Bring Another Like It

What do we understand when it is said that the Quran is matchless and another like it cannot be produced? ==================== S T A R T =================== Author: brother Kamil Mufti 'Ijaz comes from the word 'ijz which means inability. It is the opposite of qudra (ability). 'Ujooz is used in Arabic to refer to an old woman who is unable to perform much of the normal chores. When the word is used with respect to the Qur'an, 'Ijaz ul-Qur'an, it means: to show the truthfulness of Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam) in his claim of prophethood by the inability of the Arabs and the subsequent generations to compete with his miracle - the Qur'an. A mu'jiza is an out of the ordinary occurrence joined with a challenge that can not be matched, something human beings can not bring a like for. 'Out of the ordinary' means it can not be linked to the usual causes (asbab). The word mu'jiza does not appear in the Qur'an itself, the hadith, or the statements of the Shahaba or the tabi'een. The first time it appeared was in the third century after hijra. The first one to write on the subject was Muhammad bin Zayd al-Wasti (d. 306 A.H.) and after him Abdul-Qahir al-Jirjani (d. 471). The reason this challenge was given to the kuffar was because they claimed they could bring something similar to it. And when Our verses are recited to them, they say: We have heard this; if we wish we can say the like of this. This is nothing but the tales of the ancients. In this Aaya the Qur'an presents the challenge to the Arabs and thereafter five aayat were revealed to challenge them. The Arabs were challenged by the Qur'an in five places in Surah Yunus, Isra, Hud, and Tur which were revealed in Macca and this verse of al-Baqara which

was revealed in Madina. Were they revealed in some order? Two opinions are held by the scholars: (a) They were revealed in a decreasing order: first they were challenged to bring the entire Qur'an, then ten surahs, then a single surah. (b) There was no order in which the verses of tahaddi were revealed. The Qur'an presented the challenge of bringing different amounts in different circumstances. The challenge was to bring something similar to the Qur'an (nau'), not of how much is to be brought (miqdar). Was this challenge just for the time in which it was revealed, or does it stand today? It stands today as well. Unfortunately, it is misunderstood though. It is thought that if someone takes up the challenge and writes a literary piece in Arabic, it will be presented to a council of unbiased Arabic linguists who will then judge between the two. If they pronounce the Qur'an to be superior, the challenge will not have been met, if they pronounce the human literary piece to be better, the challenge would have been met. This is an incorrect understanding. Allah knows best. The challenge has already been established on ALL the genrations of Arabs and non-Arabs as the following argument demonstrates. The ancient Arabs were known for their eloquence (balagha) and rhetoric (fasaha) and thence were challenged by the Qur'an. This fact is recognized by all the Arab linguists. Yet, they were unable to meet it and bring a book like the Qur'an or even part of it; therefore, those after them are even more incompetent to meet the challenge. Therefore, the fact that the ancient Arabs could not produce something similar to it, even though there was a great need to do so. Had they done so, the Qur'an would have been proven wrong in the claim made in this Aaya. Therefore, the fact that the ancient Arabs did not meet this challenge is in itself a proof of the Qur'anic inimitability. Furthermore, the succeeding generations are unable to do so even to a greater degree. This is the preferred

opinion of Imam Razi. Also, the challenge is for Arabs and non-Arabs alike. How come? If the Arabs can not meet the challenge, the non-Arab 'ajamee's can not claim to meet the challenge either. Hence, with this argument the 'ijaz of the Qur'an is established on the non-Arabs of the later generations as well. One of the classical scholars, Al-Rummani wrote in his essay on the subject: "So if someone were to say: 'You rely in your argumentation on the failure of the Bedouin Arabs, without taking into account the post-classical Arabs; yet, according to you, the Qur'an is a miracle for all. One can find in the post-classical Arabs excellence in their speech', the following can be said in reply, 'The Bedouin had developed and had full command of the complete grammatical structure of Arabic but among the post-classical Arabs there are none who can use the full structure of the language. The Bedouin Arabs were more powerful in their use of the full language. Since they failed in the imitation of the Qur'an, so the post-classical Arabs must fail to an even greater extent." Some people present the idea that perhaps the challenge of the Qur'an was met by someone in the time of the Prophet, but the pages of history did not preserve it? Imam al-Khattabi (d.388 A.H.) responds to this allegation very well in his essay on the same topic: "This idea is completely incorrect. Ever since the beginning, people have had the habit of reporting important events to their succeeding generations, especially the ones that people are looking after. The Qur'anic challenge was well spread and well known, and had someone met it, it would have been impossible for it not to have reached us. If it was possible, then it is also possible that many prophets were send in that time, perhaps many scriptures were also revealed, and they contained some Sharia other than that of Muhammad, and none of this has been transmitted to us. Just like these suppositions are unfounded, it is also unimaginable that the Qur'anic challenge was met without us knowing about it."

Some comedians have tried to produce some non-sense which the Arabs have always made fun of like the verses composed by Musailama the Liar. With this argument it is established that the Quranic challenge of inimitability can not be met. The fact that the ancient Arabs did not meet it has rendered all the coming generations unable to do so either. Once we have established that the Qur'an is indeed inimitable (mu'jiz), the question is after all, what characteristics of the Qur'an are inimitable? What qualities make the Qur'an a mu'jiza? It is impossible for us human beings to encompass these characteristics of the Qur'an completely. The 'ulama are united that the Qur'an is inimitable (mu'jiz) and no one could bring anything similar to it from the time it was being revealed till the Day of Judgement. Based on the writings of our 'ulama we can gather the following characteristics: (1) al-'Aijaz al-Bayani: (2) 'Ijaz al-'Ilmi (Scientific Miracle) (3) Future Predictions We will look at the first aspect in a little detail as the other two have been dealt with in other places in sufficient detail. (1) al-'Aijaz al-Bayani is further divided into four sub-categories: (a) Inimitability of alfadh (words) Any poet or man of letters can not claim that he has not used an inappropriate word (ghayr-faseeh) in his speech. Many times a person is forced to use an inappropriate word to express himself, unlike the Qur'an in which every word from Alhamdulillah to Qul is such that it is impossible to substitute it with another word. Arabic is a very rich language with a large vocabulary. Therefore, in order to express something several words can be employed. The Qur'an chooses the most appropriate words to express its meanings. We will illustrate this with an example. In jahiliyya several words were used for death: maut, halak, fana', hataf, sha'oob, himam, manoon, sam,

qadi'ah, hamhg, neet, food, miqdaar, jibaaz, qateem, hallaq, talatil, talala, 'aool, jidah, huzra, and khalij. But most of them contain the idea of the pagans Arabs that a man becomes totally extinct after death, because they did not believe in resurrection and judgement. Therefore, all the names they used for death carried this connotation. Had the Qur'an used one of these words for death, it would have resembled the pagan belief. So in order to express the reality of death the Qur'an chose the most appropriate word which captures the reality of death - tawaffi. This is fasaha. The word means 'to receive something completely'. The usage of the word implies that on death the entire human existence does not become extinct, but Allah receives the soul and therefore, he is capable of returning it to the body after making it anew. This word was not used for death before the Qur'an. Ibn Sayyida in al-Mukhassa presents pagan poetry using different words for death, but he presented only the verses of the Qur'an for tawaffi. We can present other examples, but they are better understood by people who have a good grasp of Arabic grammar. (b) Inimitability of tarkeeb (structure) After the usage of words we will give one example of the structure and placing of words. The Arabs considered taking qisas from the murderer to be an act of honour and there were several idioms famous among them and considered to be faseeh. The Qur'an expressed the same idea using ten letters of Arabic. And there is life for you in al-Qisas. Ar-Rummani wrote four benefits of this usage : (1) there is greater usefulness of the Qur'anic statement (2) there is greater concision in the Qur'anic statement (3) the Qura'nic statement is not so formal in its repetition of expressions (4) the Qura'nic statement is better written with

more harmonious letters (c) Inimitability of aslub (style) This aspect of 'ijaz is easier to understand. (i) The Qur'an does not follow the rules of poetic rhymes, yet the ecstasy it produces is sweeter than poetry. Man due to his aesthetic nature feels greater pleasure and sweetness in poetry than in prose. The secret being harmony produced by the arrangement of the words. Rhyming words produce pleasure which is created by poetic meters (ozan of the sh'ar). If it is coupled with qafia and radeef it increases the beauty of the couplets. Different languages have different principles for the meters, radeef, and qafia. The ancient Arabs limited themselves to the forms of qafia and wazan set by Khalil and others. In Arabic qaboor and kaboor are considered to be of the same qafia. Now the Qur'an is inimitable in that it does not follow the rules of poetry, yet its prose is sweeter than poetry. Therefore, not only Arabs, but non-Arabs also hear it and feel a rapture of joy by the harmonious rhythms. These harmonious rhythms can be felt but they can not be explained by human beings. (ii) The scholars of balagha have explained three types of asloob: khitabi, adabi, and 'ilmi. They are used differently under different circumstances. It is not possible to combine all of them in one statement. You can understand this with an example: when you are delivering a speech you adopt a different asloob. When you are writing prose, you adopt a different asloob. When you are writing a scholarly article the asloob is different. But the Qur'an combines all three. (iii) The Qur'an addresses illiterate Bedouins as well as learned scholars. The asloob of the Qur'an impresses everyone of them. The Qur'an draws proofs from simple everyday occurrences to convince a common person of tauheed, risala, life after death, and other beliefs. But it also contains material for the sophisticated and minded and scientifically inclined. (iv) When ordinary human beings repeat something, it looses its strength and effect. On the other hand Qur'anic repetition of the same incident is equally

forceful and meaningful without losing its sweetness. (v) The Arabs were eloquent in their vivid descriptions of a horse, camel, young girl, a king, or a war. The Qur'an does not discuss these subjects, yet it maintains the highest level of fasaha. (vi) The Qur'an is true in its entirety. Unlike poetry, there is no falsehood in it. A poet has to rely on exaggeration and falsehood to make his work effective. This is why Lubaid and Hassan lost the effectiveness of their poetry after they accepted Islam. (d) Inimitability of nadm (composition) These are just a few aspects we have been able to discuss in brief. For more details, please refer to 'Uloom ul-Qar'an by Taqi Usmani in Urdu, and "The Truth Revealed" by Rahmatullah Kairanwi and Usool at-Tafseer by Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips in English. (2) 'Ijaz al-'Ilmi (Scientific Miracle) The heaven I created by might, and, verily, I am expanding it. In Arabic moos`ioon indicates an ongoing action occurring at the present time and will continue in the future. The expansion of the universe was not discovered until Edward Hubble made a 100' diameter telescope in 1927. There are several good works in English detailing this aspect so we will not discuss it here in detail. (3) Future Predictions The Romans have been defeated in the nearest land; and after their defeat they will conquer, within a few years. Bid' means any number from 3-10. In 616 CE Persians defeated the Romans taking away Syria and Egypt. In 622 CE the Romans (Byzantine) won decisively over the Persians at the battle of Issus, regaining their lost land. Also, other works in English have dealt with this aspect. Now there are many other aspects of the Quranic

inimitability, but the constraint of space limits us. A point worth mentioning is that some 'ulama hold all these aspects to be from 'ijaz, but some others have raised a serious objection to this understanding. These 'ulama say that when the Qur'an challenged the Arabs it must have been with something they had perfected themselves in and took great pride in. The only thing was their fasaha and balagha. If someone says the 'ijaz of the Qur'an was in the scientific information it contained. That is not true because the ancient Arabs did not have much knowledge of science. If someone says, it was with the Sharia it gave, or with the knowledge of the Ghaib, they did not perfect themselves in these fields either. Also, the 'ijaz is for the entire Qur'an, whereas there are many verses that do not talk about science, medicine, Sharia, or Unseen events which would imply they are not mu'jiz, which is not true. Therefore, these 'ulama hold 'ijaz of the Qur'an to be its fasaha and balagha. As far as how do we present the Qur'an to the non-Arabs, their answer is simple. We establish the truthfulness of the Qur'an using other proofs, not through its 'ijaz with which the ancient Arabs were challenged. The accurate prediction of future events, the scientific information, the perfect Sharia it presents, all of these may be used to establish the truthfulness of the Qur'an. Allah knows best.