Qur’an Is A Living Miracle Of The Prophet

In brief, whatever, the honourable author had said about Qur’an, was it the basic faith of almost all Muslims?

It was known to the people of foresight that God had been awarding His Messengers with miracles that suited their times. Someone had made the raging fire of Nimrod into a blooming garden, and another cured the lepers and turned those naturally blind into normal human beings. Someone moulded iron and the another prevailed over the winds, birds and beasts. However, these miracles were time bound with their holders, and as soon as they died their miracles also faded away with them.

Similarly, in continuation of His tradition the last of the Prophets i.e. Muhammad (S) was also given several miracles that counted up to four thousand in numbers. These miracles were also more or less similar to those, whose permanence was bound with the life of the Prophet and they ended with demise of the Prophet, other than from the pages of history where their description was still preserved. Now since the Shariah of the Prophet (S) had to exist until the Day of Judgement and his prophecy (Nubuwwah), included the entire universe, it was necessary that he should be awarded with a miracle that could survive until the Day of Judgement. This miracle was the Qur’an.

What Is Miraculous About The Qur’an

There were differing opinions among the scholars on this issue. Was it the eloquence of the Qur’an that was beyond human reach or its distinguished diction or was it miraculous due to its subjugation (Sarfa) of the polytheists?

The majority of the Muslim Scholars thought that Qur’an, due to its eloquence and expression was a miracle and the others named it a miracle due to its news of the future, or due to its guiding principles and everlasting impact or in view of Sarfa i.e. it made the polytheists and

infidels to surrender before it, and not due to its eloquence and rhetoric. However, the researchers favoured the first opinion and we do not have enough time to expedite this point any further. However, the Qur’an had thrown a challenge to the infidels of Arabia and invited them to answer:

فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَلَن تَفْعَلُوا فَاتَّقُوا النَّارَ الَّتِي وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَافِرِينَ

“And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Surah like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true (in the validity of your rejection)” (2:23).

Again, the Qur’an was challenging the world of today:

قُل لَّئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الْإِنسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلَىٰ أَن يَأْتُوا بِمِثْلِ هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنِ لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا

“Say: If men and jinn should combine together to bring the like of this Qur’an, they could not bring the like of it, though some of them were aiders of others” (17:88).

Despite the high level of literacy in the world today no one has dared to accept this challenge. The Qur’an said:

فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُوا وَلَن تَفْعَلُوا فَاتَّقُوا النَّارَ الَّتِي وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَافِرِينَ

“But if you do (it – taking up this challenge) not and never shall you do (it), then be on your guard against the fire of which men and stones are the fuel; it is prepared for the unbelievers” (2:24).

To Remember Qur’an’s Stature And To Remain In Touch With It

It was narrated in Usul al-Kafi that the Prophet had said, “When mishaps and insolence overcome you like the shadow of the night, you must then take refuge in the Qur’an, who is your intercessor, whose recommendations are irrefutable and its arguments will be accepted. It provides a strong defence by arguing for those who had acted upon its message, and its appeals would be heard. If someone takes it as his guide it will herd him towards the Paradise and the one who ignored it will be pushed into the Hell.

Qur’an was that teacher and guide who directed towards best of the routes i.e. Islam, and it was that book, which had explicit definition of everything. It being an ideal truth without any quirks, had both apparent and hidden aspects. Its apparent were its commandments and its inner being was its pure knowledge.

Its wonders could not be counted. Its visible was very pleasant and the inward very deep. It had profundity upon profundity, whose mysteries could not be determined and its secrets would never become obsolete. It had the keys for guidance and education, and minarets of knowledge and intellect. If there was anyone who was familiar with the procedure of acquiring guidance, then the Book was the principal guide for him. Hadith ath-Thaqalayn was also a chain of the same narration.”

It was reported in Usul al-Safi, with reference from Usul al-Kafi, on the authority of Imam Muhammad Al-Baqir (‘a) who had said, “On the Day of Judgement, in the presence of all the Prophets and Angels and all generations of human beings, the Qur’an will appear in an extremely handsome form and it will walk through the company of Muslims and advance thorough the crowd of the Prophets. They will assume that he is a Muslim, similar to one of us but he will bypass them, and walking through the grouping of Angels reach the presence of God and will provide evidence for some people who had fasted in the morning and recited it during the nights. God will reply:

“O, the Qur’an, take them to their destinations in the Paradise and He will address those people to keep on reciting the Qur’an and find better and better place in the Paradise, until they all reached their appointed destinations.”

Reward Of Reciting The Qur’an

The Prophet (S) had said, “Brighten your homes by reciting the Qur’an”. It was mentioned that a person who listens, learns or just glances at one word of the Qur’an, his character file was documented with a virtue and one of his sins was eliminated. The one who learnt one word of the Qur’an, was bestowed with ten merits and ten of his sins were forgiven and his status was raised by ten points.

Anyone who recited Qur’an, in prayers (in sitting posture) he was awarded with fifty merits and fifty of his sins were forgiven. His status was raised by fifty points. And, if he read Qur’an in obligatory prayers, in a standing posture then each letter was awarded with a hundred plus points and hundreds of his sins were forgiven and his rank was hoisted up by one hundred points.

Qur’an Is Hadith (A Created Being) And Not Eternal

Towards the end of this chapter, the honourable author had pointed to a question of discord among the Muslims. This was about the subject of creation or eternity of the Qur’an. Among the entire Muslim Ummah Shi’as of Ahl al-Bayt and the Mu’tazilites were of the opinion that it was Hadith i.e. it was a created being.

The Asharaites Sunnis however, considered it to be eternal. They were the confessors of an ambiguous terminology called Kalam an-Nafs (This idea seemed to have come from Christian traditions, which stated - in the beginning there was word, the word was with God and the word was God.

With this background, we have presented a few arguments to prove our view.

Speech was composed of words and words could be displaced or even eliminated. Naturally, this was the sign of probable (Hadith). Therefore, the Qur’an was a created book. All Muslims agreed that everything in the Qur’an, from Al-Hamd to Wunnas was the word of God, which was compounded with letters and words. Anything that was compound was probable and could not be eternal. Therefore, the Qur’an was Hadith.

Qur’an was composed of divine letters and words that could be observed, and it was not the name of an ancient terminology i.e. the inner voice of God (Kalam an-Nafs) and this labelling was a sure deceit. Sayyid Moinuddin Shafaee wrote in his Risala I’tiqadia that, “Asharaites invented this terminology in third century Hijra, when it was an unknown entity before that time, Qur’an insisted on it being a created entity (Hadith). God has said:

مَا يَأْتِيهِم مِّن ذِكْرٍ مِّن رَّبِّهِم مُّحْدَثٍ إِلَّا اسْتَمَعُوهُ وَهُمْ يَلْعَبُونَ

“Never cometh there unto them a new reminder (Dhikr) from their Lord but they listen to it while they play” (21:2).

Most commentators have agreed that the word Dhikr was meant for Qur’an, which God had declared as Hadith (Muhdathin or new).

Acceptance Of The Acceptance Of Qur’anic Stature By The Outsiders

Famous historian Gibbon said, “Qur’an is a great testament for the unity of God. The Prophet of Islam rejected the practices of the infidels of Makkah with logical arguments. He said: anything that arises, must lay down. And, anything that is created must end one day. He has proposed that the initiator of the Universe has neither a beginning nor an end nor he is confined in a place. He has no partner with Him that He can be compared with. He is fully aware of our thoughts and secret desires and lives without the need of any baggage. All His traits of knowledge and character are within His being.

These great realities were introduced by the Prophets and their followers owned it rigidly, while the commentators of the Qur’an explained the message with rational clarifications. A scholar who believes in the person and characteristics of God and states that it is such a trust, which is above our perception, because when we declared God to be beyond time, space, motion, feelings and touch, then what is left for us to understand. That first reality (unity of the essence and attributes), whose basis is on Wahy and intellect has achieved its strength due to its confirmation by Muhammad (S). Therefore, his followers from the land of India to Morocco are called Monotheists, and a ban on statues reduced the risk of idol worship.”

George Sale wrote in the foreword of his translation of the Qur’an, “It is an established view that Qur’an was written in the language of Quraish, which was most delicate and chaste, and who were very distinguished and civilised people among the Arab tribes. Those followers, who have firm faith in Islam claim it to be the greatest living example of Arabic text, which states that no human or else can bring a parallel text of this quality and called it to be an imperishable eternal miracle (though some sects have different views) that is even more significant than raising the dead. It is a testimony to the world that it is from the Lord God. That is why Muhammad (S) himself relied on it to establish his Prophethood, and openly challenged the greatest minds of his time whose full-time activity was to become the champions of Arabic literature to bring a single Surah of this quality.

It was said that Baseed Ibn Rabiaa, who was among the greatest linguists in Muhammad’s time, and whose eulogium was displayed at the wall of the Kaaba, (nobody else dared to exhibit their work against him), but later on, when some of the Verses of Surah Al-Baqara were displayed alongside his work, he went into a stunning reverie and converted to Islam immediately. He declared that such language could only come from a Prophet and no one else.”

John Davenport, a highly acclaimed scholar, who was famous for his impartiality said, “Among many qualities of the Qur’an that could be the reason for its decorum, two features are highly acclaimed i.e. the awe and dignity of its diction that is espoused for God, wherein He is not branded for those deficits that are mostly found in humans, and secondly free of those thoughts and accounts that are responsible for human dilapidation, which are found in abundance in the current Bible. In fact, the Qur’an is free of such decays and we do not require the modification of a single word that is employed by the Qur’an. You can read it from the beginning to the end, but you will not find a single word that makes you reluctant or mortified by its usage.”