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Allah’s greatest
favor to mankind is His guidance contained in the books of
revelation. Muslims believe in Taurat, Injeel, Zaboor, Scrolls
of Abraham, and the Qur'an. The Qur'an is the final revelation
sent by Allah to all Mankind and no book will ever be sent after
it. Of the Divine books, only Qur'an exists in its original
form, unchanged and unmixed. All the other books are not
available in their original language and form. Even their
original text has been changed. Allah has promised that he
Himself will protect this Book and preserve it against the
slightest change up to the end of time.
The Qur'an is
the Miracle of God. There are many qualities that make the
Qur'an a Miracle. The Qur'an is incomparable for its
comprehensiveness. It brings to man the ultimate knowledge and
guidance for all spheres of human life, spiritual, physical,
individual, etc. The Qur'an came at a time and at a place, which
offered no facilities for acquiring the kind of education, which
is necessary for composing such a book. It came to the Holy
Prophet  ,
who could not even read and write, and who had not tried to
learn even the arts of poetry and rhetoric of which the Arabs of
that time were proud.
When the Qur'an
challenged the disbelievers to produce even a few verses
comparable to its own, no one came forward to accept the
challenge. On the other hand, as a matter of fact, some of the
most contemporary Arabs did admit, though in private, that the
Holy Qur'an was inimitable. Some of them had the honesty to say
so in public and some even accepted Islam.
A
number of incidents illustrate the point. Even the vilest
enemies of the Holy Prophet,
, like
Akhnas ibn Sharik, Abu Sufyan, and of all persons Abu Jahl,
himself, are reported to have stealthily crept in the darkness
of night to the house of the Holy Prophet
, to hear
him reciting the Holy Qur'an, and to have been so entranced by
the Word of Allah, that they could not tear themselves away from
the place till it was dawn.
Abu Jahl, even confessed that his
tribe had been successfully competing with Banu ‘Abd Manaf in
all possible virtues before Prophet Muhammad,
.
But now their rival had produced a prophet, and they could not
come up with something to match the claim. So they rejected the
Prophet Muhammad
, and the
Qur'an because of arrogance. Walid ibn Mughara, the eldest and
the wisest among them said about the Holy Qur'an:
"By
God, there is not a single man among you who knows more about
Arabic poetry than me. And by God, I find in this speech a kind
of sweetness and grace which I have never found in the speech of
any poet or of any eloquent man.”
In short, Arabs
failed to take up the challenge of the Holy Qur’an to produce
even a single verse comparable with the Qur’an and admitted
their helplessness. Nor has anyone else succeeded in the attempt
since then, all of which goes to show that Holy Qur’an can only
be the Word of Allah, not of man.
The Holy Qur’an made many
predictions about future events. For example, the infidels of
Makkah were not prepared to believe that Byzantines would
finally rout the Persians after they suffered an initial defeat.
They put a wager on it, but were humiliated to see the prophecy
come true before the stipulated period of ten years was over.
The Holy Qur’an
gives a clear account of some of the earlier prophets, of their
Shariah, and of their peoples and of many historical events
since the beginning of the world. Even the best scholars among
the Jews and Christians did not possess such exact information.
The Holy Prophet,
, who had
never attended a school, nor been in the company of a learned
man, could not have provided all these details for himself
without having received the knowledge from Allah.
Several verses
of the Holy Qur’an disclosed what certain people had tried to
conceal in their heart and they had to confess that this was
just what they had been thinking. The Holy Qur'an predicted that
such and such men would not be able to do such and such things
and than it turned out that in spite of having the power, they
could not do these things.
The Jews claimed
to be the chosen of God, and His friends. The Holy Qur'an asked
them to substantiate their claim by wishing for death. In spite
for all they’re hatred for the Holy Prophet,
, they
knew in their hearts that the Holy Qur'an was the Book of Allah
and feared that if they told a lie in this matter, they would
actually die.
When the Holy
Qur'an is recited, it affects in a strange and indefinable way
the hearts of even a casual listener, Muslim or non-Muslim.
History reports many instances of people accepting Islam merely
because they happened to be passing by when the Holy Prophet,
was
reciting the Holy Qur'an. Such was the case for example of the
companion Jubayr ibn Mutim.
The best book in
the world, if read four or five times, begins to lose its charm.
But the peculiar quality of the Holy Qur'an, and of it alone, is
that the more one reads or recites it, the more eager one
becomes to do so again and again.
The greatest
miracle of the Qur'an is that in all the ages and in all the
places where Muslims have lived there have been millions of
people who have known the Book by heart, without the alteration
of a single consonant or vowel. So, Allah has preserved his last
book, not merely in the shape of written words, but above all in
the hearts of men. Allah is Ever-Living, so will His word live
forever, beyond the interference of human beings.
There is no
other book, which encompass all the forms of knowledge and
wisdom in so short a space as does the Holy Qur'an, fulfilling
all possible spiritual needs of man and providing him with
guidance for all the spheres of his internal or external,
individual or social activities.
It is not merely
a theoretical guidance that the Holy Qur'an has offered. On the
other hand, the Qur'an has had such a vast and deep impact on
the history of mankind in a short time. It brought about a
radical and unprecedented transformation in the individual and
collective life of millions of men within the space of a few
years. It took the lowest of the low and transformed them into
the best people who ever lived. When the Holy Prophet,,
departed from the world Islam had, in spite of all opposition
and without the modern media of communication, already
established a new order of life all over the Arabian Peninsula,
and within the next few decades, the message of the Holy Qur'an
had reached India on one side, and Spain on the other.
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