10. A miracle for all peoples and time

 

How can a non-Arabic speaker know the miracle exists as it is in a different language?

A person does not need to be an Arab (i.e. one who speaks and comprehends Arabic), for though the miracle of the Qur'an is related to the Arabic language, the proof is based upon a rational evaluation of this miracle. Therefore there is no blind imitation (taqleed) in the belief, and neither is it a transmitted (naqli) evidence. Rather it is a rational (aqli) evidence. Also as mentioned already, even the lay person Arabic speaker may not be able to appreciate the miracle in the same way the learned person in the Arabic language would.

To briefly explain: the principle of the proof that the Quran is from God alone is an evaluation that takes place at the point of origin of the Quran. This is so, since it is at the point of its origin that the question is raised, 'what/who is the source and origin of the Quran?' It makes no rational sense to evaluate it 1400 years later at year 2020, in light of the year 2020 - for the person in year 2020 needs to evaluate it regarding the year 623 A.D. i.e. at the point when the Quran was first revealed, for it is at that point that the author would have existed. Therefore, the evaluation and proof would occur at that point. So the person in year 623, year 700, year 1400, year 1992, year 2020 (today) and year 3050 etc. would look to the miracle of the Quran initially at the point of its revelation. 

Upon this, the rational being would come to the rational and conclusive proof that the only source of the Qur'an was definitely other than man - definitely it was God. It could not be a non-Arab, for the speech was foreign to it. It could not have been an Arab since the challenge in the Quran is explicit: 'Say: bring a chapter (surah) like unto it.” (Surah Yunus 10:38) and no one was able to reproduce the like of it. This has been confirmed soundly in all transmitted text and even acknowledged by non-Muslims (examples of their statements can be seen in the appendix). Had it been possible, it would have been a duty upon the Arabs who- as mentioned already- took pride in their poetry and eloquence of language to take up the challenge that was taunting them in their outstanding skill and mark of distinction. It would be likely as important for the Arabs to meet the challenge just to invalidate this claim to prophethood that was tearing through their societies’ norms and traditions. The tribal customs that were challenged of following their noble ancestors in their idol-worshipping for instance meant that the economic base of Muhammad’s tribe in Makkah was threatened due to the consequence of upsetting the social order of the other surrounding tribes visting Makkah to pay tribute to their idols. As a result the leaders of Makkah resorted to many schemes to try and prevent Muhammad and his companions that started to follow him from preaching his message including slander, boycott, torturing, and killing. They also tried to bribe him or induce him by offering him wealth, women and leadership if only he abandoned this message. If they could meet the challenge it would have spared them from all this expense and difficulty. Had any of the Arabs been able to meet the challenge it would have spared them against the later costly wars fought against the muslim city-state of Medina. In fact had it been done it would have been well-known amongst the Arabs who took pride in their literature and it would have been passed down throughout the ages as we have the pre-Islamic poetry that is still passed down today and studied. If the challenge of the Quran had been met it would have been made known by the Arabs in their gatherings and publicized at their annual fairs and markets. The enemies of Islam would have taken any such verses that beat the challenge as an anthem, chanting it in every gathering and repeating it in every occasion- passing it on to the next generations- and guarding it as the litigant in court guards his evidence. This would have been more satisfying than preserving their own heritage. The result would be that any such successful challenge would be preserved and studied today in the literature just as the pre-islamic poetry and even post-islamic poetry is studied in the universities and schools. The fact remains that you can go to any library in the world and ask for a book like the quran in the Arabic language of course and you will not be able to find any.

 Finally, it could not have been Muhammad who was the author for he himself was an Arab; he could not read nor write and there is no comparison between the Arabic of the Quran to that of the recorded sayings and traditions of Muhammad (ahadith), both which came from the mouth of Muhammad. Notwithstanding this, it was the hadith that were corruptible, facing the problem of fabrication at the hands of the hypocrites (munafiqeen) and disbelievers, while the Quran was beyond reproach.

So the rational being concludes decisively that the origin of the Quran could not have been man for he was not able to respond to the challenge and acknowledged this. Therefore the proof is rational for it is the evaluation at the time when someone could argue that he/she had been the author i.e. the time of origin of the Quran. Yet it has been rationally and conclusively proven that it could not be man. This is confirmed with the reality throughout history until today.

With this in mind, if we now tackle the issue that someone claims that he has produced something like the Quran - this is rationally impossible for two reasons:

1. It has already been conclusively proven that at the time of revelation of the Quran, when the proof of authorship arises, that only God could have been the author, for it is beyond human ability i.e. the mode of expression is beyond man’s ability to replicate - therefore it is rationally impossible for the author to change.

2. The argument of the 'principle of principality'. This rational concept simply states that when a person understands the principles behind something, he is able to reproduce it and over a period of time, no doubt improve upon it. So for example when we learned the principles of addition, we were able to apply it. When we understood the principles of baking a cake, we initially made a bad cake, but repetitive attempts improved the quality of the cake. When we understood the principles of microchip technology, we were able to apply this to reduce the size whilst increasing the power of computers etc. In summary rationally knowing the principle and possessing the tools allows man to apply these principles- this is the basic generic and comprehensive reality. Now, all the miracles, which occurred in history did not possess any principles or tools by which man could comprehend and therefore imitate the miracle, let alone improve upon it. So the separation of the sea, the virgin birth, transforming wooden sticks into real snakes etc. had no principles by which anyone could understand how it was done, therefore it was impossible to imitate or reproduce (and will remain so, for they were miracles). However, it could be argued quite legitimately (though wrongly) by scientists, doctors, physicists etc. that once they are able to deduce the principles and tools by which the separation of the sea, virgin birth etc. had occurred then they would be able to reproduce it, since they have acquired the principles and the tools - just as they have done with cloning and genetics after they understood the principle and tools related to DNA structure. This could be their argument and in the same way that people laughed as impossible when it was first mentioned about man going into space 100 years ago, only to be proven wrong years later, scientists could argue the same for these miracles, that is, 'after x number of years we will have pioneered the very principles that could allow us to do a virgin birth.'

But such an argument, assumption or presumption could never hold any weight when applied to the miracle of the Quran, for it defies the very reality that we sense, understand and engage in. It is rationally irrational! The tools and principles of the miracle of the Quran have been known for over 1500 years i.e. the grammar, syntax, punctuation, style etc. of the Arabic language. Indeed anyone with minimal knowledge of the Arabic language (e.g. a 1st year GCSE student) can take an ayah (verse) of the Quran, explain its components and why it had to be grammatically written and structured in that way in order to make sense. Yet though the principles and tools have always been available (unlike the other miracles, where the principles and tools do not exist), no one was able to reproduce the like of the Quran. This contradicts rationale completely i.e. possessing the principles and tools but not able to apply them! Subhan'Allah, (Glory to God) how mankind, unlike the other miracles in history, is able to sense, comprehend and explain the principles and tools of the Arabic and the verses in the Quran - yet not able to reproduce it himself. This convinces the mind absolutely, even for the one who does not speak or read Arabic for the argument is about the application of principles, which every human can sense and comprehend. And it is no wonder that those who do speak Arabic to a good level and are sincere to their language are left feeling weak with pure astonishment about the miracle.

And the above arguments prove three things profoundly and conclusively –

  1. You do not need to be an Arab to comprehend the miracle.

  2. It is a rational proof.

  3. No one was able to do it, no one is able to do it and no one will ever be able to do it...absolutely.

On top of this miracle of the language is the precise predictions made in the Quran 

There is knowledge of the future that is impossible for a human to know- which a non-arab speaker can also evaluate.

The chapter on Abu Lahab- the prophet’s uncle- is clear in its irreversible condemnation of him to Hellfire. Verse 3 states, “He will [enter to] burn in a Fire of [blazing] flame”. Contrast this with the promise preached by Muhammad in the Quran for the believers which is that they will be admitted to paradise and to be saved from the hellfire for rejecting god's message. 

In order to undermine the message of the Quran all Abu Lahab had to do was hypocrtitcally announce that he was a believer and follower of Muhammad. However he did not and for 10 years he had the opportunity to seal the fate of the main enemy of the Quraysh; even as his enemy grew from strength to strength with his followers and ultimately establishing his political authority in the city-state of madina from which they launched wars against each other.

But who could have known the future to such a precise extent- that Abu Lahab would never announce that he was a believer- and risk the validity of the message? This is beyond the knowledge of a human being!The knowledge of time would not be beyond the knowledge of the creator of the universe since time is a function of the universe that we live in and was created by Him.

(footnote: some laymen critics try to argue that everyone is going to hellfire anyway so there is no special prophecy here. This is a shallow argument that shows the lack of any understanding of the base message of Islam and not based on any scholarship- it makes no sense for anyone to believe and follow Muhammed if there will be no difference to their fate in the after-life!

Others also try to foolishly argue that the verse was revealed after he had died because the verb ‘ma aghna’ (“his wealth did not enrichen him”- verse 2) is in the past. This is wrong from many perspectives: 

Firstly: linguistically as mentioned above the past tense is used to emphasise definiteness since the past cannot be undone. Again this shows that the one making the statement has full knowledge of the future that the statement “ma aghna ‘anhu maluhu wa ma kasab” (his wealth did not enrichen him nor did he benefit) refers to how he will not be helped on the Day of Judgement because of his wealth. If he had submitted himself to God though- he could have used his wealth in charity- thus benefiting himself on the Day of Judgement. 

Secondly: the time of revelation of this verse was in Makkah and this is agreed upon by all the historians of the life of Muhammed (seerah) and the historians of the Quran. However Abu Lahab died during Muhammad’s later stage of life in Madinah specifically after the Battle of Badr. Therefore to claim that this verse was revealed in Madinah contradicts all the available evidence of collections of the narrations of seerah- there is no narration that says as such. In fact the narrations all indicate that this was revealed after Muhammed had called and gathered all the people of his tribe and then asked them to embrace Islam, to which Abu Lahab called for him to be perished for wasting their time to call them out to this- and so these verses were God’s reply.

Thirdly: Abu Lahab as just mentioned above died just after the Battle of Badr whilst Muhammed was living in Medinah. The muslims of Medina had just fought their first battle against the disbelieving Makkans and defeated them even though they were outnumbered by three to one. This was a great victory that would make headlines all over Arabia where many of the notables of Quraysh were killed. So how does it make sense to say that these verses were revealed after Abu Lahab had died when he was not significant to their lives anymore? Why not mention any of the other notables of Quraysh that actually fought and were killed at the time? Abu Lahab did not even fight in this battle (choosing to ransom himself from his obligation with a debtor taking his place)- making him even more insignificant during this time! )

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Why didn’t the non-muslim Arabic scholars believe then?

It may occur to you to ask that if the miraculous nature can even be confirmed by the specialist in the Arabic language- then why do there remain specialists (who lived in the past and the present) who do not submit to it and become muslim? (You can also ask the same question for the non-arab speaker or layman arab speaker who are not specialists in the language but have the capability to assess the miracle rationally).There could be many incorrect bases in thinking that does not lead a person to the correct way of thinking. As mentioned earlier, the mind is man’s greatest asset when used correctly.The mind when used in the correct manner will let us understand our environment and our reality correctly enabling our progress, but when used incorrectly it can become the source of our decline. 

If the person making the assessment for instance does not believe that God exists because they haven’t thought about the topic in the correct manner then they may attribute the inimitable nature of the Quran to a supernatural cause (also another irrational idea since we cannot verify the existence of supernatural beings rationally according to our senses). There may also be non-intellectual reasons linked to the interests of the human which would mean that he would have to sacrifice those interests if he were to submit to the commands of the creator. These interests could be as little as following your own physical desires of eating and drinking what you like; or even pride (such as has been narrated about the prophets own uncle and protector who was kind to him-Abu Talib- who could not bring himself to bear witness to the truth of the message due to the pride of his ancestors religion amongst his tribe). The interests could also involve your status and power within society from taking advantage of the current system that prevails- such as the leaders of the Quraysh tribe in Makkah who resisted with all their might the preaching of Muhammad (SAW).

(As mentioned earlier, the mind is man’s greatest asset when used correctly-separating him from all other creatures: it allows him to progress within and control his universe – even if he is physically unable to move within his environment, he will invent a machine that will allow him to take control of his environment. The mind when used correctly will let us understand our environment and our reality: The mind can be man's greatest liberator or his greatest prison -imprisoning him in confusion and decline

If the mind is used correctly then the knowledge he will derive will be useful – leading him to progress in life as he understands his purpose and solves his problems correctly. It will allow him to break free from the man-made ideas that shackles a person to conform to oppressive systems; to false ideas of the route to happiness; from ideas that paralyse them from fulfilling their potential.

However if used incorrectly, it can cause you to accept what is told to you. it can cause you to become confused throughout life, hesitating whenever faced with a problem. Doubt can cause anxiety as you believe in false ideas of what perfection means and from the frustration the false ideals that you aspire to are not within reach. The psychological problems that arise from irrational thinking has led to led to depression and anxiety. The mind can be a prison of darkness even for the one that appears on the outside to be happy. The purpose of the individual is not realised and his life is wasted.)