Discussion Kit 1.4 Reading Time: 45 Min

Discussion Kit 1.4 Reading Time: 45 min 3i | The | TMiraculoushe Mirac uNaturelous N ofa ttheure Qur’ān of the Qur’an ExecutiveExecutive Summ Summaryary One of the most unique features of being Muslim is our conviction is the divine ﷺ that the Qur’an revealed to Prophet Muhammad speech of God, uncorrupted throughout history. From time to time, this belief is challenged by the claim that the Qur’an was written by .to obtain worldly benefits like power and wealth ﷺ the Prophet ﷺ Yet, a quick glimpse into the life and character of the Prophet demonstrates his righteousness and trustworthiness as attested to by was not a ﷺ both Muslims and non-Muslims. Not to mention, he person of literacy nor language, so the idea that he could produce a literary masterpiece from scratch is a strained claim. Beyond his character and background, there are a number of authoring ﷺ evidences that dismantle the possibility of the Prophet lack of control over ﷺ the Qur’an. These include the Prophet’s and the limited ,ﷺ revelation, the Qur’an’s rebuking of the Prophet name in the Qur’an. The ﷺ references to Prophet Muhammad’s miraculous nature of the Qur’an also attests to the impossibility of human authorship. For example, the Qur’an provides undiscovered knowledge of the natural world (e.g., the detailed description of the embryo’s development), knowledge of the future (e.g., the Conquest of Makkah), and lost knowledge of the past (e.g., the correct historical usage of ‘pharaoh’ v. ‘king’), all while being a literary masterpiece. The Qur’an itself calls upon those who challenge its authenticity to produce something like it. Yet throughout the past fourteen centuries, despite the efforts of the most skilled Arabs and non-Arabs alike to meet the challenge of the Qur’an, no attempt has succeeded. What’s more is that the Qur’an cannot even be compared to any existing literary masterpieces, because most authors throughout history, including Shakespeare, were trained by teachers and had the opportunity to thoroughly edit and proofread their work countless i 4ii | The | T Miraculoushe Mirac uNaturelous N ofa ttheure Qur’ān of the Qur’an times. After extensively examining all of these various claims, the paper concludes that the Qur’an’s miraculous nature adequately and clearly points to Allah as its source. i ii 5 | The Miraculous Nature of the Qur’an 1 | The Miraculous Nature of the Qur’ān INFOGRAPHIC The Miraculous Nature of the Qur’ān An infographic is available for this Say, “Even if all mankind and jinn came together to produce the publication. See equivalent of this Quran, they could not produce its equal, here. 1 however much they helped each other.” FURTHER READING Introduction See part one of this series, “The Among the most foundational and significant beliefs of Muslims is the Miraculous Nature of the Qur’ān” absolute conviction in the Qur’an as the Speech (kalām) of God, divine and preserved, unparalleled and unmatched by any human VIDEO speech, and inimitable by any individual or group. What follows is the A lecture series on second essay on the miraculous nature of the Qur’an, addressing the “Qur’anic Miracles” is available here. role of Prophet Muhammad , the inimitability of the Qur’an, and ﷺ the plagiarism attempts throughout history. By the end of this series, the evidence will clearly demonstrate that the Qur’an’s authorship cannot reasonably be attributed to anyone but God. ﷺ The Final Messenger of God The claims regarding the origins of the Qur’an generally fall under one of two categories: 1. The Qur’an is from God conveyed through Prophet Muhammad ﷺ ﷺ The Qur’an is not from God but from Prophet Muhammad .2 or other human beings As this is an introduction to the topic, the primary focus in this and his ﷺ segment will revolve around Prophet Muhammad conveyed the Qur’an to ﷺ character and trustworthiness, since he the world. The segment that follows serves as a rational basis for 1 Qur’an 17:88. 1 62 | The | T Miraculoushe Miracu Naturelous N ofat uthere Qur’ānof the Qur’an disproving the claim that the Qur’an was authored by Prophet DISCUSS Muhammad and/or other human beings. What are the reasons people claim that the ﷺ Prophet Context of the claim authored the Qur’an? How would this Oftentimes, those who claim that the Qur’an was authored by Prophet claim challenge ?himself suggest various worldly motives (e.g., core Islamic beliefs ﷺ Muhammad Put differently, how material gain or power), claims which can be rationally eliminated by would our iman be utilizing historical evidence, reasoning, and objectivity. Other affected if we thought the Qur’an researchers, such as William Montgomery Watt, mistakenly assume was not the word of ?was an unrivaled genius who God ﷺ that the Prophet Muhammad authored the Qur’an in his subconscious mind (via “intellectual 2 TERMINOLOGY locution”) and mistook it as revelation from God. This modern Orientalist: An Orientalist claim, however, contradicts his own and other orientalists’ Orientalist is 3 broadly defined as views about the prophet’s established sincerity, his illiteracy (“... [he] “someone who 4 was not ... taught to read and write”), his lack of exposure to studies the Orient 5 [i.e., the East].” scriptures (“…it seems certain that he had not read any scripture”), However, it is and their inability to properly and coherently explain the concept of specifically being 6 used here to refer wa y (revelation) via a secular or materialist psychological lens. The ḥ to those who do so primary objective of including a section on the Prophet Muhammad through the lens of ,in the introductory article of this series is so that readers may a Western bias ﷺ viewing other keep in mind his exalted moral character, his inability to read or write, cultures and and his experience as a medium of the Qur’an’s delivery to the very religions as primitive, static, society in which he was raised. underdeveloped, and inferior. is one of the most documented humans in DISCUSS ﷺ As Muhammad history, it is easy to examine these claims and compare them with the How does knowing historical evidence. As with Orientalists of recent centuries (e.g., that the Prophet’s entire life was ﷺ documented in such 2 William Montgomery Watt, Mohammad at Mecca (Oxford, 1953), 52. detail–from how he 3 Ibid. ate and slept to his 4 See: David Samuel Margoliouth, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam (London, 1905), 59. interaction with 5 Watt, 52. other world 6 See Muhammad Ali’s rebuttal of Watt’s intellectual locution: Muhammad Mohar Ali, The leaders–affect your Qur’an and the Orientalists, (Ipswich: Jam’iyat I yaa’ Minhaaj Al-Sunnah), 172-193. ḥ iman? 1 2 73 | The| T Miraculoushe Miracu Naturelous N ofat uthere Qur’ānof the Qur’an Muir, Margoliouth, Bell), the Arabs of Quraysh initially accused the DISCUSS of being the author of the Qur’an but Why did the ﷺ Prophet Muhammad eventually, this accusation was completely discontinued: disbelievers of the Quraysh stop accusing ﷺ When Our clear revelations are recited to them, those who do the Prophet not expect to meet with Us say, “Bring [us] a different Qur’an, of authoring the Qur’an? If even or change it.” Say [O Prophet]: “It is not for me to change it of his enemies could my own accord; I only follow what is revealed to me, for I fear vouch for his the torment of a tremendous Day if I were to disobey my Lord.” character, what Say [O Prophet], “If God had so willed, I would not have does this say about ?ﷺ the Prophet recited it to you, nor would He have made it known to you. I lived a whole lifetime among you before it (revelation) came to 7 me. How can you not use your reason?” REFLECT When the media and public figures These two verses of the Qur’an were revealed as instructions to the today try to defame Prophet (“Say [O Prophet]”) to respond to the initial claim of the character of ,ﷺ the Prophet Quraysh, who were advised to reflect rationally and reasonably on how do you feel? had lived amongst them for How does knowing ﷺ their claim. The Prophet Muhammad forty years, was known to be trustworthy and honest (a - ādiq the character of as ﷺ ṣ ṣ the Prophet al-amīn), had never been witnessed learning language or poetry from attested to by both his followers and anyone, never sought any power or authority, and—seemingly enemies help abruptly—he was commanded to convey an unrivaled and inimitable provide revelation from God which he could not have conjured or controlled reassurance? of his own accord. His righteousness was known to the people even before prophethood, and many Western scholars of Islam acknowledge his integrity, as seen in Watt’s scholarly testimony: His readiness to undergo persecutions for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement —all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems than it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in 8 the West as Muhammad. 7 Qur’an 10:15-16. 8 Watt, 52. 3 84 | The | T Miraculoushe Miracu Naturelous N ofat theure Qur’ānof the Qur’an REFLECT As Professor M.

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