Miraculous Qualities of the Holy Qur'aan
By: Qari Muhammad Tayyab Saheb

"And if you are in doubt about this Word We sent down on our Servant Hadhrat Muhammad (Sall Allaho alaihe wasallam), then bring a Surah like it; and call whoever is your helper apart from Allah if you are truthful."

The cause of doubt in this Book is either some objectionable or erroneous content of the Book itself, which is negated by the words & ldots; (La Raibafeeh - there is no doubt in it) and the second form of doubt is that someone has got self-created doubts due to weak intelligence or extreme jealousy. Because this form of doubt was not only possible but also was found in the non-believers, therefore, to remove it, a fair and easy plan is described. If you think that this Book is an effort of human imagination, you are at liberty to produce a Surah like it with eloquent language consisting of at least three verses. When you become totally helpless in meeting this challenge of matching against the smallest Surah despite your literary fame and versatility, then you should understand that this Book is not the word of any human soul or any other bondman, but it is Word of Allah. In the above verse, the Prophethood of the Holy Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) is proven rationally by this universal challenge.

Whilst the miracles of the former Prophets occurred and lasted only during their stay on the earth, the manifestation of the miracle of our Holy Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) is visible even to this day, and it has become possible today for, even the most uneducated Muslim with the weakest faith to claim confidently and challenge the intelligentsia of the entire world to produce a small Surah like any in the Holy Qur'aan. Neither was its production produced or possible in the past nor shall it ever be possible in the future. While quoting from the Ahadith, a learned scholar, Allama Jalaluddin Suyuti (Rahmatullah alaih) has written in his book "Khasaais-e-Kubra" that two miracles of our Holy Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) shall remain till the Day of Judgment:

(1) The Holy Qur'aan; and

(2) The uplifting of the pebbles which are thrown at the three Satans during the days of Hajj. Although hundreds of thousands of pilgrims pelt stones over the Satans each year, and no body clears the pebbles, yet no mountain or even a hill of pebbles is formed in front of these Satans; confirming the statement of the Holy Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam) that Allah has appointed angels to pick up the pebbles of those pilgrims whose Hajj have been accepted.

One has to ponder over and reflect upon the marvellous composition of the Holy Qur'aan with its complete code of life and numerous sciences to grasp the import of its revelation to an unlettered man in such a land where there had been no schools, colleges, universities or any other means of formal education; and yet, the teachings of this book of Allah covers every aspect of one's personal and communal life and deals effectively with all matters pertaining to the spiritual physical and social welfare of mankind.

Although the Holy Qur'aan was revealed for the entire humanity, the first nation to be addressed were the Arabs who were the masters of literature and eloquence. Whatever they may have lacked in those fields of knowledge, they made up for it, more than adequately, in literature, a subject in which they excelled and advanced so greatly that they had become highly recognised and reputed. So, the Holy Qur'aan challenges even these literacy masters and experts that if they have any doubts about the Holy Qur'aan being from Allah, then to compose and produce a Surah to compare with those in the Holy Qur'aan. Mind you, this challenge was merely covering the literacy features of the Book' for if the demand was for a Surah containing the lofty thoughts and teachings if the Holy Qur'aan, then their inability would be understandable but this was not the case.

So if heir claim that the Holy Qur'aan was not from Allah (Who only can create supernatural and remarkable wonders beyond the scope of man), then why was it impossible for the literacy giants of the Arab world to produce even a single verse to surpass the Holy Qur'aan which was presented to them by an unlettered man" Moreover, if individual found it difficult to arrange any suitable composition, then the Holy Qur'aan even offered them the opportunity to combine their resources and collectively accept the challenge. So why was there no response from these same silent Arabs who had vowed to destroy Islam by all means and had set about persecuting our Holy Prophet (Sall Allaho alaihe wasallam) and the Muslims and in their efforts left no stone unturned, sacrificing even their wealth and lives?

On the contrary, books of history are replete with incidents which prove that the leading opponents of the Holy Prophet (SAW) secretly believed and expressed views expressed views in their gatherings that the Holy Qur'aan was indeed of Divine origin and could never be manmade. It would suffice, here, to mention just one such incident. Allama Suyuti (Rahmatullah alaihe) in his "Khasais-e-Kubra" has mentioned that on one occasion, Abu Jahl, Akhnus bin Shuraiq and Abu Sufyan (who later accepted Islam) each left their respective homes secretly and separately one night ot listen furtively to the reciting of the Holy Qur'aan by the Holy Prophet (SAW) . none of them knew about the other's presence, and being absorbed in their quest, they spent the whole night in this manner.

At the break of dawn, while returning home, all of them met on the way and each one had to confess about their secret activities of that night. So they rebuked each other and promised not to repeat the same again because if the masses learnt about it, they would surely all become Muslims. However, on the following evening, they were unable to control their craving to listen the Holy Qur'aan, and once again went out to hear. In the morning, their paths crossed again and they agreed not to behave so foolishly in the future. This happened for three nights.

During the day, Akhnus bin Shuraiq, carrying a stick with him, proceeded first to Abu Sufyan and requested him to tell the truth about his opinion concerning the Holy Qur'aans recitation which he had been listening to during the past nights. Speaking softly, Abu Sufyan admitted that the Holy Qur'aan was definitely true. Aknus then remarked, "By God! I am also of the same opinion.

Then he went over with the same query to Abu Jahl who explained his sentiments is the following words; "The truth of the matter is that my family and the Banu Abd Munaf have always been competing against one another to become the leaders our tribe and nation. Hence, until now we managed to compete in matters of charity, helping the distressed etc., but now when one from amongs them has laid claim to Prophethood and it is clear that we can not match them in that, so, we resolved to oppose them fully and never to believe in him." (Khasaais-e-Kubra vol.1 p.115)

Therefore, the Holy Qur'aan remains as an open miracle.

The Holy Qur'aan contains many prophecies some of which have already been fulfilled with uncanny accuracy. For example, the prediction that in a war between the Persians and the Romans, the Persians would gain the first victory but after a period of ten years, they would suffer defeat at the hands of the Romans, this occurred exactly as it had been foretold; and similarly there are several other prophecies:

(1) In the Holy Qur'aan there are so many detailed accounts of historical and traditional facts that even the learned Jewish and Christian scholars did not possess so comprehensive knowledge. As the Holy Prophet (SAW) had neither studied under any tutor nor did he have the company of any scholar, therefore, there could have been no other possible means for him to receive such knowledge besides Divine revelations.

(2) In several verses of the Holy Qur'aan Allah discloses the inner secrets which people were concealing in their hearts and which nobody else could have known. For example: "And they are saying in their hearts, Why is Allah not punishing us for our rejection?"

The above five points ought to suffice for our purposes. However, mention has to be made about certain opponents and enemies of Islam who have been making hollow claims that the challenge of the Holy Qur'aan to produce a matching Surah, could or may have been compiled in books or articles but these may have been lost through the passage of time and lack preservation which is the unique feature of the Holy Qur'aan.

If this arguments has to be considered without any bias or prejudice, one would realise that there can be no truth in it whatsoever and there does not exist even the faintest possibility of its being sound and correct because it is well known that right from the era of the Holy Prophet (SAW) to this day, the Muslims were always in the minority in comparison with non-Muslims. Therefore, if there had been any achievements worth its salts against Islam, the acclamations would certainly have been widely publicised repeatedly, because these disbelievers are always hell-bent upon demolishing Islam. Hence, they engaged in numerous battles to achieve this end but besides vain and belated effort by a false claimant of Prophethood, one Musailma (whose antics even the critics of Islam disregarded as a hopeless failure and no match to the Holy Qur'aan) there has been nothing else. This proves without a shadow of doubt that the scholars, poets and writers of the past fourteen centuries have failed to produce any work like the Holy Qur'aan.

Some people present the argument that there are great authors who have achieved fame through their writings in other languages and have outshone their contemporaries like Milton (English), Sa'adi (Persian), Homer (Greek), Kali Das (Sanskrit), etc. Hence, their works should also quralify as "miracles". But the fallacy in this logic is manifest and apparent because these scholars and acquired their literary skill through study and experience and none of them had been illiterate. Thus, there is a vast difference between the Holy Qur'aan and the other man acclaimed literary feats.

If you are right in your claims that the Holy Qur'aan is not the Word of Allah, but that of a human being, them call all the ablest and all the most versatile genie, literary scholars and poets and seek their help in producing a similar Surah, or else pray to the idols you worship and gods most humbly to help you in this difficult task. They Holy Qur'aan has said:

"So if you can not do it; and you can never do it; fear the fire, whose fuel is men and stones prepared for the non-believers."

In this verse, Allah had clearly declared that the only way to save yourself from this fierce fire is that you should come and believe in the Holy Qur'aan. This fire is prepared for those infidels who do not believe in the Holy Qur'aan and the Holy Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam), and on the contrary use abusive language towards the Holy Qur'aan and the Holy Prophet (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam).

And for those who believe, it has been declared:

"And give glad tidings to those who adopted faith and did good deeds, that for them are gardens underneath which rivers flow."

Last modified: January 29, 2006

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