Hamza Andreas Tzortzis What is the Miracle of the Qur’an? Hamza Andreas Tzortzis SOAS University...

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis www.theinimitablequran.com

What is the Miracle of the Qur’an?

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis

SOAS University

31st Jan 2007

www.theinimitablequran.com


Contents

IntroductionThe Qur’anic ChallengeThe Four Main Arguments– Historical– Literary Form– Unique Genre– EloquenceThe Implications of the Challenge?Language or Science?Non-Muslim ScholarshipRefutations


Introduction

• Convert to Islam 4.5 years

• Founder of www.theinimitablequran.com

• Exhibition Qur’an

• Purpose: – Reviving our intellectual heritage

– Modern Research

– Islam & Reason


The Challenge

• Qur’an Chapter 2 Verse 23

“And if you are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down to our servant (Muhammed pbuh) then bring a chapter of

the like thereof and call your witnesses (supporters and helpers) besides Allah if you are truthful”

• General Meaning

• Historical Scholarly Approach

• Multiple Perspective Analysis

• Four Main Arguments


Four Main Arguments

• Rational Deduction

• Unique Literary Form

• Unique Genre

• Eloquence


Rational Deduction

• Historical fact that the Arabs at the time of revelation were masters in the use of Arabic (Margoliouth, Muir, Zammit etc)

• They were articulate users of the language but also held those skilled in the arts of linguistic composition in high esteem. Ref: Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, London, 1967, pp. 87 ff.

“It should be known that Arabs thought highly of poetry as a form of speech. Therefore, they made it 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.” Ref: Ibn Khaldun, Al-Muqaddima, 1406. vol. 3, 375.


Rational Deduction (2)

• If the people best placed to challenge the Qur’an failed, then who can do it?

• Some of the challengers: – Musaylamah– The Quraish – Ibn Al-Mukaffa‘ – Abu'l-'Ala Al-Marri – Yahya b. Al-Hakam al-Ghazal– Sayyid 'Ali Muhammad– Ibn al-Rawandi– Bassar bin Burd – Sahib Ibn 'Abbad– Abu'l - 'Atahiya


Rational Deduction (3)

“The elephant. What is the elephant? And who shall tell you what is the elephant? He has a ropy tail and a long trunk. this is a

[mere] trifle of our Lord's creations.” (Musaylamah)

Ref: Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah 6:320 and Al-Isabah 3:225

• Concerning the style of his speech; he followed the kahin style of rhymed prose, and of the pronouncing of oaths. Ref: A F L Beeston, et al (Ed.), Arabic Literature To The End Of The Ummayyad Period, 1983, CUP, p. 212

• If the Arabs at that time failed, who is the author? Using Rational Deduction, it can not be a Arab, a non-Arab or even the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh).


Unique Literary Form

• Arabic Language has two main forms of speech

– Poetry

– Prose


Unique Literary Form (2)

• Prose: Saj’ and Mursal

• Poetry: Strict Rhythmical Pattern.

• 16 Types of Patterns: al-Bihar


Unique Literary Form (3)1. at-Tawîl2. al-Bassit3. al-Wafir4. al-Kamil5. ar-Rajs6. al-Khafif7. al-Hazaj8. al-Muttakarib9. al-Munsarih10. al-Muktatab11. al-Muktadarak12. al-Madid13. al-Mujtath14. al-Ramel15. al-Khabab16. as-Saria'

Ref: William Wright. 1955 (1898). A Grammar of the Arabic Language, Vol II, part 4. Cambridge University Press, p. 350-390


Unique Literary Form (4)

• All pre-Islamic and post-Islamic poetry fit into the al-Bihar (Nelson, Arberry etc)Ref: Louis Cheikho, Shu’ara' 'al-Nasraniyah, 1890-1891

• The Qur’an can not fit into any of the known forms (Arberry, Nicholson, Lawrence, Kasis, Gibb, Qutb, Haleem etc)

Ref: Bruce Lawrence. Journal of Qur’anic Studies. Vol VII, Issue I 2005. Approximating Saj’ in English Renditions of the Qur’an, p. 64

• This is achieved by not adhering to the rules of poetry and prose, by intermingling metrical and non-metrical speech and stylistic differences such as semantically orientated assonance.Ref: A Literary Approach to the Hymnic Surahs of the Qur'an: Spirit, Gender and Aural Intertextuality. Curzon Press, p. 3-25; Mitwalli al-Sharawi, The Miracles of the Qur’an. Dar ul Taqwa. See Qur’an 15:45-52 & 12:31-35 for examples of the unique fusion of metrical and non-metrical speech.


Unique Genre

• The Qur’an combines rhetorical and cohesive features in every verse.Ref: H Abdul-Raof. 2001. Qur’an Translation: Discourse, Texture and Exegesis. Curzon Press, p. 137

• Rhetoric in the Arab tradition is “…the conveying of meaning in the best of verbal forms” Ref: I Boullata. 1988. The Rhetorical Interpretation of the Qur’an: I’jaz and Related Topics. Oxford: Claredon Press, p. 143

• Cohesiveness is the feature that binds sentences to each other grammatically and lexically. It also refers to how words are linked together into sentences and how sentences are in turn linked together to form larger units in texts.Ref: H Abdul-Raof. 2001. Qur’an Translation: Discourse, Texture and Exegesis. Curzon Press, p. 107-108


Unique Genre (2)

• These elements combine with each other in such a way that interlock and become inseparable.

• This unique combination captivates the reader and achieves an effective communicative goal.

• The rhetorical and cohesive components of the Qur’anic text cannot be divorced from each other.

“…the Qur’an is understood to say what it says in an

inseparable identity with how it says it.”

Ref: K Cragg. 1994. The Event of the Qur’an. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Oneworld, p. 46


Unique Genre (3)• Example:

“Men who remember Allah much and women who remember” Qur’an 33:35

• The Qur’anic verse above, in a different word order such as the verse:

“Men who remember Allah much and Women who remember

Allah much”


Unique Genre (4)

• The non Qur’anic verse would not deliver the same effect as it

has lost its rhetorical effect and is superfluous in meaning.

• Non-Qur’anic Arabic texts mostly employ cohesive elements but the Qur’an uses both cohesive and rhetorical elements in

every verse.

Ref: H Abdul-Raof. 2001. Qur’an Translation: Discourse, Texture and Exegesis. Curzon Press, p. 137


Eloquence

“Eloquence consists in expressing an appropriate meaning with a noble, apt and clear phrase, indicating what is to be without

superfluous additions.”

Ref: Guide to Conclusive Proofs for the Principles of Belief, Imam al Haramayn al Juwayni

“…humans cannot imitate the Qur'an because their knowledge does not encompass all the words of Arabic, all the ideas in

them, and all the varieties of structure.”

Ref: Rhetorical Aspect of the Qur’an, Issa Boulata


Eloquence (2)• Example:

“Those who disbelieved Shu’ayb, they were the losers” Qur’an 7:90

• The letter ‘lam’ has been placed to intensify the meaning of loss of those who disbelieved.

• In normal speech it would not normally be missed out. • The ‘emphatic lam’ has been used to increase the

communicative effect of the text.


Eloquence (3)

• The letter ‘lam’ is placed before words to give different meanings. In this example it shows intensification for the rejection of Prophet.

• Therefore instead of just saying ‘they were losers’ Allah says they were ‘they were the losers’.

• The extra ‘lam’ imparts intensification.

Ref: “Talkhis fi Ulumul Balaghah”, Imam Qazwini, 50-52 & “The Secrets & Subtleties of the Arabic Language”, Herbjorn Jenssen, p87


Eloquence (4)

• Example:

‘You shall not kill your children because you cannot support them. We provide for you and for them.’

Qur’an 80:151

‘You shall not kill your children for fear of want. We will provide for them and for you.’

Qur’an 17:31


Eloquence (5)

• In the second verse when the killing is from want due to the poverty of the family, the Qur’an emphasizes Allah’s provision over the parent thus they are mentioned first.

• However if the killing of such innocent children is conceded by the fear of the future possibility of poverty, Allah assures one not do so by emphasizing the children before the family and how they will receive this provision.

• The words are meticulously chosen even the letters are meaningfully used. No addition, elision, advancing, or retarding occurs but by careful design. This approach is unequalled in any human composition. It is only found in the Qur’an.


The Implications of the Challenge

• Rational deduction

• Is it from an Arab, Non-Arab, the Prophet (pbuh) or the Creator?

• The Prophet and Hadith – Linguistic differences

• The pre-requisite – Creator

• No other rational explanation!


Language or Science?

• Linguistic and Literary Miracle is timeless• Based upon finite set of “tools”• Science is evolving and not static• The future may see scientific conclusions change• Natural factual phenomena is different from scientific

investigations• Classical Arabic: 28 letters, finite grammatical rules


Non-Muslim Scholarship

• Consensus opinion on the superior nature of the Qur’an’s language.

"The Koran [sic] admittedly occupies an important position among the great religious books of the world…. 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…."

Ref: G. Margoliouth. 1977. Introduction to J.M.Rodwell’s, The Koran. Everyman’s Library, p. vii


Non-Muslim Scholarship (2)

“As a literary monument the Koran thus stands by itself, a production unique to the Arabic literature, having neither forerunners nor successors in its own idiom. Muslims of all ages are united in proclaiming the inimitability not only of its contents but also of its style..... and in forcing the High Arabic idiom into the expression of new ranges of thought the Koran develops a bold and strikingly effective rhetorical prose in which all the resources of syntactical modulation are exploited with great freedom and originality.”

Ref: H A R Gibb. 1963. Arabic Literature - An Introduction. Oxford at Clarendon Press, p. 36.



• My favourite…..

“As tangible signs Qur’anic verses are expressive of an inexhaustible truth. They signify meaning layered within

meaning, light upon light, miracle after miracle.”

Ref: Bruce Lawrence, p. 18. The Qur’an: A Biography. 2006.

“…and that though several attempts have been made to produce a work equal to it as far as elegant writing is concerned, none

has as yet succeeded.”

Ref: F. F. Arbuthnot. 1885. The Construction of the Bible and the Koran. London, p 5



“.…the Meccans still demanded of him a miracle, and with remarkable boldness and self confidence Muhammad appealed as a supreme confirmation of his mission to the Koran itself. Like all Arabs they were connoisseurs of language and rhetoric. Well, then if the Koran were his own composition other men could rival it. Let them produce ten verses like it. If they could not (and it is obvious that they could not), then let them accept the Koran as an outstanding evidential miracle”

Ref: H. A. R. Gibb. 1980. Islam: A Historical Survey. Oxford University Press, p. 28


Refutations

• Not many academics contend with the linguistic and literary excellence of the Qur’anic discourse.

• The minority scholarship have methodological flaws and do not understand Classical Arabic stylistics and the rhetorical sciences.


Refutations (2)

• Example: Grammar

• “You notice that the word was written Saabi'uuna in 5:69 and was written Saabi'iina in 2:62 and 22:17. In the last two verses the word was declined correctly. But the word Saabi'uuna in 5:69 was given the 'uu….This then is an obvious grammatical error.”

• This change in case is similar to changes number and person and tense. All these are used in the Qur’an for rhetorical purposes in their contexts. This is a well known feature called iltifaat. Of which there are countless examples in Classical Arabic (Neal Robinson, Haleem, Abdur Raof, Ibn Athir etc)

Refs: M A S Abdel Haleem Grammatical Shift For The Rhetorical Purposes: Iltifāt And Related Features In The Qur'ān Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1992, Volume LV, Part 3.


Refutations (3)

• Example: Lexical Borrowing• Claims that the Qur’an is not, as it states, in a “…plain Arabic

Qur’an” due to the presence of ‘foreign’ words:

Mount (Qur’an 95:2) borrowed from SyriacHeavy (Qur’an 18:31) from PersianSinai (Qur’an 95:2) from NabateanThe Inscription (Qur’an 18:9) from GreekThe Sea (Qur’an 7:136) from CopticBrilliant (Qur’an 24:35) from AbyssinianTo turn onto someone (Qur’an 7:156) from Hebrew


Refutations (4)• Natural Linguistic phenomenon.• These foreign words in the Qur’an had already been naturalised into

the Arabic language before the revelation of the Qur’an (Imam Shafi’i,

Abdur-Raof etc) • al-Suyuti believes that the presence of a few foreign words does not

make it any less Arabic then the presence of foreign words in a Persian Poem would not make it any less Persian.

• Additionally the reference to “Plain Arabic…” is to the Qur’an as a whole, and not the individual words in it.

Refs: G. Yule. 1985. The Study of Language. Cambridge University Press, p. 52H. Abul-Raof. 2003. Exploring the Qur’an. Al-Makhtoum Institute Academic Press, p. 38A. Jeffrey. 1938. The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qur’an. Baroda: Oriental Institute, p. 110al-Suyuti. 1996. al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur’an. Vol. 1. Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Ulum, p. 367


Conclusion• Martin Zammit concludes in his book “A comparative Lexical Study of

Qur’anic Arabic”:

"Notwithstanding the literary excellence of some of the long pre-Islamic poems…the Qur'an is definitely on a level of its own as the most eminent written manifestation of the Arabic

language.“

• Rev. R Bosworth Smith concludes that the Qur'an, in his book "Muhammad and Muhammadanism", is:

"…It is the one miracle claimed by Muhammad, his standing miracle, and a miracle indeed it is."

Refs: Martin Zammit. 2002. A comparative Lexical Study of Qur'anic Arabic. Brill Academic Publishers & R. Bosworth Smith. 2004. Muhammad and Muhammadanism. Kessinger Publishing.


Thank you!

• Questions?

• Comments?

My contact details:

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis

[email protected]

www.theinimitablequran.com

+44(0)7852433595

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis What is the Miracle of the Qur’an? Hamza Andreas Tzortzis SOAS University...

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