穆斯林神学家常常指出,只要稍微了解先知穆罕默德ﷺ的生平,人们很快就会意识到他不可能伪造《古兰经》。只有那些被偏见所左右、或仅从远处加以批判的人,才看不到这一点。对于其他人来说,仅仅观察他的正直品格,就已经一目了然——即便是非穆斯林历史学家也对此予以肯定(见第二章)——此外,《古兰经》始终将穆罕默德ﷺ界定为其人类主体,而非其作者,这一点也很明确。以下的轶事或许并不构成《古兰经》无法模仿之处的一个方面,但我们将其收录于此,以使我们的讨论首尾呼应。如果先知ﷺ确实是《古兰经》的真正作者,他会把它编撰成包含以下这些特征的样子吗?

Muslim theologians often point out that people who simply familiarize themselves with the biography of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم quickly realize that he could not have forged the Qur’an. Only those consumed by prejudice, or critiquing from a distance, are unable to see this. For others, it is crystal-clear by simply observing his integrity, which even non-Muslim historians attest to (see Chapter 2), as well as the fact that the Qur’an consistently frames Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم as its human subject and not its writer. While the following anecdotes may not be a dimension of the Qur’an’s inimitability, they are included here to bring our discussion full circle. If the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was the actual author of the Qur’an, would he have constructed it to contain the following characteristics?

1. 《古兰经》中提到穆萨（Moses）的名字135次，提到尔撒（Jesus）的名字25次，而提到穆罕默德ﷺ的名字仅5次。人们可能会认为，一个被指控抄袭某一宗教传统的人，应当避免提及该传统中的主要人物，尤其是在他经常遭受麦地那犹太人的嘲讽、并与他们在战争中对阵的情况下。

1. The name of Moses  appears in the Qur’an 135 times, the name of Jesus  appears twenty-five times, while the name of Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم appears only five times. One would assume that a person would avoid citing the primary personalities of a religious tradition that he is accused of plagiarizing from, especially when experiencing regular mockery by the Jews of Madinah and facing them in warfare.

2. 耶稣之母玛丽亚（Mary）在《古兰经》中被提及的次数达三十四次，而先知穆罕默德ﷺ自己的妻子和女儿，在经文中却一次也没有被提到名字。

2. Mary, the Mother of Jesus , is cited by name thirtyfour times in the Qur’an, while the Prophet Muhammad’s صلى الله عليه وسلم own wives and daughters are not named a single time therein.

如果他想为了政治影响力而抬高自己家族的地位，人们或许会认为他至少会写上一段赞颂，或者哪怕提及他们的名字一次。

Had he wanted to elevate the status of his family for political clout, for instance, one might think he would have included a tribute, or simply mentioned their names, at least once.

3. “先知啊！你为了取悦你的妻子们，为何要禁止自己享用真主为你合法的事物呢？真主是至恕的，是至慈的。”464 如果一位社会领袖公开自己家中的纠纷，并承认自己“只是想讨妻子的欢心”，尤其是在七世纪的阿拉伯，民众会作何反应？然而，在《古兰经》这一简短的章节中，却展现了一出完整的家庭小戏：两位妻子嫉妒第三位妻子；她们策划了一个计谋；计谋得逞；先知ﷺ做出了一个欠妥的决定；这必须得到纠正，诸如此类。

3. “O Prophet, why do you prohibit [yourself from] what Allah has made lawful for you, seeking the approval of your wives? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”464 If a community leader were to air his family disputes and charge himself with “just trying to please his wife,” especially in seventh-century Arabia, how would that be received by the masses? Yet, in this brief chapter of the Qur’an, an entire mini family drama is showcased: two wives are jealous of the third; they devise a scheme; it works; the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم makes a suboptimal decision; it must be rectified, and so forth.

4. “你说：‘我在使者中并非新奇的，我也不知道我和你们将被怎样处置，我只是遵循经启示给我的……’”465 作者和推广者总是把自己的产品标榜为独一无二、前所未有的，而不只是先前某种模式的复制品；而《古兰经》一再提醒，它所做的恰恰相反。它固然带来了一些新的启示，但其主要功能，是引领人类回到他们曾经拥有过的宝藏。

4. “Say, ‘I am not something original among the messengers, nor do I know what will be done with me or with you. I only follow that which is revealed to me…’”465 Authors and influencers always brand their product as something special and unprecedented, not merely the replica of a prior model, while the Qur’an reminds time and again that it does the exact opposite. While it does bring some novel revelations, its primary function was to bring humanity back to a treasure they once had.

5.「他皱眉并转过脸去，因为那盲人来到了他面前。」[466] 盲人伊本·乌姆·马克图姆打断了一次重要的集会，这使先知ﷺ心中不快，但他只是默默皱眉，以免冒犯对方。然而，《古兰经》却揭示了先知ﷺ曾极力隐瞒的那件事，并让它在礼拜中被诵读，直到末日。一个假先知本会选择自我抬高，但安拉的使者在这件事上别无选择。

5. “He frowned and turned away when the blind man came to him.”466 Ibn Umm Maktūm, a blind man, interrupted an important meeting which displeased the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم but he just frowned silently so as not to offend him. And yet, the Qur’an reveals the very thing the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had tried to conceal, to be recited in prayer until the end of time. A false prophet would have chosen self-aggrandizement, but the Messenger of God had no choice in the matter.

6. “如果没有安拉先前的定命，你们因所取之物必定会遭受重大的惩罚。”467

6. “If not for a decree from Allah that preceded, you would have been touched for what you took by a great punishment.”467

在这节经文降下之后，先知ﷺ与艾布·伯克尔·艾绥迪格都被人发现因畏惧真主而哭泣。

Following the revelation of this verse, both the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq  were found weeping from fear of God.

这节经文是在谴责他们在白德尔战役后过早接受赎金释放俘虏的做法。如果某人的上司在私人邮件里责备了他，他会把这件事公之于众并拿来教导员工吗？《古兰经》中类似的段落有好几处，然而它们从未损害先知的公信力，他的同伴们都清楚这些并非他自己的言论，也知道他并不是在针对自己。

This verse was censuring them for the premature ransoms they had accepted to release their captives after the Battle of Badr. If someone’s boss scolded him in a private email, would they publicize it to their staff and teach it? Several such passages exist in the Qur’an, yet they never undermined the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم credibility with his Companions who knew he was not threatening himself; these were not his words.

7. 当真主命令先知ﷺ在宰德（他的养子）与栽奈白离婚之后迎娶栽奈白时，先知ﷺ知道伪信者必定会抓住这个“容易的机会”，指控先知ﷺ是一个好色之徒，为了娶自己的儿媳而规避自己制定的律法。468 这场即将来临的风暴使先知ﷺ的心情沉重，这并非出于对这桩婚事的内疚或羞耻，而是出于他将因被污蔑而遭受的伤害，因为这会动摇信仰薄弱的人，并可能煽动大批麦地那人推翻其国家领导人。尽管如此，真主启示说，先知穆罕默德ﷺ确实对采取这一步骤以及它可能引发的争议感到忧虑：“你心中隐藏着真主将要揭示的事，你畏惧众人，而真主更应当被你畏惧。”469

7. When Allah ordered the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to marry Zaynab  after she was divorced by Zayd  (his adopted son), he صلى الله عليه وسلم knew the hypocrites would pounce on this “easy opportunity” to accuse the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم of being a lustful man who circumvents his own laws to marry his daughter-in-law.468 This looming storm caused the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم heart to become heavy, not from guilt or shame regarding the marriage, but from the pain it would inflict through demonizing him, shaking those weak in faith, and potentially mobilizing a critical mass of Madinans to overthrow their head of state. Despite all this, Allah reveals that the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was in fact apprehensive about taking this step and the controversy it would spark: “And you concealed within yourself that which Allah is to disclose. And you feared the people, while Allah has more right that you fear Him.”469

‘Ā’ishah 说：“如果使者 ﷺ 要隐瞒《古兰经》中的任何内容，他一定会隐瞒这节经文。”470

‘Āishah  said, “If the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم were to conceal anything from the Qur’an, he would have concealed this verse.”470

8.「穆罕默德不是你们中任何一个男人的父亲。」471

8. “Muhammad is not the father of any one of your men.”471

所有的儿子都在幼年夭折，因此每当异教徒称他为“阿卜塔尔”（意为断绝了男性后嗣的人）时，先知穆罕默德ﷺ都深感痛心。真主甚至为回应这种讥讽，降示了《古兰经》的一整章（第108章）。然而，上面这节经文——其降示是为了说明宰德并非他的亲生儿子——间接体现了先知生平中这段痛苦的经历，并且全天二十四小时不间断地被诵读。

Every son of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم died young, and thus it deeply hurt him every time the pagans called him “abtar,” meaning severed from having male descendants. Allah even revealed an entire chapter of the Qur’an (108) in response to this taunting. However, the verse above—revealed to establish that Zayd was not his biological son—indirectly captures this painful past of the Prophet’s life and is recited around the clock.

有许多经文是这样的，记载了他的批评者如何辱骂他，称他为疯子、骗子和巫师。假如穆罕默德ﷺ是《古兰经》的作者，人们会以为他会把伤害过自己的事埋藏起来，而不是确保它永远不被遗忘。

There are many verses of this nature, citing the slurs of his critics who called him a madman, a liar, and a sorcerer. Were Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم the author of the Qur’an, one would think he would bury what hurt him, not ensure that it be never forgotten.

有人可能会误以为，真主对先知ﷺ残酷，因为这些经文以及与之类似的其他经文，必定使他感到痛苦。然而，先知穆罕默德ﷺ从未以这种方式领受这些经文，因为《古兰经》中也充满了真主对他独特之爱与关怀的慰藉，而且他明白，艰难与先知的崇高地位密不可分。其中一些困难是身体上的，比如在战场上流血，这也起到了证明他是凡人、证明他的勇敢等作用，此外还有其他的智慧。

A person may misperceive God as being cruel to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم here, as these verses and others similar to them must have caused him pain. However, the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم never received them this way, for the Qur’an was also filled with reassurances of God’s unique love and care for him صلى الله عليه وسلم, and because he understood that hardships were inseparable from the lofty rank of prophethood. Some of these difficulties were physical, like bleeding on the battlefield, which also served to prove his mortality and his courage, among other wisdoms.

其他一些例子带有情感色彩，例如上文所引的某些经文，它们的作用是使他与一切作者身份的观念区分开来。

Others were emotional, such as some of these verses above, which served to separate him from all notions of authorship.

在他在世期间以及直至世界末日，这类经文一直在做着同样的事情：使人们意识到，这些只能是一位诚实的真主先知的回响。正如真主所说：“难道他们还不足够吗？我已将这经典降示于你，它被诵读给他们听。在此中确有慈悲和教诲，对于信道的民众。”ﷺ472

During his life and until the end of time, this genre of verses has done just that: allowed people to realize that these can only be the echoes of an honest prophet of God صلى الله عليه وسلم. As Allah says, “Is it not sufficient for them that We revealed to you the Book which is recited to them? Indeed in that is a mercy and reminder for a people who believe.”472

任何客观的人，若了解了《古兰经》多层面的无可比拟性，却仍说它的作者是凡人，都是不相称的。它神秘的语言形式、说服与感染兼备的完美融合、对过去与未来真相的精确叙述、和谐的教义与法律体系，以及令人着迷而能使人转变的感染力，难道都不足以表明它的神圣来源吗？一个七世纪阿拉伯半岛的文盲，把大半生都用于放牧和经商，却能在一夜之间向世界献上一部语言杰作，其中包含着他那个时代并不存在的典籍中所失传的知识的精细细节，而这些典籍要到一千多年后才会被写成，这难道是可以想象的吗？即便是当今最有学识的人，乃至全人类作为一个整体，也将始终无法匹敌它的无可比拟性。因此，《古兰经》公开提出挑战："你说：'如果人类和精灵聚集起来，要造出像这部《古兰经》一样的经文，他们即使互相帮助，也造不出来。'"473

It is unbecoming of any objective person to learn about the multidimensional inimitability of the Qur’an and then say its author was a mortal. Do its mysterious linguistic form, its perfect blend of persuasive and emotive address, its precision about past and future truths, its harmonious theological and legal framework, and its gripping transformative allure all not suffice to indicate its divine origins? Is it conceivable that an unlettered man from seventh-century Arabia could spend forty years of his life preoccupied with shepherding and trade and then bring the world—overnight—a linguistic masterpiece with intricate details of lost knowledge from books that never existed in his age, and from books that would only be written more than a millennium later? Even the most educated people today, rather all of humanity as a collective, will continue to find it impossible to rival its inimitability. Hence, the Qur’an openly challenges, “Say [O Muhammad], “If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the likes of this Qur’an, they could not produce anything like it, even if they were to each other assistants.”473

正如至高者派遣穆萨（摩西）时赋予他能够制服当时最伟大的巫师的能力，派遣尔撒（耶稣）时赋予他能够治愈的能力，那是联合起来的最高明的医生也无法企及的，同样，祂也派遣穆罕默德ﷺ，带来一部永恒的经典，它将挑战人类的言辞直至时间的尽头。安拉问道：“那么你们将走向何方？这只是对众世界的一种教诫。对于你们中间想要走正道的人。你们除非是安拉所意欲的，否则便不会有所意欲——祂是众世界的主。”474

Just as the Almighty sent Moses  with the ability to neutralize the greatest sorcerers of his period and Jesus  with the ability to heal in ways that the master physicians combined could never dream to match, so too did He send Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم with an eternal Word that would challenge the speech of mankind until the end of time. Allah asks, “So where then are you going? It is but a reminder to [all the] worlds. For whoever among you wishes to take the right course. And you do not wish except that Allah wishes—Lord of the worlds.”474