: "The heavenly book of Islam is
miraculous and inimitable. Its style is totally unprecedented in Arabic literature, and
its peculiar impact on the spirit of the human being derives from its special and superior
characteristics. How is it possible that such a book should be the work of Muhammad, an
Arab who had never studied?
"We find in this book a
treasury of knowledge beyond the capacity of the greatest philosophers and statesmen, and
for this reason it is also impossible to regard the Quran as the work of an educated
person."
Smith writes in his book, Muhammad
and Islam: "I boldly assert that one day the loftiest of human philosophers and
the most veracious principles of Christianity will confess and bear witness that the Quran
is the Word of God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God. An unlettered and unlearned
Prophet was chosen by God to bring the Quran to mankind, a book that has in the course of
history produced thousands of other books and treatises, brought libraries into being and
filled them with books, and placed before mankind laws and philosophies and educational,
intellectual and ideological systems.
"He arose in an environment
where there was no trace of learning and civilization. In the whole of Medina, there were
only eleven people who knew how to read and write, and in all the branches of the Quraysh,
in Mecca and its environs, not more than seventeen people were literate.
"The teachings of the Quran,
which mentions knowledge and the pen in its opening verses, brought about a tremendous
transformation. Islam proclaimed study to be a religious duty, and made the black ink of
the scribe and the scholar to be superior to the red blood of the martyr.
"Thanks to the teachings of
the Quran and its emphasis on the cultivation of knowledge, countless scholars made their
appearance and wrote innumerable books. Different scientific disciplines were derived from
the Quran and spread across the world by Muslim thinkers. The world was illumined with the
light of the Quran and the culture of Islam."
References:
The Seal of the Prophets and His Message
By: Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari
Translated by: Hamid Algar |
