The Miracle of Qur’an

These words of the Prophet recorded by Bukhari in the first century of Islam, give proper direction to our quest. They make it clear that the Quran, which he presented to the people as having been revealed to him, word by word, by God is itself, a compelling proof of his being a true prophet.

What are those features of the Quran which prove it to be the word of God? There are many, but I shall refer briefly to only a few.

The one which is bound to make the immediate impact upon a student of the Quran is the challenge it made fourteen hundred years ago to produce a book, or even a chapter, which is its equal.

And if you are in doubt of what we have revealed to Our servant, produce one chapter comparable to it. Call upon your helpers besides God to assist you, if what you say be true.

Needless to say, this challenge has not to this day been met. Those who feel that the authorship of the Quran was human and not divine should consider also that no ordinary mortal would deliver himself of such a challenge for fear of being instantly proved a posturer and a braggart. Neither the Quran, nor the challenge it flings down to humanity, can be of human origin, for no human work is ever complete; it can always be added to, improved upon and emulated. Purely human standards are always re-attainable. This, however, has proved the Quran to be quite unique in that it is both definitive and inimitable.

Attempts were, of course, made to meet this challenge. The first was that of Labid Ibn Rabiyah, a contemporary of the Prophet and the last of a series of seven renowned poets of the time. He was so eloquent that once, when he recited a poem at the famous annual fair of Ukaz, the other poets present fell in prostration before him — they were so enchanted by his verses. In pre-Islamic days, outstanding poets used to be honoured after annual gatherings by having their works hung on the wall of the entrance to the Kabah, so that the public could read them, the whole year round.

Before his acceptance of Islam, Labid once composed a poem in reply to the Quran which was thus displayed. Shortly after this, a Muslim brought some verses from the Quran and hung them alongside Labid’s poem. The following day, when Labid read them, he was so moved that he declared that they must be the work of some superhuman mind, and, without further ado, he embraced Islam.

But this was not the end of the matter. Famous as he was as an Arabian poet, he was so greatly impressed by the literary excellence of the Quran that he decided to give up writing poetry altogether. When asked why he did not continue to write poetry, he replied, ‘What? After the Quran?’ Once, when asked by Umer, the Second Caliph, to recite a poem, he said, ‘When God has given me such compositions as are enshrined in the Quran, it does not behove me to recite poems.

Stranger still is the case of Ibn-al Muqaffa (died 727 A.D.), a great scholar and celebrated writer of Persian origin, who was called upon by the unbelievers to counteract the widespread influence the Quran was having on great throngs of people. A man of extraordinary genius, he felt quite confident that he could produce such a work in one year’s time, provided that all his practical requirements were taken care of, so that he could give his undivided attention to the composition. Six months passed and, naturally, certain people were eager to know how much work had been accomplished.

When they went to see him, they found him sitting, pen in hand, staring at a blank sheet of paper. Around him were scattered innumerable pieces of paper. This great, learned and eloquent writer had done his best to write a book comparable to the Quran, but had failed pathetically. Highly embarrassed, he admitted that even after working for all these six months, he had not been able to produce even a single sentence which could match up to the excellence of the Quran. Ashamed and hopeless, he gave up the task he had been entrusted with. This incident was recounted by the Orientalist Wollaston, in his book, Muhammad, His Life and Doctrines, (p.143) to show that ‘Muhammad’s boast as to the literary excellence of the Quran was not unfounded.’

The challenge of the Quran has yet to be answered.

Centuries have rolled by without anyone ever having been able to match it. This uniqueness of the Quran undoubtedly proves that it is of divine origin. If man has the ability to think objectively, this should be enough to convince him of the truth. Such was the miraculous nature of the Quran that the Arabs, who had no peers in eloquence and fluency, were so proud of their rhetoric that they called all non-Arabs dumb—ajamis were compelled to bow before the superior qualities of the Quran.