235- The Holy Qur’an is Inimitable (Series: Inviting Reflections).

In the following verses of Surah Al-Baqarah an important tenet of Islamic faith is established: “The Holy Qur’an is the Word of Allah Almighty and has been revealed unto His servant Muhammad, peace be upon him. Moreover, the truthfulness and inimitability of Al-Qur’an al-Karim, as being the Word of Allah, cannot be challenged”. The Qur’anic challenge to the Makkan pagans and to the whole world, and for all times, has been repeated in various contexts of the Qur’an. The following two verses read:

????? ??????? ??? ?????? ??????? ?????????? ?????? ????????? ????????? ????????? ???? ?????????? ?????????? ???????????? ???? ????? ??????? ??? ??????? ????????? ? ????? ????? ??????????? ????? ??????????? ??????????? ???????? ??????? ?????????? ???????? ?????????????? ? ????????? ?????????????? (And if you are in doubt about what we (Allah) have revealed to Our servant, then produce a chapter like these, and call your witnesses apart from Allah, if you are truthful. But if you do not----and you will not-----then beware the Fire whose fuel is people and stones, prepared for the disbelievers). Surah: 2, Verses: 23-24.

In order to prove the truthfulness of Qur’an and that it has been revealed by The Lord, a simple argument has been used by challenging the rhetoric   ( ????????? )of the Arabs who were proud of their eloquence ( ?????????? ). If they claim that the Holy Qur’an is forged or man-made, they should bring a surah, however small, that might be paralleled to a Qur’anic surah in its eloquence, glory, beauty of expression and its force of truth. History has recorded that, despite the expertise of the Arabs in their language, no one from them came forward to respond to this challenge.

As discussed in the previous posts some readers of the Qur'an ask: Why the last message of Allah (al-Qur'an al-Karim) was revealed in the Arabic language? The answer is: Since no other language was provided with the atmosphere and conditions which were ordained for the Arabic Language to develop, enabling it to become the vehicle of the Last Message of Allah, the Arabic was chosen. The Arabic language, as we find it now, has been a living language at least for the last two millenniums. Since the very beginning of the known history of the Arabic language we find it in a fully developed form encompassing all the beauties of expression. It has already been mentioned that an orientalist namely: Prof. Jaroslav Stetkevych of Chicago University, has very rightly commented in his book: The Modern Arabic Literary Language, about the Arabic language: "Venus-like, it [the Arabic language] was born in a perfect state of beauty". 

The Holy Qur’an is neither poetry nor prose but it is “ Saja‘ ”: ?????? which is inimitable; and, the most striking and astonishing feature of the Arabic language is that there is no modern and ancient Arabic except those words, terms and phrases which came in use with the changing socio-cultural conditions of life. It is because of the reason that the Arabic grammar, linguistic rules, use of prepositions, proverbs and phraseology have been derived from the Holy Book. It is also a fact that the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was the most eloquent Arab as he, peace be upon him, himself claims:  " ???? ??????? ???????? "(I am the most eloquent among Arabs); and, it has been witnessed that what the Prophet, peace be upon him, said became a proverb in the Arabic language. For example, the Prophet, peace be upon him, is reported in the books of hadith, to have said:

·                  " ????? ?????? ?????? " (He died his natural death).

·                  " ???? ?????? ????? "  (One who held his tongue, saved).

·                  " ?????????? ???????? ????????? " (Beneficence amputates criticism).                         

·                  "?????? ?????????? ??????????"   (The actions/doings of the people will be recompensed on the bases of their intentions).

·                  "?????? ????????? ??????????" (The best way in day to day affairs (of life) is moderation).

·                  "???????? ?????? ???????? ?????????"  (The Heaven is under the feet of mothers).

The above and many other sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, are famous proverbs of the Arabic language. It is a known fact that the phraseology of hadith does not match the Qur’anic diction as the Holy Qur’an is inimitable and a Word of Allah. It is also interesting to note that there is no ancient and modern in the Arabic language. In the history of Arabic literature, poets and writers, both from modern and ancient times, have been following the Qur’anic diction and parameters. It can be understood when we see that the two great writers of the Arabic language in early Islam: Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ d. 150 A.H. (author of Al-Risalah fi al-Sahabah, Al-Adab al-kabir and Al-Adab al-Saghir); and Abu ‘Uthman al-Jahiz d. 255 A.H. (author of Al-Biyan wa al-Tabyin and Kitab al-Hayawan); and the most modern two writers of the twentieth century: Taha Hussain and Nazar Qabbani, when they write anything in Arabic prose, we can easily make out that they are inspired from the Qur’an and following diction of such and such verses of the Holy Qur’an. We can say with absolute certainty that the ultimate destination of all world-languages is unknown as we do not know what will be the popular styles of Urdu or English languages after one hundred years; but we know for certainty that the Arab writers will be following the Qur’anic diction and style; as the Holy Qur’an is the Ultimate Destination of the Arabic language.

Moreover, for the last millennium and a half the Holy Qur'an has been the primary source to determine the meanings and nuances of the words employed by it in various contexts.  In view of these peculiarities of the Arabic language, Allah says:

"?????? ???????????? ???????? ?????????? ???????????? ???????????" (We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur′an, in order that you may learn wisdom). Surah: 12, Verse: 2.

The reason for why different themes like: Creation, Conflict between Virtue and Vice, Commandments and Interdictions, Life Hereafter, etc. have not been discussed in separate chapters (surahs) in the Qur'an as we find them in other revealed books; is because of the Qur’anic World View and because the Qur’an takes whole life of a person as One Unit and One Entity. In this world, every person has to perform some duties and in turn owes some rights. In order to maintain a balance between the Demand of Right and Performance of Duty, we are repeatedly reminded of the Day of Judgment, the creation, omniscience and omnipotence of Almighty Allah along with the examples of the fore-going nations.

The diction of the Qur’an is inimitable, and the Holy Qur’an has repeatedly challenged the infidels to bring even a shortest surah like the Holy Qur’an. Some poets and enemies of the Qur’an did try but failed to bring alike or similar to an ayah (verse) in form and content. In this regard some details can be seen in Al-Bidaya wa al-Nihaya by Ibn Kathir.

After the death of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, ???????? ???????????? (Turmoil of Apostasy) erupted in the Islamic history; and a number of people came up with the claim that they are also “Prophets” sent by Allah and supported with the Wahy (revelation) brought to them by Gebra’il AS. Among these so-called “Prophets” were the most eloquent Arab leaders like Musaylama al-Kadhdhab: ?????? ???????, who had a good following from his pagan tribe; Abu al-Aswad al-‘Anasi and even a lady namely: Salma, who proclaimed to be a prophet for the guidance of people. Musaylama had listened to the Qur’anic Surah: A-Qari‘ah, which reads:

"????????????? ??? ????????????? ????? ????????? ??? ????????????? ?????? ??????? ???????? ???????????? ????????????.."

And the Surah speaks about the Qiyamah---The Horrifying and Clamorous Day; Accountability: Reward for the Righteous and Punishment for the Wicked. Musaylama kept the rhyme and meter of these verses in mind and proclaimed that he had also received the revelation from Allah:

"?????????? ??? ?????????? ?? ??? ???????? ??? ?????????? ???? ?????????? ????????? ?? ???? ?????? ????????"

(The elephant, what is the elephant, and what will explain to you what the elephant is? He has a long trunk. And he has a small tail). Please see: Al-Khattabi, Thalath u Rasa’il fi I‘jaz al-Qur’an, Dar al-Ma‘arif, Cairo, ND, pp. 50-55.

In the last 1450 years no one could bring even a shortest possible surah parallel to the Qur’an---in its style, diction and force of meanings. In the near past another attempt was made by some Christian Arab writers---who formed an Editorial Board and published the Arabic translation of the Gospel of Mathew using Qur’anic vocabulary in its Arabic translation, entitled: ??????? ?????? ????, published by Dar al-Ma‘arif, Cairo in 1972 CE. The editorial board for the project was comprised of known Arab Christian writers: Prof. Zaki Shanudah; Dr, Bahur Labib; Dr. Murad Kamil and Prof. Hilmi Murad. In this translation, the editors/translators employed Qur’anic vocabulary along with copying the Qur’anic style but no translated verse of the Gospel can be regarded as equivalent to the Qur’anic diction. For details please see: Qur’an e Karim---Aek Musalsal Mu‘jaza (The Holy Qur’an – A Continuous Miracle) by Prof. Dr. Muhammad Akram Chaudhary, Islamic Publications, Lahore, 2011, pp. 22-30.

An interesting episode has been mentioned by a celebrated Muslim Egyptian scholar, namely: ‘Allama Tantawi Jauhari, who died in first quarter of the last century, in his book: Al-Jawahir fi Tafsir al-Qur’an. He says that he was attending an international conference with some orientalists in Paris where many of them contended with him on the issue of Inimitability of the Holy Qur’an and claimed they can also produce verses compatible to the Qur’an. ‘Allama Jauhari asked them to render the concept of “Infinite Wideness of the Hell” in Arabic. Some said:  "???? ?????? ???????"  (The Hell cannot be filled); another said: "???? ?????????? ?????????"  (Indeed the Hell is wide); another said:  "???? ??????????? ???????????" ---with lam of ta’kid, (Indeed the Hell is surely wide); and some said: "???? ??????????? ?????????? ??????"  (Indeed the Hell is very big/wide). Then ‘Allama Jauhari told them how the Holy Qur’an has depicted the wideness of the Hell and presented the following verse:

"?????? ???????? ??????????? ???? ??????????? ?????????? ???? ???? ?????????" ([After having thrown the wicked and the mountains in the Hell] ---On the Day of Judgement) when We (Allah) will ask the Hell: "Are you full?" And it (Hell) will say, "Are there any more?)" Surah: 50, Verse: 30.

On listening to the Qur’anic version, the orientalists conceded that this is the best expression. Please see: Al-Jawahir fi Tafsir al-Qur’an, Surah: Al-A‘raf, Verse: 18; and, Surah: Qaf, Verse: 30, Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, Beirut, 1991.