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WHAT
THEY SAY ABOUT THE QUR'AN Humanity
has received the Divine guidance through two channels: firstly the word of
Allah, secondly the Prophets who were chosen by Allah to communicate His
will to human beings. These two things have always been going together and
attempts to know the will of Allah by neglecting either of these two have
always been misleading. The Hindus neglected their prophets and paid all
attention to their books that proved only word puzzles which they
ultimately lost. Similarly, the Christians, in total disregard to the Book
of Allah, attached all importance to Christ and thus not only elevated him
to Divinity, but also lost the very essence of TAWHEED (monotheism)
contained in the Bible. As a matter of
fact the main scriptures revealed before the Qur'an, i.e., the Old
Testament and the Gospel, came into book-form long after the days of the
Prophets and that too in translation. This was because the followers of
Moses and Jesus made no considerable effort to preserve these Revelations
during the life of their Prophets. Rather they were written long after
their death. Thus what we now have in the form of the Bible (The Old as
well as the New Testament) is translations of individuals' accounts of the
original revelations which contain additions and deletions made by the
followers of the said Prophets. On the contrary, the last revealed Book,
the Qur'an, is extant in its original form. Allah Himself guaranteed its
preservation and that is why the whole of the Qur'an was written during
the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself though on separate
pieces of palm leaves, parchments, bones, etc... Moreover, there were tens
of thousands of companions of the Prophet who memorized the whole Qur'an
and the Prophet himself used to recite to the Angel Gabriel once a year
and twice in the year he died. The first Caliph Abu Bakr entrusted the
collection of the whole Qur'an in one volume to the Prophet's scribe, Zaid
Ibn Thabit. This volume was with Abu Bakr till his death. Then it was with
the second Caliph Umar and after him it came to Hafsa, the Prophet's wife.
It was from this original copy that the third Caliph Uthman prepared
several other copies and sent them to different Muslim territories. The Qur'an was so
meticulously preserved because it was to be the Book of guidance for
humanity for all times to come. That is why it does not address the Arabs
alone in whose language it was revealed. It speaks to man as a human
being: "O Man! What
has seduced you from your Lord." The practicability
of the Qur'anic teachings is established by the examples of Muhammad
(PBUH) and the good Muslims throughout the ages. The distinctive approach
of the Qur'an is that its instructions are aimed at the general welfare of
man and are based on the possibilities within his reach. In all its
dimensions the Qur'anic wisdom is conclusive. It neither condemns nor
tortures the flesh nor does it neglect the soul. It does not humanize God
nor does it deify man. Everything is carefully placed where it belongs in
the total scheme of creation. Actually the
scholars who allege that Muhammad (PBUH) was the author of the Qur'an
claim something which is humanly impossible. Could any person of the sixth
century C.E. utter such scientific truths as the Qur'an contains? Could he
describe the evolution of the embryo inside the uterus so accurately as we
find it in modern science? Secondly, is it
logical to believe that Muhammad (PBUH), who up to the age of forty was
marked only for his honesty and integrity, began all of a sudden the
authorship of a book matchless in literary merit and the equivalent of
which the whole legion of the Arab poets and orators of highest calibre
could not produce? And lastly, is it justified to say that Muhammad (PBUH)
who was known as AL-AMEEN (The Trustworthy) in his society and who is
still admired by the non-Muslim scholars for his honesty and integrity,
came forth with a false claim and on that falsehood could train thousands
of men of character, integrity and honesty, who were able to establish the
best human society on the surface of the earth? Surely, any
sincere and unbiased searcher of truth will come to believe that the
Qur'an is the revealed Book of Allah. Without
necessarily agreeing with all that they said, we furnish here some
opinions of important non-Muslim scholars about the Qur'an. Readers can
easily see how the modern world is coming closer to reality regarding the
Qur'an. We appeal to all open-minded scholars to study the Qur'an in the
light of the aforementioned points. We are sure that any such attempt will
convince the reader that the Qur'an could never be written by any human
being. "However
often we turn to it [the Qur'an] at first disgusting us each time afresh,
it soon attracts, astounds, and in the end enforces our reverence... Its
style, in accordance with its contents and aim is stern, grand, terrible -
ever and anon truly sublime -- Thus this book will go on exercising
through all ages a most potent influence." --Goethe, quoted in T.P.
Hughes' DICTIONARY OF ISLAM, p. 526. "The Koran
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." --G. Margoliouth, Introduction to J.M. Rodwell's, THE KORAN,
New York: Everyman's Library, 1977, p. vii. "A work,
then, which calls forth so powerful and seemingly incompatible emotions
even in the distant reader - distant as to time, and still more so as a
mental development - a work which not only conquers the repugnance which
he may begin its perusal, but changes this adverse feeling into
astonishment and admiration, such a work must be a wonderful production of
the human mind indeed and a problem of the highest interest to every
thoughtful observer of the destinies of mankind." --Dr. Steingass,
quoted in T.P. Hughes' DICTIONARY OF ISLAM, pp. 526-527. "The above
observation makes the hypothesis advanced by those who see Muhammad as the
author of the Qur'an untenable. How could a man, from being illiterate,
become the most important author, in terms of literary merits, in the
whole of Arabic literature? How could he then pronounce truths of a
scientific nature that no other human being could possibly have developed
at that time, and all this without once making the slightest error in his
pronouncement on the subject?" --Maurice Bucaille, THE BIBLE, THE
QUR'AN AND SCIENCE, 1978, p. 125. "Here,
therefore, its merits as a literary production should perhaps not be
measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic taste,
but by the effects which it produced in Muhammad's contemporaries and
fellow countrymen. If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the
hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic
elements into one compact and well-organized body, animated by ideas far
beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its
eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out of
savage tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history."
--Dr. Steingass, quoted in T.P. Hughes' DICTIONARY OF ISLAM, p. 528. "In making
the present attempt to improve on the performance of my predecessors, and
to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly
the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pains to study
the intricate and richly varied rhythms which - apart from the message
itself - constitute the Koran's undeniable claim to rank amongst the
greatest literary masterpieces of mankind... This very characteristic
feature - 'that inimitable symphony,' as the believing Pickthall described
his Holy Book, 'the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy' -
has been almost totally ignored by previous translators; it is therefore
not surprising that what they have wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in
comparison with the splendidly decorated original." --Arthur J.
Arberry, THE KORAN INTERPRETED, London: Oxford University Press, 1964, p.
x. "A totally
objective examination of it [the Qur'an] in the light of modern knowledge,
leads us to recognize the agreement between the two, as has been already
noted on repeated occasions. It makes us deem it quite unthinkable for a
man of Muhammad's time to have been the author of such statements on
account of the state of knowledge in his day. Such considerations are part
of what gives the Qur'anic Revelation its unique place, and forces the
impartial scientist to admit his inability to provide an explanation which
calls solely upon materialistic reasoning." --Maurice Bucaille, THE
QUR'AN AND MODERN SCIENCE, 1981, p. 18. QUR'AN ON QUR'AN "Hence,
indeed, We made this Qur'an easy to bear in mind: who, then is willing to
take it to heart?" --Chapter 54: Verses 17, 22, 32, 40
(self-repeating) "Will they
then not meditate on the Qur'an, or are there locks on their hearts?"
--Chapter 47: Verse 24 "Surely this
Qur'an guides to that which is most upright and gives good news to the
believers who do good works that they shall have a great reward."
--Chapter 17: Verse 9 "Surely We
have revealed the reminder (Qur'an) and We will most certainly guard it
(from corruption)." --Chapter 15: Verse 9 "Praise be to
Allah Who has revealed the Book (Qur'an) to His slave (Muhammad) and has
not placed therein any crookedness." --Chapter 18: Verse 1 "Will they
not then ponder on the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah they
would have found therein much discrepancy." Chapter 4: Verse 82 "And
certainly We have explained in this Qur'an every kind of example; and man
is most of all given to contention. And nothing prevents men from
believing when the guidance comes to them, and asking forgiveness of their
Lord, except that what happened to the ancients should overtake them, or
that the chastisement should come face to face with them." --Chapter
18: Verses 54-55 "And We
reveal (stage by stage) of the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy
for believers, and to the unjust it causes nothing but loss after
loss." --Chapter 17: Verse 82 "And if you
are in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto Our slave (Muhammad)
then produce a surah (chapter) of the like thereof, and call your
witnesses besides Allah if you are truthful." --Chapter 2: Verse 23 "And this
Qur'an is not such as could be forged by those besides Allah, but it is a
verification (of revelations) that went before it and a fuller explanation
of the Book - there is no doubt - from the Lord of the Worlds."
--Chapter 10: Verse 37 "So when you
recite the Qur'an, seek refuge in Allah from Satan the outcast."
--Chapter 16: Verse 98. World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), P.O. Box
10845, Riyadh 11443, Saudi Arabia |
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