Previous prophets performed miracles to prove that their message was
not their own but God's message. In the caseof the Qur'an, the message
itself is the miracle.
The prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace, did not know how to read or
write. Yet the Qur'an which was being revealedto him was (and still
is) the highest pinnacle of literary beauty and excellence in the
Arabic Language. It was beyond the ability of the prophet to produce
this book. And God declares that it is beyond the ability of all
ofhumankind and spirit-kind to produce a book like the Qur'an.
The Qur'an was revealed piece by piece over a period of twenty-three
years. During this time, God challenged humankind four times to
produce a book like the Qur'an, and they couldn't do it. When the
prophet and his followers were being persecuted in Mecca, God showed
the persecutors a simple way by which they can wipe out the message of
the Qur'an. God stated that this book cannot be produced by men or
spiritcreatures. Obviously, if they pooled together their abilities
and composed a book like the Qur'an they would have proved the Qur'an
to be false in its claim. But they couldn't. And here is whatthe
Qur'an claims:
Say: If the whole of mankind and Jinns were to gather together to
produce the like of this Qur'an they could not produce the like
thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support
(Qur'an 17:88).
Although people ardently wished to block the message of the Qur'an and
they tried every thingthey could to stifle it, yet they did not try
this obvious strategy. Why? Because it cannot be done. So God reduced
the challenge for them: never mind the whole book; produce just ten
chapters if you can. This challenge is mentioned in Surah 11:13 in the
Qur'an. Againthey couldn't do it. And they were the literary giants of
their day. They held fairs to promote their own literary masterpieces.
They hung their prized compositions on the door of the house of
pilgrimage for all to see. But they could not match the stunning
versesof the Qur'an.
God reduced the challenge further still (see Qur'an 10:38). If they
cannot produce ten chapters then how about one chapter? Just one! And
they couldn't do it, sothey eventually pulled down their proud
exhibitsfrom where they were hung. The Qur'an had proved its point:
this is noman-made book.
Yet they tried everything to banish the Qur'an from the face of the
earth. Theyeven made an attempt onthe life of the prophet. He fled to
Madinah, another city. And there the Qur'an kept coming to him piece
by piece. The challenge was repeated yet again. This time God reduced
theemphasis as if to say, okay you couldn't produce a chapter like it;
now produce a chapter even remotely like
it. This challenge is mentioned in the Qur'an in chapter 2, verse 23.
They failed again. And theworld has failed since. Thechallenge is
still there in the Qur'an, and everyone who disbelieves the Qur'an can
still pool together their abilities and resources to try and produce
one like it. But they cannot. Isn't this an awesome miracle?
--
- - - - - - -
'' Our Lord ! grant us good in this world and good in the hereafter and save us from the torment of the Fire '' [Ameen]
-
{in Arab} :->
Rabbanaa aatinaa fid-dunyaa hasanatan wafil aakhirati hasanatan waqinaa 'athaaban-naar/-
(Surah Al-Baqarah ,verse 201)
Share 
