Hamza Andreas Tzortzis. Version 1.0, September 2014.

v

• This seminar is primarily focussed

on helping you articulate the

linguistic and literary miracle of the

Qur’an to Non-Arabs or non-

experts of the Arabic language…

Co

nte

nts

• What is a miracle?

• The Intellectual challenge of the Qur’an

• Summary of Some Technical stuff

• Let’s analyse surah al-Kawthar

• The challenges: past and present

• How to articulate this to a non-Arab?

– Inference to the best explanation

– Testimony

• Philosophy of miracles

• Contentions

What is a

Miracle?

Act

of

Imp

oss

ibil

ity

• The word miracle is derived from the Latin word miraculum

meaning something wonderful.

• David Hume: “A transgression of natural law of nature.”

See David Hume. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748.

• Hume argued that the only evidence we have for miracles is

eyewitness testimony. He concluded that we should only believe in

miracles if the probability of the eyewitnesses to be mistaken, is

greater than the probability of the miracle to occur.

David Hume. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, s. 91. An on-line version

can be found here http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9662/9662-h/9662-h.htm.

• Hume’s definition is incoherent because natural laws are inductive

generalisations of patterns we perceive in the universe:

– A more coherent definition would be the Qur’anic view. In

other words an act of impossibility.

– What this means is that miracles are acts of impossibilities

concerning causal or logical connections.

Mu

taw

wati

r • Eyewitness testimony can be taken seriously in the context of

multiple witnessing.

– If there exists a large number of independent witnesses, who

transmitted the testimony via varying chains of transmission, then to

reject that report would be bordering the absurd. Even Hume himself

recognized the power of this type of eye witness report,

• “For I own, that otherwise, there may possibly be miracles, or

violations of the usual course of nature, of such a kind as to admit of

proof from human testimony; though, perhaps, it will be impossible to

find any such in all the records of history. Thus, suppose, all authors,

in all languages, agree, that, from the first of January 1600, there

was a total darkness over the whole earth for eight days: suppose

that the tradition of this extraordinary event is still strong and lively

among the people: that all travellers, who return from foreign

countries, bring us accounts of the same tradition, without the least

variation or contradiction: it is evident, that our present

philosophers, instead of doubting the fact, ought to receive it as

certain…”

David Hume. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding , s. 99

Final Note • Hume’s argument against miracles has been dealt with

quite extensively by the Professor of History and

Philosophy of Science John Earman.

• Professor Earman’s book Hume’s Abject Failure: The

Argument Against Miracles dismantles Hume’s scepticism

– “In ‘Of Miracles,’ Hume pretends to stand on philosophical high

ground, hurling down thunderbolts against miracle stories. The

thunderbolts are supposed to issue from general principles about

inductive inference and the credibility of eyewitness testimony. But

when these principles are made explicit and examined under the

lens of Bayesianism, they are found to be either vapid, specious,

or at variance with actual scientific practice.”

John Earman. Hume’s Abject Failure: The Argument Against Miracles. Oxford University

Press. 2000, p. 70.

Musa & his Staff

• “And We inspired to Moses, ‘Throw your

staff,’ and at once it devoured what they

were falsifying. So the truth was established,

and abolished was what they were doing.”

Qur’an 7:117-118

Tafsir Ibn Kathir

• Ibn Abbas (ra):

– “Then Musa threw his staff, and it turned into a huge

snake that opened its mouth and rushed towards

Fir’awn. When Fir’awn saw the snake rushing towards

him, he jumped from his throne and cried to Musa for

help, so that Musa would remove the snake from his

way. Musa did that.”

– According to Ibn Kathir the staff instantaneously

turned into a snake.

• The Snake also ate the illusory snakes of the Magicians. Tafsir Ibn Kathir

No causal or

logical connection!

Shaykh Al-Sha’rawi

• “With this heavenly support mundane laws

and natural phenomena are caused to yield in

such an overwhelming way that all attempts

at rational explanation are defeated.” The Miracles of the Qur’an. Dar al-Taqwa, p. 5.

The Intellectual Challenge of the Qur’an

What is the Qur’an? • Az-Zarqani, a 9th century scholar of the Qur’an,

summarizes the description of the book.

– “The Qur’an is the Arabic speech of God,

which He revealed to Muhammad in wording

and meaning, and which has been preserved in

the compiled written pages of the Qur’an, and

has reached us by recurrent reporting.” az-Zarqani, Manhil al-Irfan fi Ulumul Quran, Vol. 1, p. 21.

Encourage Thinking • Professor of Philosophy Shabbir Akhtar in his book

The Qur’an and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam

writes:

– “Nature’s flawless harmonies and the delights and

liabilities of our human environment, with its diverse

and delicate relationships, are invested with religious

significance. Created nature is a cryptogram of a reality

which transcends it: nature is a text to be deciphered.

Evidences accumulating in the material and social

worlds and in the horizons jointly point to a hidden

immaterial order.” Shabbir Akhtar. The Qur'an and the Secular Mind: A Philosophy of Islam. Routledge.

2008, page 217.

The Challenge

• The Qur’an challenges mankind:

– “...and bring a single chapter like it...” Qur’an 2:23

• According Qur’anic Exegetes (mufasiroon) these

verses issue a challenge to produce a chapter

(surah) that imitates the Qur’an’s style,

structure, nature and linguistic features. See Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qurtubi, Tafsir al-Jalalayn and Ma’riful Qur’an.

Statements from the Ulama • Imam Fakhr al-Din:

– “It is inimitable because of its eloquence, its unique

style, and because it is free of error.”

• al-Zamlakani:

– “Its word structures for instance, are in perfect harmony

with their corresponding scales, and the meaning of its

phraseology is unsurpassed, such that every linguistic

category is unsurpassed in the case of every single word

and phrase.”

See Suyuti. Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur’an.

Statements from the Ulama • Al-Isfahani:

– “Know that the inimitability of the Qur’an... is concerned

either with its eloquence, its rhetorical devices, or its sense.”

• Al-Sakaki:

– “Know that the inimitability of the Qur’an may be perceived

but it will not be described, just as the right weight is perceived

without being described. This is similar to perceiving the right

amount of salt, or the right voice for a particular song. In

addition, this inimitability is recognized only by those with the

correct aptitude, or those steeped in the knowledge of and

experienced in eloquence and rhetoric.”

See Suyuti. Al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur’an.

Ibn Taymiyyah

• “The greatest of all miracles is the Qur’an

that the Prophet Muhammadملسو هيلع هللا ىلص came

with, for it is the religion of Allah and His

speech, and it is the proof of Prophethood

of Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص. Its very revelation is

one of the most supernatural and

extraordinary acts…” Majmoo’ al-Fatawaa, v.11, p. 324.

Summary of Some

Technical Stuff

Classical Arabic

Literary Forms

Arabic Literary Forms

Prose

Combination of Prose and Poetry:

Maqamah

Poetry

Prose

Prose

Rhymed Prose: Saj’

Straight Forward

Speech: Mursal

Rhymed Prose:

Saj’

Rhymed Prose

End Rhyme

Accent Based Rhythmical

Pattern

Concentration of rhetoric and

eloquence

Devin J Stewart. “Saj’ in the Qur’an: Prosody and Structure” in The Koran: Critical Concepts in Islamic

Studies. Edited by Colin Turner, Vol. II; A. Von Denffer. 2003 (Revised Ed. 1994). ‘Ulum al-Qur’an: An

Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’an. The Islamic Foundation, p. 75; Stewart, Devin J. “Rhymed Prose”.

Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an. General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington

DC. Brill, 2008.

Straight Forward Speech: Mursal

Straight Forward Speech: Mursal

No Rhyme

No Rhythm

No Concentration of Linguistic

Devices

“Nath r.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill

Online , 2013. Reference. 5 January 2013.

http://brillonline.nl/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-

2/nathr-COM_1439.

Poetry

Poetry

16 Syllabic Based Rhythmical

Patterns: Al-Bihar

End Rhyme

SirCharles J. Lyall. Translations of Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. xlv-lii;William Wright. 1955 (1898). A

Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol II, part 4. Cambridge University Press, p. 350-390 for more

information on the poetic metres; Louis Cheikho, Shu’ara’ ‘al-Nasraniyah, 1890-1891, Beirut.

16 A

l-B

ihar

16 Rhythmical

Patterns:

Al-Bihar

At

awîl Al

Bassit

Al

Wafir

Al

Kamil

Ar

Rajs

Al

Khafif

Al

Hazaj

Al

Muttakarib Al

Munsarih

Al

Muktatab

Al

Muktadarak

Al

Madid

Al Mujtath

Al

Ramel

Al

Khabab

As

Saria’

Combination of Prose and

Poetry: Maqamah

Maqamah

Prose

Poetry

A F L Beeston, T M Johnstone, R B Serjeant and G R Smith (Ed.), Arabic Literature To The

End Of The Ummayyad Period, 1983, Cambridge University Press, p. 338 – 343.

• Not straight forward speech: it contains rhythm, rhyme and

concentrated eloquence

• Not poetry: the totality of each chapter does not conform to any of the

al-bihar. Mohammad Khalifa. The Authorship of the Qur’an in The Koran: Critical

Concepts in Islamic Studies. Edited by Colin Turner, Vol. I, p.129.

• Not rhymed prose:

– Has greater tendency to mono-rhyme

– Has greater concentration of eloquence and rhetoric

– Stuctural differences such as length of phrases. Devin J Stewart. Saj’ in

the Qur’an: Prosody and Structure, p.102.

• Not maqamah:

– Exquisite intermingling of prose and poetry

• Example in Surah Yusuf

• Cannot tell the difference. The Miracles of the Qur’an. Dar al-Taqwa,

p. 5; Arthur J Arberry. 1998. The Koran. Oxford University Press, p. x.

– Maqamah copied Qur’anic verses

• Influenced by the Qur’an. A F L Beeston, T M Johnstone, R B Serjeant

and G R Smith (Ed.), Arabic Literature To The End Of The Ummayyad

Period, 1983, Cambridge University Press, p. 338 – 343.

Th

e Q

ur’

an

= U

niq

ue?

Let’s Analyse

Surah Al-Kauthar

ا الكوثر كأعطينا إن

وانحر كلرب فصل

هوالبتر كشانئ إن

The Challenges Past & Present

The Seventh Century Arabs

• They were the best at expressing themselves

in the Arabic language.

• They had immense motivation to meet the

challenge as their social, political and

economic life was being undermined by the

new emerging Islamic world-view.

Those Who Attempted • Ibn Al-Mukaffa

• Musaylimah

• Abu'l-'Ala Al-Marri

• Yahya b. Al-Hakam al-Ghazal

• Abu'l - 'Atahiya

The Encyclopedia Of Islam, 1971, Volume 3, E J Brill, Leiden, p. 885; 905; 1019; Gustave E Von

Grunebaum, A Tenth-Century Document Of Arabic Literary Theory and Criticism, 1950, The

University of Chicago Press, Chicago, p. xiv; F L Beeston, T M Johnstone, R B Serjeant and G R

Smith (Ed.), Arabic Literature To The End Of The Umayyad Period, Op. Cit., p. 212; 213; 127-

128; ‘Abdul Aleem, I'jaz ul Qur'an, 1933, Islamic Culture, Volume VII, Hyderabad Deccan, p. 221

& 232; ‘Ali Dashti (Translated from the Persian by F R C Bagley), Twenty Three Years: A Study

Of The Prophetic Career Of Mohammad, 1985, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., London, p. 48; Ignaz

Goldziher, Ed. S M Stern, Muslim Studies (Muhammedanische Studien) II, 1971, George Allen &

Unwin Ltd., London, pp. 363-365.

• Sayyid 'Ali Muhammad

• Ibn al-Rawandi

• Bassar bin Burd

• Sahib Ibn 'Abbad

Example from the Past • Musaylamah:

– “O Wabr (a small, furry mammal, hyrax), O Wabr! You are only

two ears and a chest, and the rest of you is digging and burrowing.”

Tafsir Ibn Kathir (abridged), Vol. 10, Darusalam, p. 582; Please also see Al-

Bidayah wan-Nihayah 6:320 and Al-Isabah 3:225.

• The book Arabic Literature to the End of the Ummayyad Period summarises

Musaylamah’s attempts to produce something like the Qur’an:

– “He followed the kahin style of rhymed prose, and of the

pronouncing of oaths. One such, swearing by mountain goat, the

black smooth-skinned wolf and dark night are suggestive of animals

symbolic of the pagan gods.”

A F L Beeston, T M Johnstone, R B Serjeant and G R Smith (Ed.), Arabic

Literature To The End Of The Ummayyad Period, 1983, Cambridge University Press, p. 127-128.

Shaykh Muhammad A. Draz • “An Arab living at a time of high literary standards as he was,

he could not maintain his own style. He went so low as to

produce something similar to what children do when

they change the words of songs and poems to give them

different meanings. Needless to say, this is no more than

distorting the work of others. A person who seriously wishes

to take up the challenge to produce something similar to the

Qur’an should take a particular idea expressed in the Qur’an,

then express it in a different style of equal or greater merit to

that of the Qur’anic text. Anyone who wishes to try this with

the ideas of the Qur’an will only try what is impossible.

Experience provides irrefutable proof.”

Muhammad Abdullah Draz. 2001. The Qur’an: An Eternal Challenge. The

Islamic Foundation, p. 69 – 68.

Al-Baqillani

• Al-Baqillani who systematically analysed the

poetry of Musaylamah wrote:

– “The pieces reported to have been composed by

Musaylimah are so ridiculously poor in style

that nobody could seriously compare them with

the Qur’an.” Abdul Aleem, I'jaz ul Qur’an, 1933, Islamic Culture, Volume VII, Hyderabad

Deccan, p. 221.

On Contemporary Challenges

• Today’s Arabic has suffered linguistic

degeneration due to excessive linguistic

borrowing.

• Modern Arabic environments are

heterogeneous, so the language has not

retained its linguistic purity.

• So how could an Arab today produce

something like the Qur’an?

Example from the Present

See suralikeit.com

Refutation • In the 1st verse they used the word “Riyah” for stormy

wind but “Riyah” refers to the wind that brings a blessing.

– They should have used “Reeh” refers to the stormy wind or that

associated with punishment.

• Words which could be removed from the verses, without

altering their meaning;

– Verse 1: “bi HiM” [with them],

– Verse 2: “la HuM” [for them],

– Verse 4: “min hum” [from them](in fact the entire verse can be

summarised to the half without any change in meaning),

– Verse 8: “ma’a hu” [with him] and ‘la hu’ [for him]

– Verse 9: “nahn” [we] and ‘amama-k’ [in front (of) you].

See more here http://www.linguisticmiracle.com/response_surah_iman

How to articulate

this to a Non-Arab?

Divine Book

Inference to the best

explanation Testimony

Inference to the Best

Explanation

Infe

ren

ce t

o t

he B

est

Ex

pla

nati

on

• The best explanation of the facts available.

– The more data/information you have the stronger the inference.

• An good inference accounts for the reliable data and seeks

to explain relevant evidence. Conditions include:

– simplicity, comprehensiveness, and explains most of the data.

• Like with most things, we can have competing explanations

for the data we have at our disposal.

– What filters these explanations is not only their plausibility, but

the availability of other pieces of data that could help us

discriminate between them. Professor Lipton explains,

• “We begin by considering plausible candidate explanations,

and then try to find data that discriminate between them…An

inference may be defeated when someone suggests a better

alternative explanation, even though the evidence does not

change.”

Peter Lipton. Inference to the Best Explanation. Second Edition.

Routledge. 2004, pp.64-65.

Indispensable Role • Professor of History and Philosophy Peter Lipton explains the

practical and indispensable role of inference,

– “The doctor infers that his patient has measles, since this is

the best explanation of the evidence before him. The

astronomer infers the existence of motion of Neptune, since

that is the best explanation of the observed perturbations of

Uranus…According to the Inference to the Best Explanation,

our inferential practices are governed by explanatory

considerations. Given our data and our background beliefs,

we infer what would, if true, provide the best of the

competing explanations we can generate of those data…”

Peter Lipton. Inference to the Best Explanation. Second Edition. Routledge. 2004,

p.56.

Testimony

What is Testimony?

• Testimony is a branch of epistemology

“concerned with how we acquire knowledge and

justified belief from the say-so of other people”.

Therefore, one of the key questions it tries to

answer is how do we gain “knowledge on the

basis of what other people tell us”? Benjamin McMyler. Testimony, Truth and Authority. Oxford University Press. 2011. p. 3.

The Epistemology of Testimony. Edited by Jennifer Lackey and Ernest Sosa. Clarendon

Press: Oxford. 2006, p. 2.

Unseen Truths • Professor C A J Coady:

• “…many of us have never seen a baby born, nor have most of

us examined the circulation of the blood…” C. A. J. Coady.

Testimony: A Philosophical Study. Oxford University Press. 1992, p. 82.

• Assistant Professor Benjamin McMyler:

• “Here are a few things that I know. I know that the copperhead

is the most common venomous snake in the greater Houston

area. I know that Napoleon lost the Battle of Waterloo. I know

that, as I write, the average price for gasoline in the U.S is $4.10

per gallon…All of these things I know on the basis of what

epistemologists call testimony, on the basis of being told of

them by another person or group of persons.” Benjamin McMyler.

Testimony, Truth and Authority. Oxford University Press. 2011. p 10.

Discussion on Testimony • Testimony is fundamental: Professor Coady vs. David Hume…

• Relying on experts: Dr. Elizabeth Fricker, elaborates: – “But that there are some occasions on which it is rational deferentially to accept

another’s testimony, and irrational to refuse to do so, is entailed by her

background knowledge of her own cognitive and physical nature and

limitations, together with her appreciation of how other people are both like

and in other respects unlike herself, hence on some occasions better

epistemically placed regarding some matter than she is herself. I may rationally

regret that I cannot fly, or go for a week without sleep without any loss of

performance, or find out for myself everything which I would like to know. But

given my cognitive and physical limitations as parametric, there is no room for

rational regret about my extended but canny trust in the word of others, and

enormous epistemic and consequent other riches to be gained from it.” Elizabeth

Fricker. Testimony and Epistemic Autonomy in The Epistemology of Testimony. Edited by Jennifer

Lackey and Ernest Sosa. Clarendon Press: Oxford. 2006, p. 244.

• Trust: Professor of Philosophy Keith Lehrer

argument rests on trust.

– Lehrer argues that testimony leads to the

acquisition of knowledge under “some

circumstances but not all circumstances.”

– He maintains that testimony is in “itself a source

of evidence when the informant is trustworthy in the

testimony. The testimony in itself does not constitute

evidence otherwise.” Keith Lehrer. Testimony and Trustworthiness in The Epistemology of Testimony.

Edited by Jennifer Lackey and Ernest Sosa. Oxford University Press. 2006, pp, 145

& 149.

• Right to Referral: Assistant Professor Benjamin McMyler

argues that the epistemological problem of testimony can be

“recast as a problem of explaining the epistemic right of deferral.”

• McMyler argues that if an audience is entitled to defer

challenges back to the speaker, it provides a new way in

framing the problem of testimony.

• This requires that both parties acknowledge a responsibility:

– “If a speaker does not genuinely assume partial responsibility for an

audience’s testimonial belief by making her assertion an instance of

testimony, then the audience cannot acquire properly testimonial

knowledge. Equally, however, if the audience does not properly accept

the speaker’s assumption of responsibility of being disposed to defer

relevant challenges to the content of her testimonial belief back to the

testimonial speaker, then the audience cannot acquire genuine

testimonial knowledge.” Testimony, Truth and Authority. Oxford University

Press. 2011. pp. 66 & 69

Does China Exist?

Testimony Schematic

Read! “God’s Testimony”

http://www.iera.org/researc

h/essays-articles/gods-

testimony-inimitability-

divine-authorship-quran

Formulating an Argument

• Authentic and valid testimony:

– “The Qur’an is inimitable”

• Inference to the best explanation:

– There are 4 possible explanations for the

Qur’an’s inimitability:

• Arab.

• Non-Arab.

• Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص.

• God.

Why is the testimony of the

Qur’an’s inimitability valid?

1. The Qur’an presents a literary and linguistic challenge to

humanity.

2. The 7th century Arabs were best placed to challenge the

Qur’an.

3. The 7th century Arabs failed.

4. Scholars have testified to the Qur’an’s inimitability.

5. Counter scholarly testimonies are not plausible as they

have to reject the established background information.

1. The Qur’an presents a literary and

linguistic challenge to humanity

• Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti the 15th century prolific writer and

scholar, summarises the challenge of the Qur’an: – “…when the Prophet brought [the challenge] to them, they were the most eloquent

rhetoricians so he challenged them to produce the [entire] likes [of the Qur'an] and

many years passed and they were unable to do so as Allah says, Let them then produce

a recitation similar to it, if indeed they are truthful. Then, [the Prophet] challenged them

to produce 10 chapters like it where Allah says, Say, bring then ten chapters like it and

call upon whomever you can besides God, if you are truthful. Then, he challenged them to

produce a single where Allah says, Or do they say he [i.e. the Prophet] has forged it? Say,

bring a chapter like it and call upon whomever you can besides God, if you are

truthful…When the [Arabs] were unable to produce a single chapter like [the Qur'an]

despite there being the most eloquent rhetoricians amongst them, [the Prophet]

openly announced the failure and inability [to meet the challenge] and declared the

inimitability of the Qur’an. Then Allah said, Say, if all of humankind and the jinn

gathered together to produce the like of the Qur’an, they could not produce it – even if they

helped one another…” al-Suyūṭī. Al-Itqān fī ‘Ulūm al-Qur’ān. 2:311-312.

• There was a socialisation and a social construct concerning the use of

language. Ibn Rashiq illustrates this:

– “Whenever a poet emerged in an Arab tribe, other tribes would

come to congratulate, feasts would be prepared, the women would

join together on lutes as they do at weddings, and old and young

men would all rejoice at the good news. The Arabs used to

congratulate each other only on the birth of a child and when a

poet rose among them.” Ibn Rashiq, ‘Umda, vol. 1, p. 65.

• The 9th century scholar Ibn Qutayba defined poetry as the Arabs saw it:

– “the mine of knowledge of the Arabs, the book of their wisdom the

truthful witness on the day of dispute, the final proof at the time of

argument.” Ibn Qutayba, ‘Uyun al-akhbar, (Cairo, 1964), vol. 2, p. 185.

2. The 7th century Arabs were best placed to

challenge the Qur’an

• During an interview with Angelika Neuwrith, the distinguished Professor of

Qur’anic studies, she argued that the Qur’an has never been successfully

challenged by anyone, past or present:

– “…no one has succeeded, this is right…I really think that the Qur’an has

even brought Western researchers embarrassment, who weren’t able to

clarify how suddenly in an environment where there were not any

appreciable written text, appeared the Qur’an with its richness of ideas

and its magnificent wordings.” Personal interview with Professor Angelika Neuwrith in

German. A copy of the recording is available on request.

• The highly acclaimed Professor and Arabist Hamilton Gibb:

– “Like all Arabs they were connoisseurs of language and rhetoric. Well,

then if the Koran were his own composition other men could rival it. Let

them produce ten verses like it. If they could not (and it is obvious that

they could not), then let them accept the Koran as an outstanding

evidential miracle.” H. A. R. Gibb. 1980. Islam: A Historical Survey. Oxford University

Press, p. 28.

3. The 7th century Arabs failed

4. Scholars have testified to the

Qur’an’s inimitability

• For example, the scholar Shah Waliyyullah:

– “Its highest degree of eloquence, which is beyond the

capacity of a human being. However, since we come

after the first Arabs we are unable to reach its essence.

But the measure which we know is that the employment

of lucid words and sweet constructions gracefully and

without affectation that we find in the Tremendous

Qur’an is to be found nowhere else in any of the

poetry of the earlier or later peoples.” Shah Waliyyullah. Al-

Fawz al-Kabir fi Usul at-Tafsir. Translated, introduced and annotated by Tahir

Mahmood Kiani. Ta-Ha. 2014, p.160.

• Adopting the counter testimonies commits the fallacy of reductio ad absurdum.

• An explanation is required to answer why those who were best placed to challenge

the Qur’an failed to do so.

– Possible explanations would include rejecting the validity of this established

history, or claiming a greater understanding and appreciation of classical

Arabic than the 7th century linguist masters.

• These explanations render the counter testimonies without a rational basis.

Rejecting the established history would require a remaking of the history of Arabic

literature.

• Assuming superior linguistic abilities than the 7thcentury specialists is debased by

the fact that these experts had a relatively homogenous linguistic environment.

• These environments are areas where the purity of the language is maintained, and

there is a limited amount of linguistic borrowing and degeneration. Contemporary

Arab linguistic environments suffer from excessive linguistic borrowing and

degeneration.

• Therefore, to claim superiority over a people coming from a culture that had the

fertile ground for linguistic perfection, is untenable.

5. Counter scholarly testimonies are not plausible as they have

to reject the established background information

Remember…

• There are 4 possible explanations for

the Qur’an’s inimitability:

• Arab.

• Non-Arab.

• Muhammadملسو هيلع هللا ىلص .

• God.

Arab? • The Qur’an could not have come from an Arab as the Arabs at the

time of revelation, were linguists par excellence and they failed to

challenge the Qur’an.

• Even the best linguist of the time, Walid Ibn al-Mughira,

exclaimed:

– “And what can I say? For I swear by Allah, there is none amongst

you who knows poetry as well as I do, nor can any compete with me

in composition or rhetoric – not even in the poetry of jinns! And yet,

I swear by Allah, Muhammad’s speech [meaning the Qur’an] does

not bear any similarity to anything I know, and I swear by Allah,

the speech that he says is very sweet, and is adorned with beauty and

charm.”

Abu Ammar Yasir Qadhi. An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’an. Al-Hidaayah.1999, p.

269.

Spread Like Wild Fire

• “Obviously, the Prophet succeeded

in this conflict with the poets,

otherwise Islam would not have

spread like wildfire.” Navid Kermani “Poetry and Language” in The Blackwell Companion to the Qur'an.

Edited by Andrew Rippin. Wiley-Blackwell. 2009, p. 110.

Non-Arab? • The Qur’an could not have come from a Non-Arab as the

language in the Qur’an is Arabic, and the knowledge of the

Arabic language is a pre-requisite to successfully challenge the

Qur’an:

– “And indeed We know that they (polytheists and pagans) say: ‘It is

only a human being who teaches him (Muhammad).’ The tongue

of the man they refer to is foreign, while this is a speech Arabeeyun

mubeen.” Qur’an 16:104

• Ibn Kathir states:

– “meaning, how could it be that this Qur'an with its eloquent style

and perfect meanings, which is more perfect than any Book

revealed to any previously sent Prophet, have been learnt from a

foreigner who hardly speaks the language? No one with the slightest

amount of common sense would say such a thing.” Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Muhammad ? • The Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلصwas an Arab himself and all

the Arabs failed to challenge the Qur’an.

• The Arabs linguists at the time of revelation never accused

the Prophet of being the author of the Qur’an.

• The Qur’an is a known literary masterpiece yet its verses

were at many times revealed for specific circumstances and

events that occurred. However, without revision or deletion

they are literary masterpieces. All literary masterpieces

have undergone revision and deletion to ensure literary

perfection, however the Qur’an was revealed

instantaneously and unchanged.

Muhammad ? • The Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلصexperienced many trials and

tribulations during the course of his Prophetic mission. For

example his children died, his beloved wife Khadija passed

away, he was boycotted, his close companions were

tortured and killed, yet the Qur’an’s literary character

remains that of the divine voice and character. Nothing in

the Qur’an expresses the turmoil and emotions of the

Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص. It is almost a psychological and

physiological impossibility to go through what the Prophet

went through and yet none ofملسو هيلع هللا ىلص the emotions are

expressed in the literary character of the Qur’an.

Muhammad ? • The hadith or narrations of the Prophet Muhammadملسو هيلع هللا ىلص

are in a totally different style then that of the Qur’an. How

can any human being express themselves orally over a 23

year period (which was the period of Qur’anic revelation)

in two distinct styles, instantaneously and without merging

one style? This is a psychological and physiological

impossibility according to modern research.

Differences Between

Qur’an & Hadith • Research entitled Author discrimination between the Holy Quran and Prophet’s

statements by Halim Sayoud, used a range of linguistic experiments to

investigate differences between the Qur’an and the Prophetic traditions

found in Sahih al-Bukhari.

• Sayoud performed multiple studies known as global and segmental

analyses, and concluded that, from a linguistic perspective, the two books

he was analysing must have had different authors:

– “Results of all experiments have led to two main conclusions: (1) First, the

two investigated books should have different authors; (2) Second, all the

segments that are extracted from a unique book appear to have a certain

stylistic similarity. Consequently, we can conclude, according to this

investigation, that the Qur’an was not written by the Prophet Muhammad

and that it belongs to a unique author too.” Literary and Linguistic Computing, Vol.

27, No. 4, 2012

• Some of the results that forms the basis of this conclusion include,

– Words composed of a single letter are much more frequently used in the

Qur’an than in thehadith found in Sahih Al-Bukhari.

– The hadith found in Sahih al-Bukhari uses much shorter words than the

Qur’an. The number of short words in the hadith is 62.31%, whereas, in

the Qur’an, it is only 53.76%.

– The number of long words in the Qur’an is 34.42%, whereas, in

the hadith found in Sahih al-Bukhari, it is only 29.51%.

– The Qur’an contains approximately a double number of words with nine

and ten letters than the hadith. This fact shows that the Qur’an vocabulary

contains more “very-long” words (very-long stands for more than eight

letters) than the hadith.

– Most importantly, 62% of the hadith words are untraceable in the Qur’an

and 83% of the Qur’an words are untraceable in the hadith. This

conclusion of differing vocabulary is also reinforced by the above

mentioned results.

– The above results are statistically valid.

Literary and Linguistic Computing, Vol. 27, No. 4, 2012

Muhammad ? • All types of human expression can be imitated if the

blueprint of that expression exists. For example artwork

can be imitated even though some art is thought to be

extraordinary or amazingly unique. But in the case of the

Qur’an we have the blueprint – the Qur’an itself – yet no

one has been able to imitate its unique literary form.

Maybe he ملسو هيلع هللا ىلصwas a genius?

• The Qur’anic verses were at many times revealed for specific

circumstances and events that occurred during the period of

revelation.

• Each verse was revealed without revision or deletion, yet were

compiled together to create a literary masterpiece. In this light,

the explanation that the Qur’an is a result of the Muhammad’s

.literary intelligence is obviously unfounded ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص

– All literary masterpieces written by geniuses have undergone

revision and deletion to ensure literary perfection, yet the Qur’an

was revealed instantaneously and remained unchanged. Martin Lings.

Muhammad: his life based on the earliest sources. 2nd Revised Edition. The Islamic

Texts Society. 1983, pp. 53-79.

Al-Mutanabbi • An example to highlight this point is the work of the highly exclaimed

poet Abu at-Tayyib Ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-Mutanabbi al-Kindi. Al-

Mutanabbi was considered as the greatest of all Arab poets and an

unparalleled genius.

– Therefore, some have made the conclusion that since his work was

unparalleled, and that he was a genius, it follows the Qur’an is from

a genius because it is unparalleled too. This reasoning doesn’t

logically follow because Al-Mutannabi would correct his work and

produce various editions until he was satisfied with his poetry. Poems

of al-Mutanabbi : a selection with introduction, translations and notes / by A.J. Arberry.

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press,1967.

• This was obviously not the case with Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص as he did not

edit, amend, or change the Qur’an once it was revealed. This can only

mean that the Qur’an was not a result of a genius, because literary

geniuses require editions to their work.

No

t In

imit

ab

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• Al-Mutanabbi disclosed that he borrowed work from another poet, Abu

Nuwas. Many medieval Arab literary critics such as Al-Sahib Ibn ‘Abbad

and Abu Ali Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan al-Hatimi wrote criticisms of Al-

Mutanabbi.

– Ibn ‘Abbad wrote al-kashf ‘an masawi’ shi’r al-Mutanabbi and Al-Hatimi

wrote a biographical account of his encounter with al-Mutanabbi in

is al-Risala al-Mudiha fi dhikr sariqat Abi al-Tayyib al-Mutanabbi. S. A.

Bonebakker. Hatimi and his encounter with Mutanabbi: A biographical sktech. Oxford:

North-Holland Publishing Company, 1984, pp. 15 & 47; See Wen-chin Ouyang.

Literary Criticism in Medieval Arabic Islamic Culture: The Making of a Tradition.

Edinburgh University Press. 1997.

• Professor Seeger A. Bonebakker who studied Al-Hatimi’s literary criticism

of Al-Mutanabbi concludes the his:

– “judgement is often well-founded and one almost ends up feeling that

Mutanabbi was, after all, a mediocre poet who was not only lacking

in originality, but also had insufficient competence in grammar,

lexicography, and rhetoric, and sometimes gave evidence of

incredibly bad taste.” S. A. Bonebakker. Hatimi and his encounter with

Mutanabbi: A biographical sktech. Oxford: North-Holland Publishing Company, 1984,

p. 44.

Philosophy of

Miracles

Philosophy of Miracles

• The argument posed by Muslim

Theologians and Philosophers is that if, with

the finite set of Arabic linguistic tools at

humanity’s disposal, there is no effective

challenge; then providing a naturalistic

explanation for the Qur’an’s uniqueness is

incoherent and doesn’t explain its

inimitability.

Philosophy of Miracles • What makes the Qur’an a miracle, is that there is no

causal connection between the Arabic language and

the Qur’an, when human agency is involved.

• We cannot establish causal connection between the

classical Arabic language and the Qur’an’s literary

form.

• Just like the staff of Musa; A wooden staff cannot turn

into a snake, there is no causal or logical connection,

but it did. They are both acts of impossibilities.

Scholarly Views • Professor Bruce Lawrence asserts:

– “As tangible signs, Qur’anic verse are expressive of an inexhaustible

truth, they signify meaning layered with meaning, light upon light,

miracle after miracle.”

Bruce Lawrence. The Qur’an: A Biography. Atlantic Books, p 8.

• A J Arberry, the Arabist and translator of the Qur’an wrote:

– “In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of

predecessors, and to produce something which might be accepted as

echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I

have been at pain to study the intricate and richly varied rhythms

which – apart from the message itself – constitutes the Koran’s

undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary

masterpieces of mankind.”

Arthur J. Arberry .The Koran Interpreted. London: Oxford University Press, 1964, pag

Contentions

Shakespeare? • Shakespeare’s sonnets are written predominantly in

frequently used meter called the iambic pentameter, a rhyme scheme in which each sonnet line consists of ten syllables. The syllables are divided into five pairs called iambs or iambic feet.

Mabillard, Amanda. ShakespeareanSonnet Basics: Iambic Pentameter and the English Sonnet Style. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/sonnetstyle.html.

• With regards to anyone producing similar work to that of Shakespeare's, there are a few. Christopher Marlowe has a similar style and Shakespeare is comparable to Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher and other playwrights of the time.

Holland, Peter. (Sept 2004) "Shakespeare, William (1564–1616)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press; online ed, Jan 2007.

Subjective?

• The short answer is no. The Qur’anic argument

is based upon the mechanical features of the

Arabic language, it is not based upon aesthetic

reception or dependent upon the readers or

listeners emotional reactions.

• It presents the view that the Qur'an is either

prose or poetry. These literary forms are clearly

defined and have objective measures.

Non sequitur? • If the Qur’an was the source of Arabic grammar, then to claim it is

a literary miracle would be illogical as it is the established yardstick

for the language.

Misplaced Contention

• The Qur’an was one of the source texts of Arabic grammar.

However, Grammatical nuances in the Qur’an could not be

justified just by their existence in the Qur’an, they had to be

supported by extra-Qur’anic texts such as pre-Islamic poetry.

• “On the one hand, ancient poetry provided scholars with an infinitely vaster

and more diversified sample of kalam al-Arab than the Qur’an did; poetry

made greater use of specialised vocabulary, rare words, difficult

constructions, tribal dialecticisms, and so forth.” G. Bohas, J.-P. Guillame, D.E.

Kouloughli. The Arabic Linguistic Tradition. Routledge. 1990, p. 2 - 3.

• This contention also conflates grammar with style!

If these scholars agree that the Qur’an cannot be imitated,

then why have they not concluded it is a Divine text?

• The problem with this contention is that it conflates testifying to the Qur’an’s

inimitability with inference to the best explanation.

– The argument we are presenting does not conclude the Divinity of the Qur’an

from the statements of scholars.

– Whether these scholars accept the inference, or the Divinity of the Qur’an, is

irrelevant.

– The statements of the scholars are used as evidence for the Qur’an’s

inimitability and not that it is best explained by God.

– The argument infers from the text’s inimitability, and not from conclusions

the scholars may have drawn from the fact that it cannot be imitated.

• It must be pointed out that these scholars may have not been presented with an

argument that presents an inference to the best explanation, or, they have not

reflected on the philosophical implications of the Qur’an’s inimitability.

• These academics may even hold non-negotiable naturalistic presuppositions that

deters them from concluding anything metaphysical or outside of the physical

world.

Questions?