Produce One Chapter Like It by Hamza Andrea Tzortzis

Before analysing Al-Kawthar it is important to briefly explain the challenge of the Qur’ān, the linguistic environment in which it was revealed, and the book’s literary impact and authority.

Several verses in the Qur’ān express a Taḥaddī to its readers. The word Taḥaddī in Arabic literally means “Challenge”. According to many scholars, these verses refer to the linguistic and literary inimitability of the Qur’ān, which lies at the heart of the Qur’ān’s claim to being of Divine origin. The Qur’ān states:

“If you are in doubt of what We have revealed to Our messenger, then produce one chapter like it. Call upon all your helpers, besides Allah, if you are truthful.”6.

And.

“Or do they say he fabricated the message? Nay, they have no faith. Let them produce a recital like it, if they speak the truth.”7.

The unique literary and linguistic features of the Qur’ān have been used by Muslims to articulate a number of arguments to substantiate their belief that the book is from the Divine.

The inimitability of the Qur’ān developed into the Muslim theological doctrine of al-i‘jāz al-Qur’ān. The word i‘jāz is a verbal noun that means ‘miraculousness’ and comes from the verb a‘jaza, which means: “to fail to act, to be or become incapable of, to become powerless, impotent or unable to carry out something.”8.

According to numerous classical Qur’ānic commentators, the various verses that issue a challenge to produce a chapter like it daringly call for the linguistic experts of any era to imitate the Qur’ān’s linguistic and literary features.9 The tools needed to meet this challenge are the finite grammatical rules, literary and linguistic devices, and the letters that comprise the Arabic language; these are independent measures available to all. Jalal al-Din al-Suyūṭī, a prolific 15thcentury writer and scholar, summarises this point:

“…when the Prophet brought [the challenge] to them, they were the most eloquent rhetoricians so he challenged them to produce something like the Qur’ān, and many years passed and they were unable to do so as God says, Let them then produce a recitation similar to it, if indeed they are truthful (Q.52:34). Then, [the Prophet] challenged them to produce 10 chapters like it where God 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 [chapter] where God says, Or do they say he [i.e. the Prophet] has forged it? Say, bring a forged chapter like it and call upon whomever you can besides God, if you are truthful(Q.11:13). When the [Arabs] were unable to produce a single chapter like [the Qur’ān] 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’ān. Then God 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 (Q.17:88).”10

The Arab poetic and literary masters of the 7th century failed to produce anything like that of the Qur’ān. They were powerless and incapable of producing anything like it. The fact that it has not been matched since it was first revealed, does not surprise most scholars familiar with the Arabic language and the stylistic features of the Qur’ān. This conclusion will be substantiated in this essay with the literary and linguistic analysis of the Qur’ān’s shortest chapter.

Understanding the context of the challenge is significant in appreciating the Qur’ān’s inimitability. The Qur’ān posed this challenge to the greatest Arabic linguists; the 7th century Arabs. The fact that they reached the peak of eloquence is affirmed by many scholars.

According to 9th century biographer of the poets, Al-Jumaḥī, “Verse was to the Arabs the register of all they knew, and the utmost compass of their wisdom; with it they began their affairs, and with it they ended them.”11 14th century scholar Ibn Khaldūn highlights the importance of poetry in Arab life: “It should be known that Arabs thought highly of poetry as a form of speech. Therefore, they made poetry the archives of their history, the evidence for what they considered right and wrong, and the principal basis of reference for most of their sciences and wisdom.”12.

Linguistic ability and expertise were a highly influential feature of the 7th century Arab social environment. The literary critic and historian Ibn Rashīq 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.”13 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.”14.

7th century Arabia developed a socio-cultural environment that had all the right conditions to facilitate the unparalleled expertise of the Arabic language. Navid Kermani, a writer and expert in Islamic studies, explains the extent to which the Arabs had to study to master the Arabic language, which indicates that the 7th century Arab lived in a world that revered poetry: “Old Arabic poetry is a highly complex phenomenon. The vocabulary, grammatical idiosyncrasies and strict norms were passed down from generation to generation, and only the most gifted students fully mastered the language. A person had to study for years, sometimes even decades under a master poet before laying claim to the title of poet. Muhammadصلى الله عليه وسلمgrew up in a world which almost religiously revered poetic expression.”15.

Their linguistic abilities notwithstanding, they collectively failed to produce an Arabic text that matched the Qur’ān’s linguistic and literary features. Linguistics expert professor Hussein Abdul-Raof asserts, “The Arabs, at the time, had reached their linguistic peak in terms of linguistic competence and sciences, rhetoric, oratory, and poetry. No one, however, has ever been able to provide a single chapter similar to that of the Qur’an.”16 17.

Muhammad Abdullah Draz, who was a scholar and professor of Islamic Studies at Al-Azhar University, affirms how the 7th century experts were absorbed in the discourse that left them incapacitated: “In the golden age of Arab eloquence, when language reached the apogee of purity and force, and titles of honour were bestowed with solemnity on poets and orators in annual festivals, the Qur’anic word swept away all enthusiasm for poetry or prose, and caused the Seven Golden Poems hung over the doors of the Ka’ba to be taken down. All ears lent themselves to this marvel of Arabic expression.”18.

A powerful argument that supports the assertion that the 7th century Arabs failed to imitate the Qur’ān relates to the socio-political circumstances of the time. Central to the Qur’ānic message was the condemnation of the immoral, unjust and evil practices of the 7th century Meccan tribes. These included the mistreatment of women, unjust trade, polytheism, slavery, hoarding of wealth, infanticide and the shunning of orphans. The Meccan leadership was being challenged by the Qur’ānic message, and this had the potential to undermine their leadership and economic success. In order for Islam to stop spreading, all that was needed was for the Prophet’sصلى الله عليه وسلمadversaries to meet the linguistic and literary challenge of the Qur’ān. Such a linguistic response to the challenge would effectively expose Prophet Muhammadصلى الله عليه وسلمas a charlatan and fraud. The Qur’ān would easily be debunked publicly. With such humiliation, Prophet Muhammadصلى الله عليه وسلمwould have lost supporters across Arabia. However, the fact that Islam succeeded in its early, fragile days in Mecca testifies to the fact that its primary audience was not able to meet the Qur’ānic challenge. The fact that the Meccan leadership had to resort to extreme campaigns, such as warfare and torture, to attempt to extinguish Islam demonstrates that the easy method of refuting Islam—meeting the Qur’ānic challenge—failed.

It is important to note that non-Muslim and Muslim scholars do not contend that the Qur’ān is an authority in Arabic literature and has had an unparalleled influence. For instance, Wadad Kadi and Mustansir Mir state:

“Although Arabic, as a language and a literary tradition, was quite well developed by the time of Muhammad’s prophetic activity, it was only after the emergence of Islam, with its founding scripture in Arabic, that the language reached its utmost capacity of expression, and the literature its highest point of complexity and sophistication. Indeed, it probably is no exaggeration to say that the Qur’an was one of the most conspicuous forces in the making of classical and post-classical Arabic literature.”19.

The Qur’ān’s unique and unparalleled use of the Arabic language was the cause of the dramatic intellectual revival of desert Arabs, and after thirteen years of the first revelation, it became the foundational reference for a new civilisation. This inimitable speech, the Qur’ān, became the unique source of the new civilisation’s political, philosophical, and spiritual outlook. David Margoliouth, who was a Professor of Arabic at University of Oxford, explains this impact of the Qur’ān:

“The Koran [sic] admittedly occupies an important position among the great religious books of the world. Though the youngest of the epoch-making works belonging to this class of literature, it yields to hardly any in the wonderful effect which it has produced on large masses of men. It has created an all but new phase of human thought and a fresh type of character. It first transformed a number of heterogeneous desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a nation of heroes, and then proceeded to create the vast politico-religious organizations of the Muhammadan world which are one of the great forces with which Europe and the East have to reckon today.”20.

Karen Armstrong, a popular historian, argues that the literary uniqueness of the Qur’ān, with its new literary form, ensured Islam’s success:

“It is as though Muhammad had created an entirely new literary form…Without this experience of the Koran, it is extremely unlikely that Islam would have taken root.”21