Ibn Sikkit, a great literaryscholar of his era, once asked Imam Reza
(as):"Why did Allah (SWT) appoint different miracles to each prophet?
He sent Prophet Musa / Moses (pbuh)withmiracles of the cane and the
halo hand, Prophet Isa/Jesus (pbuh)with the power to heal and Holy
Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) with the miracle of eloquence?"
Imam Reza (as) replied:"When Allah (SWT) appointed Musa / Moses as a
prophet, it was in anera when magic and supernatural acts were more
common among people than science. Musa / Moses therefore, brought an
act that people had never seen before and could not understand it
through their rational. With this miracle, he was able to refute the
works of the magicians and give them clear proof.
At the time of Isa/Jesus, on the other hand, diseases without cure had
spread throughout. Science and medication was highly in demand.
Isa/Jesus therefore came to them with the miracle of healing all
diseases, a power not known to them, for he could give life to the
dead, and heal genetic blindness and leprosy. And through his
miracles, he fulfilled his proof upon the people ofhis time.
However, Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) was appointed at a time when
poetry and eloquence in language was very popular among the
communities. With the revelation of Holy Quran and its teachings,
Allah (SWT) refuted their reasoning."
The miracles of the previous prophets were suitable for the era in
which they lived. We do not have access to most of them. The only
eternal miracle that has lived its way to us is Holy Quran: amiracle
that till this day isbeing examined in all its different aspects,
including its eloquence and language. Although Holy Quran descended in
an era where significant attention was paid to poetry and language,
nevertheless Holy Quran was not limited to that era, rather later
generations can also relate to its message and miracles. For instance,
there are cases in which Holy Quran predicts the future; and even
cases in which Holy Quran points to secrets of creation thatwere
discovered long after Holy Quran's revelation. These facts imply that
Holy Quran was revealed by the one who knows everything about the
creation of theuniverse. Further, this holy book of Islam was brought
by a Prophet who had not gone to anyacademy or school, and therefore
could not have compiled Holy Quran himself. Indeed Holy Quran was
descended by the Lord of the universe.
Has the time of miracles ended? Will we no longerwitness any miracles?
Considering the fact that the miracles of the previous prophets were
specifically designed for a certain time and place, must we then for
the sake of our own faith refer back to the historical accounts on
miracles to become a believer?
In quest for finding answers to these questions, we come across the
holy book of Islam. Holy Quran is the only book that clearly and
firmly claims to be a living miracle for all humans of any race, in
any place, and with any ethnicity they hold.
How Holy Quran views itself a Miracle of Islam?
As we already know, a miracle is an extraordinary act that can not be
performed by just any person. One whom claims to be a prophet will
then prove his status by presenting amiracle. The message miracles
tend to get across to humanity is thatsince human capacities fail to
create miracles, then surely the miracles must be planned and ordered
by a power exceeding above human powers: the power of thecreator of
this world. In other words, by giving the power of miracles to the
prophets, His chosen people, Allah (SWT) has confirmed His direct
connection with the prophets.
Similarly, to prove that it surely is a miracle from Allah (SWT), Holy
Quran challenges the people that doubt the divinity ofthis book to
bring a booksimilar to Holy Quran. It then clearly alleges that if all
the people unite to bring a complete book like that of Holy Quran,
they will not succeed. To make its point more clearand to further
prove the incapability of man in bringing a book like HolyQuran, Noble
Quran this time challenges the people to then bring onlyten chapters
like the chapters of Holy Quran. And just as the answer is obvious to
Holy Quran, it claims that indeed man cannot do such, "Or, do they
say: He has forged it.Say: Then bring ten forged chapters like it and
call upon whom you can besides Allah, if you are truthful; But if they
do not answer you, then know that it is revealed by Allah's knowledge"
(Holy Quran, 11:13-14). And finally to show the extremity of their
weakness, it agrees to continue this challenges with only one
chapter,"And if you are in doubt as to that which We haverevealed to
Our servant, then produce a chapter like it and call on your witnesses
besides Allah if you are truthful" (Holy Quran, 2:23). And again Holy
Quran alleges that they can not do such,"But if you do (it) not
andnever 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"
(Holy Quran, 2:24).
It is interesting to know what aspect Holy Quran used for this
challenge. Islamic scholars believe that the entire Holy Quran offers
many different miracles. However, when Holy Quran challenges based on
each one of its chapters it focuses on theeloquence and fluency ofthe
verses.
The Holy Scripture of Islam: Holy Quran in terms of its eloquence and fluency
Eloquence and fluency is meant in this sense that in trying to convey
the message, one uses very clear, beautiful, poetic, and meaningful
terms. Scholars of Arab literature have noticed these features in all
chapters of Holy Quran.
Looking further into their argument, we have to first see if anyone
during the past 1400 years has been able to refute Holy Quran in
bringing even one chapter like that in Holy Quran? Is it really true
that up to this day no one has been able to defeat Holy Quran? To
answer this question, we must refer back to historical accounts.
Historians, both Muslim and Non-Muslim, have not recorded any
successful accounts of those who tried to defeatthe claim of Holy
Quran. This is significant because historical accounts tend to focus
greatly on the enemies ofHoly Prophet Muhammad(PBUH&HP) and on the
ones who constantly challenged Islam; thus if they had been successful
in such a challenge, historians would have definitely recorded it.
Likewise we can see that in the contemporary era, not one has
succeeded inchallenging Holy Quran.
Why have others remained silent in answering the challenge of Holy Quran?
Was the reason for remaining silent against the challenge of Holy
Quran due to the incapability and weakness of human beings? Or does it
have other reasons? To answerthis question, we can first assume three
reasons for why people have remained silent in answering the challenge
offered by Holy Quran:
1. It may be due to the fact that the people of this and the previous
eras did not have a motive to answer this challenge of Holy Quran.
2. There was a motive to answer the challenge, but after the
revelation of Holy Quran, Arab literature became weak and eventually
diminished. Similarly non-Muslim Arab scholarsof literature do not
exist in the present day to answer this challenge.
3. Neither of the previousideas hold true; rather, no one was able to
bring a book like Holy Quran, and thus abandoned the idea completely.
By studying the earliest situations, it is obvious that the appearance
of Holy Prophet Muhammad(PBUH&HP) was when many nations were
livingwith different beliefs. Some were materialistic and denying the
existence of any God. Some were idol worshipers,
Zoroastrians,Christians and Jews. Besides these, the emperors of
Persia, and Rome had control over the weak nations. Duringthat period
of time, Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) raised the divine flag, and
invited the world to accept Islam, and submit to one God. This
invitation to Monotheism denied duality of Zoroastrians, Trinity of
Christianity, and the improper attributes of Judaism to Allah and His
prophets, and all the bad habits and traditions from the time of
ignorance. Yet hissubmission to Allah (SWT)presented hostility between
the emperors ofhis time. Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) alone faced
those nations nonetheless, with Holy Quran as his proof of prophecy.
With Holy Quran he challengedall the emperors of his time, the
religious scholars of Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and
idolaters. Up to now, Islam has continued this way of challenging and
has more enemies from before trying to destroy it.
However, it is natural for them to focus on what they can do to
destroy Islam and stand against itfor the fact that Islam is
demolishing them.
They have tried and are trying many ways to wipe out Islam, in order
to achieve their goals. They put Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) and
his companions (Sahabah) in an economic siege for three years, which
was very hard on Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP) and his people. The
big battles of Badr and Ohod which were caused by the non-believers to
destroy Islam, were unsuccessful and since they did not accomplish
their ambitions the non-believers became united in the battle of
Khandaq to get rid of Islam. They did everything they could to destroy
Islam, but their energy was worthless. Wouldn't it have been much
easier for them to come up with a man made verses instead of wasting
their time to fight with Islam in some other ways? And if they had
made up such verses which were equivalent to Holy Quran, it would have
been their proof that Islam is a false religion!
Of course the simplest way to void Holy ProphetMuhammad (PBUH&HP) and
his book was to stand up against him which was the case from the very
beginning of establishing Islam. Therefore amongst the enemies of
Islam who made their best to ruin Islam was enough motives to answer
the challenge of Holy Quran.
By over viewing the second condition, we must pay attention to
theliterary roots of Arabs which was going through a revolution.
Although eloquence and fluency was a common technique for the time
when Holy Quran was descended, but later on these techniques expanded
and flourishedcontinually up to our time. At his time the Arab
literacy is more excellent than before and there many new scopes in
the relative techniques. We can find many non-Muslim Arab literalists
throughout the world. Therefore there are many non-Muslims who are the
professionals of eloquence and fluency from the beginning of Islam to
now. Occasionally their expertise was to the extent that they have
written important reference book in their special field such as
linguistics, history, grammar. Let us imagine these literalists had
not motive to answer the challenge of Holy Quran, but couldn't the
enemies of Islam who were severely fighting against Islam, ask them to
supply their need.
So now that we cannot accept the first two conditions we should accept
the third one. No one has been able to answer the challenge Holy
Quran; the only reason could be that theywere unable to do so.
Therefore the truth of Holy Quran is being proved to all.
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