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Islamic Online University Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies

Tafseer 101

The Unique Book

Maps of Reality: The plane had been up in the air for a while when the captain came on the intercom. “Ladies and gentlemen, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we have a tailwind behind us and we’re making good time. The bad news is that we’re lost.” It’s one thing to have an idea of where you’re heading but lose your way. It’s another to travel without any notion of your destination. If you don’t know where you’re headed, all your movements will be wasted efforts. Outwardly, things may seem to be going well in your life. You have a good job. The bills are paid. You can buy what you want. You have a “significant other.” But certain questions won’t go away: “Why am I here?” “What am I supposed to be doing?” “What happens when I die?” “Is there life after death?” “If there is, what should I be doing to prepare for it?” If you don’t have satisfactory answers for these questions, they will gnaw at your heart, no matter what other trappings of success you achieve. “Too much of nothing can make a man feel ill at ease.” Science claims to provide a system for finding out what is real. The scientific method provides a very powerful tool for telling us how things work. But by its nature, it can’t answer questions like “Why am I here?” and the others just mentioned. Religions claim to answer these questions. They provide ‘maps’ of reality. Having an accurate map is crucial to getting where you need to go. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Communist government made a policy of printing inaccurate maps. They figured accurate maps would help invading armies. A person trying to navigate by a Soviet map would see on the map that a certain highway went straight to his destination. But as he was driving along, he would find that it actually ended suddenly in a cornfield. What if you were trying to pass through a piece of ground that has been planted with landmines? Trial and error would not be a good strategy. An accurate map becomes essential under such circumstances. Life presents us with constant choices. Some of the choices we make might be disastrous, but we may not find out until years later. When radium was first discovered no one knew it could cause cancer.

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Marie Curie, who discovered it, handled it constantly. More than thirty years after she won the Nobel Prize for physics, she died from leukemia, “exhausted and almost blinded, her fingers burnt and stigmatized by ‘her’ dear radium.” Without an accurate ‘map’, a person may make some choices that he will only realize were wrong after he dies. At that point it is too late. So how does one figure out which map is accurate and which is not? There are some objective criteria for doing so. The first place to look is the scripture of each religion. Criteria for Judging Scripture:

• Has it been accurately preserved? • Is it free of internal contradictions? • When it speaks about the past, is it accurate or mistaken? • When it speaks about scientific realities, is it accurate or mistaken? • When it predicts the future, was it accurate or mistaken? • Are its teachings about God clear or garbled? • Does it give us a clear understanding of the purpose of life? • Do its laws promote human well-being? • Are its laws realistic, or do they demand that people act in ways that go

against the grain of human nature?

We should also look at the life of the religion’s founder:

• How much did he live by his own teachings? • What kind of a model did he present for his followers?

While all religions pass some of these tests, no other religion passes all of them as well as Islam does. Shaykh Mahmood al-Zayn’s Thought Problem: He wrote:

A common opinion heard these days among the masses is that the miraculous nature of the Qur’an is something that only specialized scholars can appreciate. This opinion is incorrect, for some aspects of the Qur’an’s miraculous nature can be understood by every person, while others can only be appreciated by scholars, and certain aspects can only be appreciated by the most proficient scholars. The aspect that all people can appreciate is mentioned in the Qur’an itself, in the statement of Allah, the Exalted:

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Will they not then ponder on the Qur’an? If it had been from other than Allah they would have found in it much inconsistency.1 That is, some parts of it would contradict each other, some parts would be deficient, some parts would be inaccurate, and some parts would be weak. If any of that were present, it would disprove the claim that it is miraculous, whatever else was found in it to be correct, for it is impossible that Allah would make any mistake. So if any book is found to be error free, it would be indisputable proof that it is from God, Who is perfect and free from all defects, and it is impossible that anyone except Allah would be free from error, unless Allah Himself protected him. The meaning of error whose presence the Qur’an denies is real error, not matters of dispute between people of intellect, which some see as error and others see as correct, each according to his understanding and knowledge. If this type was admissible as evidence, the enemies [of Islam] could present the most dubious arguments and tricks as proof of the presence of error and refuse every valid item of evidence, based upon this methodology. To properly appreciate the fact that the absence of error is miraculous, we need to take a look at the reality of writing and publishing in any branch of knowledge. No one publishes a book without someone else finding an error in it. In fact, the author himself frequently finds errors when reviewing his own book, especially if he does so after an interval during which his knowledge has matured and he has reconsidered his earlier views on the subject. If there were any errors in the Qur’an, people would have discovered them, particularly Islam’s opponents, who contrive charges against it, for if they found any real errors they would not have to resort to invention. The following example will make it clear that anyone who ponders upon it can appreciate the Qur’an’s miraculous nature. Let us suppose that a book exists which concentrates on one aspect of one branch of knowledge, ophthalmology, for instance, which is an empirical science. Let us suppose that every professor of ophthalmology in the world participated in composing this book and checking it for errors. Is it possible for this book to contain an error? Scientists themselves will readily admit that this is not farfetched at all. But let us suppose that they denied the possibility of any error or claimed that if there were any error that it would be extremely minor, not exceeding one ten-thousandth of the whole.

1 Soorah an-Nisaa (4):82.

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The Impact Of Time Upon The Information In The

Book:

But if we were to repeat the question to the same specialists after ten years, in the light of recent developments in knowledge–especially in our era, in which the results of new research are constantly overturning the accepted conclusions of previous research–would they continue to deny the possibility of error? Or would they maintain that the proportion of error was only one in ten thousand? A fair-minded person would say, “No.” If the question were put to experts after a hundred years, we would find them saying that the presence of mistakes is an absolute certainty. Now, what would they say if we asked them to review the book a thousand years later? I once asked a doctor this question, to which he replied, “The development of medical knowledge over a thousand years would have to reveal that most of the original book was error.”

The Impact of Varied Subjects on the Possibility

of Error in the Book

In our example, we supposed that the book was about one field of knowledge, medicine, and one specialty in that field, i.e., ophthalmology, which would reduce the possibility of error. Wouldn’t the possibility of error increase if we supposed that the book also dealt with other specialties with a bearing on ophthalmology, such as diseases of the brain, nerves and blood system, or surgery, or general health and nutrition? We would say so, even if we maintained the same criterion, that all the leading experts in those related fields participated in the composition and checking of the book. The proportion of error in the new book would increase, even if the increase is not large. However, if we expanded the scope of the book to include all aspects of physical and mental health, the proportion of error would grow quite large. Now if we added other sciences which supplement and support this topic, such as pharmacology, chemistry, laboratory analysis, biology and botany, medical technology, such as surgical instruments, imaging devices and analytic tools, the proportion of error would increase with every increase in the number of specializations and fields of knowledge. And the certainty would surely increase with the passage of a thousand years, as we previously established.

The Impact of a Single Author on the Possibility

of Error in the Book

So far we have considered the effect that a lengthy passage of time would have on revealing the errors of the book in question. Then we

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considered the effect of an increase in the number of specialized branches of knowledge discussed in the book. Both considerations increase the possibility and proportion of error, and make it more certain. Now let us consider the number of authors cooperating to produce the work. We originally supposed that all the authorities in that field in the world consulted together. Would you expect the proportion of error to increase if we only had half the specialists for each field participating in our project? No doubt, this decrease in the number of participating specialists would increase the proportion of error. If we suppose that only five such scholars cooperated to produce the work, the proportion would be large. Now, if we suppose that there was only one author and no one helped him, the proportion, possibility and certainty of error would increase, especially bearing in mind the great passage of time and the variety of specialized subjects discussed in the book, no matter how learned the author is.

The Impact of the Author’s Level of Education on

the Possibility of Error in the Book

What is more important than all of the previous considerations is the level of knowledge of the author. What percentage of error would be found in a book that discusses a great variety of subjects a thousand years after its initial appearance, when the author had no help from anyone, and when the formal educational attainments of the author are insignificant? Let’s say that the author was a qualified doctor, but he was not on the level of a professor of medicine. No doubt, his errors would exceed those of a qualified professor, for the level of knowledge possessed by an author is the most important factor in determining the quality of his work. The errors would increase still further if the author was not a doctor, but only a nurse. The number and seriousness of the errors would become horrendous if the author had only completed elementary school. What would be the condition of the book if the author was illiterate and composed the book by dictating it to some of his companions? This example makes clear to us the status of the Qur’an as well as the status of the one who presented it to humanity and called them to believe in it. He was the unlettered prophet, completely illiterate, raised in a city of illiterates that was part of an illiterate nation. Yet he brought this Qur’an, which encompasses the knowledge of Islamic belief with all its details, along with knowledge of comparative religion, comparing the beliefs of various religions with mention of the relevant evidence, contending with its opponents with arguments and evidence.

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It also contains the fundamentals of legislation from all its aspects: the various types of worship, along with their goals and effects; the laws governing family life, laws regulating economic affairs, criminal law, military law, international relations. It also contains the principles of litigation, such as witnesses, confession, rules of evidence, etc. It also contains an entire system of morality for humanity, highlighting the most important ethical issues. It also contains a summary history of mankind’s presence [on this planet] highlighting its most important stages. It also contains a summary of the history of religions and the distortions that befell them. It also contains critical principles of human psychology, sociology and a selection of comments on matters related to medicine and the natural sciences. All of this is presented in a manner that not only imparts education but develops the personality, leaving a deep impact on the soul through an exquisite use of language, which is a separate miracle, independent of our current topic.

Some Examples of Accuracy of Information in the Qur’aan

Scientific facts: Some things established by science are incontrovertible [Ar. qat'ee] while some things are conjecture [thannee]. The following are some qat'ee conclusions of modern science compared with Qur’anic statements about the same phenomona.

The Earth is a sphere rotating on its axis

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He wraps the Night over the Day, and wraps the Day over the Night. (39:5) The verb "yukawwir" is also used for wrapping a turban, which is wrapped by winding it around the head. 'so the verse gives a sense of the night and day being wrapped around each other on a sphere. If we add this image to the information provided by two other verses the image becomes clearer still:

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He draws the night as a veil over the day, each seeking the other in rapid succession. (7: 54)

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Allaah swears “by the Night when it 'as'asa.” (81:17)

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'As'asa is an interesting verb because it has two opposite meanings. The verse could be translated "by the Night when it approaches," or "by the Night when it goes away." The interesting thing about the physical reality of the night is that it is always withdrawing from one part of the earth as it approaches another part.

The universe is expanding

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We have built the heaven with might, and We [continue to] expand it. (51:47)

There is a barrier between seas

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He has loosed the two seas. They meet. There is a barrier between them. They encroach not (one upon the other). (55:19-20)

The earth’s crust is splitting, due to the movement of tectonic plates

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And by the earth which splits (86:12)

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Oh, but I call to witness the planets that recede; Those that run [their courses] and disappear [i.e. set]—… (Takweer 15-16)

to sweep : كنس يكنس

a broom : مكنسة

trash : كناسة

سكنا : a lair of a wild animal, especially gazelles and wild cows, in a thicket, where it

hides from the heat; so-called because the animal brushes away the sand to uncover the moist earth

an animal hides in its lair : كنس يكنس

It refers to the disappearance of the stars by day, as if hiding in the light of the sun. An interesting variant explanation: big planets like Jupiter sweep the debris of the solar system, asteroids and the like, confining them in the asteroid belt. Without Jupiter’s restraining influence the Earth would be unlivable, due to the constant rain of meteors. One current theory is that Jupiter actually “swept” a huge number of comets into the Earth’s path very early in its history, which was the source of all the water now on Earth.

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The examples are too many to go into in any detail here. Historical facts:

The Qur’an—in contrast to the Old Testament—does not call the ruler of Egypt at the time of Yoosuf by the title ‘Pharoaoh’. ‘Pharoaoh’ was a title for the Egyptian rulers that was adopted after the Egyptians overthrew the Hyksos invaders who ruled Egypt at the time that Yoosuf entered it. If the Qur’an was a mere imitation of the Old Testament, why didn’t it copy its mistakes?

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54 And the king said, “Bring him to me…”

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He could not have taken his brother according to the king’s law unless Allah willed. (12:76) Predictions of the future

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The Romans have been defeated In the nearer land, and they, after their defeat will be victorious Within ten years (30:2-4)

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Allah has fulfilled the vision for His Messenger in very truth. You will indeed enter the Inviolable Place of Worship, if Allah will, secure, (having your hair) shaven and cut, not fearing. But He knows what you know not, and has given you a near victory beforehand. (48:27)

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Indeed, We, even We, have revealed the Reminder, and indeed, We verily are its Guardian. (15:9)

Material means for preservation of the Qur’an were seriously lacking. The Arabs were

an illiterate culture. They had no paper, no papyrus, no clay tablets. But despite that it was authentically preserved, due to the efforts of hundreds of the Sahaabah to

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memorize it and the recording of it on whatever was available during the lifetime of the Prophet ρ. Then Aboo Bakr and 'Uthmaan collected these scattered records and made authoritative copies. Other factors that helped preserve it were the sciences of writing

the mus-haf, Qiraa’aat, Tajweed, and the intensive efforts to codify the rules of Arabic

Grammar (Nahw) and etymology (Sarf), and the science of Tafseer.

Lack of contradiction

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82 ( Will they not then ponder on the Qur’an? If it had been from other than Allah they would have found in it much inconsistency [ikhtilaaf]. (4:82) Some critics objected that the word ikhtilaaf (inconsistency) is found more than once in the Qur’an. They said if the verse was accurate it should appear only once. For instance:

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190 ( Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and (in) the difference of night and day are tokens (of His Sovereignty) for men of understanding… (3:190) Answer: It appears in 4:82 with an additional alif because it is in the accusative case. All other places it appears without the alif. If one wants to nitpick on the basis of outer form, then the criticism is invalidated by the difference in outer form.

Critics claim to have found inconsistency in the verses about inheritance:

“Allah directs you as regards your children's (inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females: if only daughters, two or more, their share is two-thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is a half. For parents, a sixth share of the inheritance to each, if the deceased left children. If there are no children, and the parents are the (only) heirs, the mother has a third; (but) if the deceased left brothers (or sisters) the mother has a sixth. (The distribution in all cases is) after the payment of legacies and debts. You don’t know whether your parents or your children are nearest to you in benefit. These are settled portions ordained by Allah; and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (11) In what your wives leave, your share is a half, if they leave no child; but if they leave a child, you get a fourth; after payment of legacies and debts. In what you leave, their share is a fourth, if you leave no child; but if you leave a child, they get an eighth; after payment of legacies and debts. If the [deceased] man or

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woman left neither parents2 nor descendants, but has left a brother or a sister, each one of the two gets a sixth; but if there are more than two, they share in a third; after payment of legacies and debts; so that no loss is caused (to anyone). Thus is it ordained by Allah; and Allah is All-Knowing, Most Forbearing.” (12) Soorah an-Nisaa (4:11-2) “They ask you for a legal decision. Say: Allah directs (thus) about those who leave no descendants or ascendants as heirs. If it is a man that dies, leaving a sister but no child, she shall have half the inheritance. If (the deceased was) a woman who left no child, her brother takes her inheritance. If there are two sisters, they shall have two-thirds of the inheritance (between them): if there are brothers and sisters, (they share), the male having twice the share of the female. Thus Allah makes clear to you (His law), lest you err. And Allah has knowledge of all things.” (4:176) Note: The brothers and sisters mentioned in 4:12 are related to the deceased through the mother only. Their fathers are different. The brothers and sisters mentioned in 4:176 are related to the deceased through the father. They may or may not have the same mother. Critics say, “It just doesn’t add up: If the deceased left a husband and two paternal sisters, the inheritance would be as follows, based on verses 4:12 and 4:176:

Heir Share Equivalent in twelfths

Husband 1/2 6/12

2 Sisters 2/3 8/12

Total 14/12

Obviously, the number of shares is greater than the inheritance. A: Muslims first became aware of this problem during the caliphate of 'Umar, the second ruler of the Muslims after the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). It had not arisen during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad because of the following principle: Ibn 'Abbaas narrated that Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) said, “Distribute the property among those given prescribed shares according to the Book of Allah, and what is left goes to the nearest male heir.”3

That means that if the deceased left a son the inheritance will always come out evenly. In such a situation, the daughters do not inherit by fixed share. The sons and

5 ‘Parents’ includes grandparents, etc. The term “ascendants” is more precise, but some readers may not be familiar with it, so I used ‘parents’ instead. 3 This is perhaps the single most important hadeeth on the issue of inheritance, as the prescribed shares mentioned in the Qur’aan rarely consume the entire estate. The Qur’aan, in verse 11 of Soorah an-Nisaa, makes allusions to the rule declared in this hadeeth, but the hadeeth makes it explicit.

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daughters inherit what is left of the inheritance, with each male getting twice the share of his sister. The presence of children means that the surviving spouse would get either a quarter or an eighth share, and each parent will get a sixth. Brothers and sisters will not get a share at all if there are surviving children or parents. Thus, if there is a surviving son, the maximum number of shares by fixed inheritance will be 7/12. The children will divide the remainder. The Muslims suffered no crisis of faith over this problem. That was because they understood that the nature of the Qur’an is to lay down broad principles. Further details are found in the Sunnah, the statements and actions of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). They understood that even the Sunnah will not give an explicit ruling on every situation encountered in life. The Muslims will always encounter real-life situations that will require scholars to make ijtihaad. Ijtihaad is the exertion of effort by a qualified scholar to determine the rule of Allah concerning a given problem. The vast majority of scholars among the Prophet’s Companions solved the problem of the husband and two sisters in the same way: Instead of dividing the inheritance into twelve shares, they divided it into fourteen shares. The husband would get 6/14ths and each sister would get

4/14ths. This methodology became a matter of consensus among Muslim scholars. As Muslim scholars made systematic analysis of the mathematical possibilities inherent in the field of inheritance, they discovered that there are eight ways for the number of shares to exceed the inheritance. When the denominator of the shares is 6, an excess of shares may cause it to shift to 7, 8, 9 or 10. When the denominator is 12, an excess of shares may cause it to shift to 13, 15 or 17. When the denominator is 24, an excess of shares will cause it to shift to 27. For the Qur’an to enumerate all of these variations would make for mind-numbing reading. Once again, it is not the nature of the Qur’an to cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i.’ It is a book of general guidance. Having identified the basic share for those who receive fixed inheritance, the Qur’an trusted that human beings would have the intelligence to work out the necessary adjustments, should the need arise. The fact that the solution became a matter of consensus among Muslim scholars indicates that it is the obvious extrapolation of the text.4

AntiAntiAntiAnti----Islamic claim:Islamic claim:Islamic claim:Islamic claim: Was Jonah cast on the desert shore or was he not? (37:145-146) "But We cast him forth on the naked shore in a state of sickness, and We caused to grow, over him, a spreading plant of the gourd variety,"

7 The information on inheritance came from the book, “At-Tahqeeqaat al-Mardiyyah fil-Mabaahith al-Fardiyyah,” by Saalih ibn Fawzaan ibn 'Abdullaah al-Fawzaan, Madeenah: The Islamic University of Madeenah, 1990 CE/1410 AH, pp. 161-6.

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(68:49) "Had not Grace from his Lord reached him, he would indeed have been cast off on the naked shore in disgrace."

Muslim Response: What is affirmed in verse 37:145 is not the same thing that is denied in verse 68:49. Yes, he was cast on the shore, but he was not in a state of disgrace when that happened, because he had prayed in the belly of the whale: “There is no God but You. Be You glorified! Indeed, I have been a wrong-doer.” Then we heard his prayer and saved him from the anguish. Thus we save believers. (21:87-8)

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And We did not create the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, in play. (Dukhaan 44:38)

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vain. (Saad 38:27)

1. What will be the food for the people in Hell?

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But as for him who is given his record in his left hand, he will say, “Oh, would that I had not been given my book” ��Nor hath he any food except the corruption from the washing of wounds, Which none but sinners eat. (69:36) 88:6 mentions no food except Dhari while 69:36 mentions no food except washing of wounds. Muhammad al-Ameen al-Shinqeetee summarized the response of scholars to this apparent contradiction in two basic answers: The first is that the punishments of hell will vary according to the various categories of its inmates; so for some their only food will be daree‘, while for others it will be ghisleen (69:36), and for others still it will be zaqqoom (44:43).

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Support for that interpretation is found in 15:43-44:

¨βÎ) uρ tΛ ©yγy_ öΝ èδ ߉Ïã öθyϑ s9 tÏèuΗ ød r& ∩⊆⊂∪ $oλm; èπyèö7 y™ 5>≡uθö/ r& Èe≅ ä3Ïj9 5>$t/ öΝ åκ÷] ÏiΒ Ö÷“ ã_ ìΘθÝ¡ø) ¨Β ∩⊆⊆∪ ⟨

“And indeed, for all such, hell will be the promised place. It has seven gates, and each gate has an appointed portion.” The second answer is that in reality they will have no food at all, for neither daree‘ nor ghisleen nor zaqqoom can rightfully be called food. This is similar to an Arabic expression, “So-and-so has no shade but the sun, and no daabbah but the daabbah of his clothes.” This is a play on words, for the word daabbah originally referred to any creature with legs, but it came to be used primarily for a riding animal, like a horse or camel. The first use of daabbah in this saying negates possession of a riding animal, while “the daabbah of his clothes” refers to lice. In other words, he has no shade at all and nothing at all to ride. At first appearance, the grammatical construction seems to make an exception from the negation; but, in fact, the exception is used rhetorically to emphasize negation. [See Daf‘ eehaam al-idtiraab ‘an aayaat al-kitaab, Cairo: Maktabat Ibn Taymiyyah, n.d., 300-301] 2. To Intercede or Not To Intercede? O Children of Israel! call to mind the (special) favour which I bestowed upon you, and that I preferred you to all other (for My Message). Then guard yourselves against a day when one soul shall not avail another nor shall intercession be accepted for her, nor shall compensation be taken from her, nor shall anyone be helped (from outside). (2:47-28) O Children of Israel! call to mind the special favour which I bestowed upon you, and that I preferred you to all others (for My Message). Then guard yourselves against a Day when one soul shall not avail another, nor shall compensation be accepted from her nor shall intercession profit her nor shall anyone be helped (from outside). (2:123-124) O you who believe! spend out of what We have given you before the day comes in which there is no bargaining, neither any friendship nor intercession, and the unbelievers - they are the unjust. (2:254) ONE SOUL" not availing another naturally includes every human being. In addition verses 2:254 & 6:51 addresses the believers as well. However other verses state that intercession would be accepted; Allah! There is no god but He, the Living, the Self-subsisting, Eternal. No

14

slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory). (2:255) Verily your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and is firmly established on the throne (of authority), regulating and governing all things. No intercessor (can plead with Him) except after His leave (hath been obtained). This is Allah your Lord; Him therefore serve ye: will ye not receive admonition? (10:3) On the day when We shall gather the righteous unto the Beneficent, a goodly company. And drive the guilty unto hell, a weary herd, They will have no power of intercession, save him who hath made a covenant with his Lord. (19:85-87) On that Day shall no intercession avail except for those for whom permission has been granted by (Allah) Most Gracious and whose word is acceptable to Him. ( 20:109) The first set of verses you quoted were used by the Mu‘tazilah to negate intercession altogether. The Sunnis reconciled the two sets of verses by calling attention to a fundamental feature of the Arabic language known as “al-‘aamm wal-khaass” (the general and specific). There are some general expressions which are intended to be entirely general, such as, “Allah has knowledge of all things.” However, there are certain passages in which, for rhetorical reasons, general wordings are used by a speaker without intending the all-encompassing meaning they would normally indicate; for instance, in the Qur’an: “And when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said, ‘This is a cloud bringing us rain!’ Rather, it is that for which you were impatient: a wind wherein is painful punishment, destroying everything by command of its Lord. And they became so that nothing was seen [of them] except their dwellings.” (46:24-25) Obviously, the wind didn’t destroy their dwellings, since they were seen the next day; so the use of the general wording was hyperbolic, to give a vivid impression of the wind’s devastating effects upon the tribe of ‘Aad. The specification of the general can occur by an indicator in the same text, or it may come in a different text entirely, and that is a very common feature of the Sharee‘ah texts. The use of general negation with regard to intercession in the first set of texts is to dispel the misimpression that intercession in the hereafter works in a way similar to intercession in this life. If a seeker of intercession in this life can find someone powerful enough to do the interceding for him, the third party has no choice but to accept the intercession.

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If he doesn’t, the interceder has the power to harm him in some way. Intercession in the hereafter is not like that, because Allah only accepts intercession from whom He chooses, and He only accepts it on behalf of whom He chooses. Therefore, Allah uses intercession to highlight His favor upon both the interceder and the one for whom intercession is made. In other words, those individuals for whom Allah accepts the intercession of the Prophet (pbuh) or some other interceder are individuals whom Allah had already decided to forgive. In one hadeeth, the Prophet (pbuh) warned people about misappropriating booty from the spoils of war, “Don’t let me find any of you coming on the Day of Judgment with a grunting camel mounted on his neck, and him saying, ‘Messenger of Allah! Help me!’ for I will say, ‘I can do nothing for you; I already conveyed [the warning] to you.’ Don’t let me find any of you coming on the Day of Judgment with a whinnying horse mounted on his neck, and him saying, ‘Messenger of Allah! Help me!’ for I will say, ‘I can do nothing for you; I already conveyed [the warning] to you.’ Don’t let me find any of you coming on the Day of Judgment with a bleating sheep mounted on his neck, and him saying, ‘Messenger of Allah! Help me!’ for I will say, ‘I can do nothing for you; I already conveyed [the warning] to you.’ Don’t let me find any of you on the Day of Judgment carrying a screaming person on his shoulders and him saying, ‘Messenger of Allah! Help me!’ for I will say, ‘I can do nothing for you; I already conveyed [the warning] to you.’ Don’t let me find any of you coming on the Day of Judgment with a fluttering cloth around his neck, saying, ‘Messenger of Allah! Help me!’ for I will say, ‘I can do nothing for you; I already conveyed [the warning] to you.’ Don’t let me find any of you coming on the Day of Judgment with gold and silver on his neck, saying, ‘Messenger of Allah! Help me!’ for I will say, ‘I can do nothing for you; I already conveyed [the warning] to you.’” [Sahih Muslim, Siddiqi trans. no. 4505] The hadeeth may appear on its surface to negate the possibility of the Prophet (pbuh) interceding for those persons, but other hadeeths indicate that he will intercede for people who did worse than that. Therefore the point of the hadeeth is to remove complacency, the attitude that “I can do whatever I want, because I have a Get-out-of- jail-free card.” That is the same intent behind the first set of verses. And if you examine the reality of religious sensibilities, you find this attitude to be widespread, amongst Jews, Christians and Muslims. I had a friend who became a Muslim while serving in the US Army. His conversion was preceded by an intense investigation of different religions and a wide array of Christian denominations and sects. He mentioned one of his fellow soldiers to me, a born-again Christian, who would actually sit there and recount his various perverse acts performed after he had “accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior” as proof of God’s grace, that, despite all of his nasty behavior, he was going to go straight to heaven. The same attitude was prevalent among the Jews. The whole context of the passages you cited is to warn the Jews against complacency and being deluded by the fact that Allah chose them from the rest of humanity. After confirming that they were chosen, Allah brings the warning. 3. One Creator or many?

16

23:14 "Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a (foetus) lump; then we made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh; then we developed out of it another creature.

x8u‘$t7 tFsù ª!$# ß|¡ômr& tÉ) Î=≈ sƒø: $# ∩⊇⊆∪ ⟨

So blessed be Allah, the best to create!"

Best of Creators implies that there are other creators as well. Like Human beings creating cars, computers etc. However, verse 39:62 states that Allah is

the creator of all things.

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(39:62) "Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian and Disposer of all affairs." The verb khalaqa is sometimes used to mean fashion or shape, as in 5:110, in which Allah addresses Jesus, reminding him of His favors upon him:

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“…and [remember] how you did shape (takhluq) from clay [what was] like the form of a bird by My permission, and did blow upon it, and it became a bird by My permission…” So human beings have the ability to make things, in the sense of shaping, molding and assembling. Obviously, if taken in that sense, Allah’s creative abilities outstrip that of any human ‘creator’, for Allah creates out of nothing, whereas humans refashion and recombine what is already existent; no human can match the precision of Allah’s creation; and no human can bring an inanimate form to life. (Jesus and Abraham didn’t actually do so; Allah did it, being the actual cause of the manifest effect.) The simultaneous affirmation of human ability to create while attributing creation ultimately to Allah is manifest in 37:95-96, when Prophet Abraham challenges his people,

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A different explanation has been offered for 37:125 "'Will ye call upon Baal and forsake the Best of Creators,'" The mention of creators here could be an example of accepting an opponent’s position temporarily for the sake of argument. In other words, Elias is addressing these people based upon their belief; although they believed in a multiplicity of gods with creative powers, they still acknowledged Allah

17

as the Supreme Being and ultimate creator. That is similar to the admission of the pagan Arabs:

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“And if you should ask them, ‘Who has created the heavens and the earth?’ they would surely say, ‘They were created by the Exalted in Might, the Knowing.’” (43:9) A similar use of temporary acceptance of an opponent’s position can be found in Abraham’s statements in Soorah al-An‘aam: “So when the night covered him [with darkness], he saw a star. He said, ‘This is my lord.’ But when it set, he said, ‘I love not those that set [i.e. disappear].’ “And when he saw the moon rising, he said, ‘This is my lord.’ But when it set, he said, ‘Unless my Lord guides me, I will surely be among the people gone astray.’ “And when he saw the sun rising, he said, ‘This is my lord; this is greater.’ But when it set, he said, ‘O my people indeed I am free from what you associate with Allah. “Indeed, I have turned my face [i.e. self] toward He who created the heavens and the earth, inclining toward truth, and I am not of those who associate others with Allah.’” (6:76-79) In these verses, beginning from the people’s own assertions, Abraham presents a picture of his dissatisfaction as the only logical conclusion one could reach, in order to show them the futility of their false objects of worship. That this is the correct interpretation of this passage is indicated by 6:83, in which Allah says:

yy yy7777 ùù ùù==== ÏÏ ÏÏ???? uu uuρρρρ !! !!$$$$ uu uuΖΖΖΖ çç ççFFFF ¤¤ ¤¤ffff ãã ããmmmm !! !!$$$$ yy yyγγγγ≈≈≈≈ oo ooΨΨΨΨ øø øøŠŠŠŠ ss ss????#### uu uu zz zzΟΟΟΟŠŠŠŠ ÏÏ ÏÏδδδδ≡≡≡≡ tt tt���� öö öö//// ÎÎ ÎÎ)))) 44 44’’’’ nn nn???? tt ttãããã ÏÏ Ïϵµµµ ÏÏ ÏÏΒΒΒΒ öö ööθθθθ ss ss%%%% ⟨⟨⟨⟨ “And that was Our [conclusive] argument which We gave Abraham against his people.” C.f. Fakhr al-Raazee, Mafaatih al-Ghaib, and Muhammad al-Ameen ibn ‘Abdillaah al-Uramee al-Hararee, Hadaa’iq al-Rooh wa al-Rayhaan, (Beirut: Dar Tooq al-Najaah, 2001, 19:27.) And Allah knows best.

The Authenticity Of The Qur’an’s Preservation.

The Qur’an reached us by a process of transmission called tawaatur. A report

of that nature is called mutawaatir.

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Definition of mutawaatir: A report based on sensory perception conveyed by so many people at every stage of the process of transmission that it is impossible they could have conspired to tell a lie.

Masrooq narrated, “We used to go to 'Abdullaah ibn 'Amr and talk to him. One day we mentioned 'Abdullaah ibn Mas'ood. He said, “You mentioned a man I have never stopped loving since I heard Allaah’s Messenger (ρ) say, ‘Learn the Qur’an from four persons: Ibn Umm 'Abd [i.e. 'Abdullaah ibn Mas'ood]’—he started with him5—‘and Mu'aath ibn Jabal,6 Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Saalim, the freed slave of Aboo Huthayfah.’”7

Anas mentioned that four persons memorized the whole Qur’an during the

lifetime of Allaah’s Messenger (ρ), all of them from the Ansaar: Mu'aath ibn Jabal, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, Zayd ibn Thaabit and Aboo Zayd.8

Anas’ hadeeth has been misunderstood by some to limit the number of

memorizers to these four. This can’t be right because narration no. 6024 mentions the names of a number of the Muhaajiroon as well. And there is evidence of others having memorized the whole Qur’an too. Aboo Bakr was chosen by the Prophet ρ to lead salaah when he was too sick to do so, and he stipulated that the person who knows the most Qur’an should be the imaam.9

'Abdullaah ibn 'Amr would recite the whole Qur’an in Tahajjud on a weekly

basis.10 Seventy men who had memorized the whole Qur’an died at the ambush of Bi’r Ma'oonah during the Prophet’s lifetime.11 Seventy men who had memorized the whole Qur’an died at the Battle of Yamaamah less than a year after the death of the Prophet (ρ).12

The men Anas mentioned may have been the ones who personally told him

they had done so or the ones who came to his mind when he made the statement; or they were the closest to him or the most famous.13 The number of qurraa exploded during the lifetime of the Sahaabah after the death of the Prophet ρ. When Aboo Moosaa al-Ash'aree was governor of Basrah he collected approximately 300 of its

5 Although he started with him, the Prophet (ρ) mentioned in an authentic hadeeth that Ubayy ibn Ka'b was the best reciter among his Companions. Sunan Ibn-I-Majah, 1:86, no. 154; authenticated in Saheeh al-Jaami' as-Sagheer, 1:216, no. 895. 6 The Prophet (ρ) said about him that he was the most knowledgeable of his followers about what is lawful and unlawful. Saheeh al-Jaami' as-Sagheer, 1:216, no. 895. He reported 156 hadeeths from the Prophet (ρ), of which six were collected by al-Bukhaaree or Muslim. Al-Mufhim, 6:377. 7 Sahih Muslim, no. (6024). [The no. is according to Siddiqi’s English trans.] There were many other Companions who memorized the Qur’aan in the Prophet’s lifetime, but these were among the most accomplished, and they specialized in teaching recitation. 8 Sahih Muslim, no. (6029). 9 Sahih Muslim, nos. 832, 1417, 1420. 10 Sahih Muslim, no. 2587-8. 11 Sahih Muslim, nos. 1437-8. Sahih Al-Bukhari , nos. 947, 1217, 2836, etc. The numbers given for Sahih Al-Bukhari are as per the Harf CD. 12 Sahih Al-Bukhari, no. 4311, 13 Al-Mufhim, 6:379-80.

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men who had memorized the entire Qur’an to give them some advice about the Qur’an.14 That was just one city of many cities of the Islamic lands. Doubts

Orientalists have traditionally focused their attacks on Islam’s textual sources by trying to discredit the hadeeth literature. They could and did question the source of the Qur’an, i.e., was it from God or just a product of Muhammad’s ρ mind? But they found it difficult to challenge the authenticity of the text of the Qur’an insofar as it being the same book taught by Muhammad ρ to his companions. That was because it reached us by tawaatur. No one would question that JFK was assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963. That is because so many people saw it happen and that news was conveyed to so many other people until it reached us that it is not possible that they were all liars or suffering from a delusion. And despite some conspiracy theorists claims to the contrary, the fact that three astronauts from Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969 is also established by tawaatur. Although we were not there in person to see it, and although it is conceivable that it could have been staged in a desert somewhere in the world, there were so many people working for NASA and so many neutral and hostile nations tracking the Apollo spaceship in its way to the moon, the fact that no one of credibility has challenged the official version of this event, should be sufficient to dispel any doubts about it having happened.

A new generation of Orientalists have launched an assault on the authenticity of the Qur’an. The dean of this school is John Wansbrough, formerly of the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.15 “Wansbrough applied an entire arsenal of what he called the "instruments and techniques" of biblical criticism — form criticism, source criticism, redaction criticism, and much more — to the Koranic text. He concluded that the Koran evolved only gradually in the seventh and eighth centuries, during a long period of oral transmission.”16

One of his students was Patricia Crone, currently based at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey. She co-wrote a book called Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World (1977), in which she says: • “There is no hard evidence for the existence of the Koran in any form before the last decade of the seventh century.” • Mecca was not the initial Islamic sanctuary: “[The evidence] points unambiguously to a sanctuary in north-west Arabia ... Mecca was secondary.” • The Arab conquests preceded the institutionalization of Islam. "The Jewish messianic fantasy was enacted in the form of an Arab conquest of the Holy Land.”

14 Sahih Muslim, no. 2286. 15 Wansbrough's two main works -- Quranic Studies: Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation (1977) and The Sectarian Milieu: Content and Composition of Islamic Salvation History (1978). 16 Atlantic Monthly

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• The idea of the hijra, or the migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622, may have evolved long after Muhammad died. "No seventh-century source identifies the Arab era as that of the hijra.” • The term "Muslim" was not commonly used in early Islam ("There is no good reason to suppose that the bearers of this primitive identity called themselves 'Muslims' [but] sources do ... reveal an earlier designation of the community [which] appears in Greek as 'Magaritai' in a papyrus of 642, and in Syriac as 'Mahgre' or 'Mahgraye' from as early as the 640s").

The methodology of such critics is based on a wholesale rejection of Muslim historical sources. Anything the Muslims transmitted is unacceptable to them because they claim that it is all fabrication. A careful study of hadeeth methodology shows us how farfetched that presumption is. The Muslim scholars transmitted all the reports in circulation among them, even reports that posed problems to their tenets. But they established a rigorous methodology for evaluating the accuracy of those reports.

A stir was created a few years ago in Orientalist circles by the discovery of

some ancient scraps of ancient Qur’anic manuscripts in a mosque in Yemen. The Atlantic Monthly relates it thus:

In 1972, during the restoration of the Great Mosque of Sana'a, in Yemen, laborers working in a loft between the structure's inner and outer roofs stumbled across a remarkable gravesite, although they did not realize it at the time. Their ignorance was excusable: mosques do not normally house graves, and this site contained no tombstones, no human remains, no funereal jewelry. It contained nothing more, in fact, than an unappealing mash of old parchment and paper documents — damaged books and individual pages of Arabic text, fused together by centuries of rain and dampness, gnawed into over the years by rats and insects. Intent on completing the task at hand, the laborers gathered up the manuscripts, pressed them into some twenty potato sacks, and set them aside on the staircase of one of the mosque's minarets, where they were locked away — and where they would probably have been forgotten once again, were it not for Qadhi Isma'il al-Akwa', then the president of the Yemeni Antiquities Authority, who realized the potential importance of the find.

Al-Akwa' sought international assistance in examining and preserving the

fragments, and in 1979 managed to interest a visiting German scholar, who in turn persuaded the German government to organize and fund a restoration project. Soon after the project began, it became clear that the hoard was a fabulous example of what is sometimes referred to as a "paper grave" — in this case the resting place for, among other things, tens of thousands of fragments from close to a thousand different parchment codices of the Koran, the Muslim holy scripture. In some pious Muslim circles it is held that worn-out or damaged copies of the Koran must be removed from circulation; hence the idea of a grave, which both preserves the sanctity of the texts being laid to rest and ensures that only complete and unblemished editions of the scripture will be read.

Some of the parchment pages in the Yemeni hoard seemed to date back to the

seventh and eighth centuries A.D., or Islam's first two centuries — they were

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fragments, in other words, of perhaps the oldest Korans in existence. What's more, some of these fragments revealed small but intriguing aberrations from the standard Koranic text. Such aberrations, though not surprising to textual historians, are troublingly at odds with the orthodox Muslim belief that the Koran as it has reached us today is quite simply the perfect, timeless, and unchanging Word of God.

The German who worked on the preservation project said, “So many Muslims

have this belief that everything between the two covers of the Koran is just God's unaltered word. They like to quote the textual work that shows that the Bible has a history and did not fall straight out of the sky, but until now the Koran has been out of this discussion. The only way to break through this wall is to prove that the Koran has a history too. The Sana'a fragments will help us to do this.”

Muslim response:

Nowhere in this entire article or in any of the articles that I have seen about this issue, have they mentioned a single concrete example of a discrepancy. They merely quote one Orientalist after another making statements of opinion without evidence. Then they quote Orientalists with Muslim names to make it sound like these views are shared by Muslims. However, the people they quote, such as Muhammad Arkoun and Nasir Abu Zaid, are the products of Orientalist schools, and some have been declared disbelievers in courts of law. The fact that there are slight textual variants between the six mus-hafs that 'Uthmaan had ordered copied is a fact that has been acknowledged by the Muslim experts in the field down through the ages. You can open virtually any famous tafseer book and find references to the variant recitations for any given verse. But those variants are not contradictory, and in fact expand the meanings.

The fact remains that the Qur’an was memorized and conveyed by too many people to allow for doubt about its authenticity. And if the Qur’an developed over centuries, as Wansbrough claims, how does he explain the behavior of the Islamic sects. It is well known that the Khawaarij were a full-blown sect by the middle of 'Alee’s caliphate, and he died around 40 AH. The ideas of the Shee’ah had already manifested during 'Uthmaan’s caliphate with the preaching of 'Abdullaah ibn Saba’, a Yemeni Jew who accepted Islam in order to subvert it from within.

'Alee ordered him and his followers to be executed when they refuse to retract

their claim that he was God incarnate. The Qadarees, who denied Allah’s predestination of events, had appeared during the lifetime of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, as is clear from the opening hadeeth of Sahih Muslim. Many other sects sprang up to oppose the views of the early sects with their own diametrically opposed views. Many of these sects fabricated hadeeths, but they all referred to the same Qur’an to support their views. That is because they couldn’t hope to get away with fabrications of Qur’an. It was too widely known, and its contents were precisely defined.

There is a report that a Mu'tazilee, who opposed the idea that a human could

hear the speech of Allah, came to a reciter of Qur’an and offered to bribe him if he would change one vowel in verse 164 of Soorah an-Nisaa:

22

zΝ ‾= x.uρ ª!$# 4y›θãΒ $VϑŠÎ= ò6s? ∩⊇∉⊆∪ ⟨

…and Allah spoke directly to Moses…

By changing the dammah on the name of Allah to a fat-hah, the meaning changes to Moses spoke directly to Allah. However, the reciter pointed out to him that even if he changed that, the verse in Soorah al-A’raaf could not be fiddled with in that manner:

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And when Moses came to Our appointed tryst and his Lord had spoken to him, he said, “My Lord! Show me (Your Self), that I may gaze upon You.” (7:143) To return to the topic of the Qur’an’s uniqueness:

It is characterized by great clarity in the world view it presents: Nature of God Nature of human being Nature of kuffaar Nature of hypocrites

The Miraculous Nature of Legislation in the Qur’an Shaykh Mahmood Zayn writes:

The legislative miracle is manifest in the following three matters: 1. the admission of academics throughout the world 2. the admission of legal experts throughout the world 3. the fact that it does not need to be modified, as opposed to all the

other legal systems in the world As for the admission of academics throughout the world regarding it, it

is manifested in all the master’s and PhD theses written about the Islamic

Sharee'ah in universities around the world, not simply in universities of the Islamic world, but also in the universities of the West, a civilization opposed to both the Islamic world and Islam as a religion. The same phenomenon is found in many non-Western countries in the rest of the world. This

admission is of an implicit nature from all these parties, even Islam’s

opponents, that the Islamic Sharee'ah deserves to be studied at the highest levels of academic inquiry. The question arises again: Could an illiterate man from a city of illiterates in an illiterate nation produce such a book?

As for the admission of legal experts throughout the world regarding it,

it is manifested in the resolutions of various international legal conferences:

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a. The conference on comparative law held at the Hague in 1356 AH (August, 1937 CE) approved the following resolution: “The Islamic Sharee'ah is to be recognized as one of the sources of common law.”17

b. The international conference of lawyers held at the Hague from the 15th to the 22nd of August, 1938 approved the following resolution: “In consideration of the Islamic legal code’s flexibility and its importance, the international lawyer’s guild must undertake and encourage comparative studies of this legal system.”18 Of course, the Qur’an is the basis of the entire Islamic legal system.

c. The International Association for Comparative Legal Studies held a conference at the law college of the University of Paris on July 2nd, 1951 entitled “Islamic Law Week.” One of the resolutions they approved was the following: “The principles of Islamic jurisprudence have legal and legislative value that no one can dispute….The conferees would like the Islamic Law Week to continue its activities on an ongoing yearly basis.”19

Is it imaginable that a single person, no matter how learned he was,

could have composed this entire Islamic legal system, which even its opponents have acknowledged in these resolutions? So how about an illiterate man from a city of illiterates in an illiterate nation? Or is it revelation from the Omniscient, the Wise?

As for the fact that it does not need to be modified, as opposed to all the

other legal systems in the world, this is something that any educated person, no matter how simple his educational attainments, can check out. All other legal systems are in need of modifications in accord with changing conditions, changing peoples and changing nations.

An obvious example of this is Roman law, which the Romans refined

over a period of centuries and which became the source of law for the Western world. It is constantly being modified, so that the difference between the present legal systems and their source is huge, just as there are major differences between all the current legal systems derived from it. Ongoing modification is a recognized feature of this legal system throughout the world.

However, the Islamic legal system, whose foundations are laid down in

the Qur’an, remained dominant in Islamic societies for thirteen centuries

without need for any modification, except on the basis of principles and rules contained in itself. In such cases the modifications were on the basis of what the scholars discovered in it, not by changes brought to it from outside it, for it itself is not in need of change, despite changing times, peoples and national entities. It has remained as a fount of security and peace for the Muslims except when rulers and judges go against it.

17 Quoted in al-Madkhal al-Fiqhee al-'Aam, by Prof. Mustafaa az-Zarqaa, 1:307, Daar al-Qalam. 18 Ibid. 19 Ibid, 1:23-4.

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The lingering traces of that security can still be found in the Islamic lands even after the rule of Islamic Sharee'ah has been dismantled in them. The extent of security enjoyed by any particular land is in direct proportion to how close its system and the customs of its people are to the Islamic Sharee'ah, and how well they understand its teachings and incorporate them into their behavior and character.

Consider this: All the other legal systems in the world are in need of

constant modification, despite their reliance upon legal studies of various types conducted in their universities, and despite consultations carried out by legal experts in specialized legal panels.

On the other hand, the Islamic legal system doesn’t require any

modification, except by way of its own principles, laws, and axioms; yet this system was brought by an illiterate man from a city of illiterates in an illiterate nation? Is that conceivable unless the one who brought it was a messenger supported and guided by Allah, the Exalted?20

The Literary Style of The Qur’an:

Direct speech: Most people who accept Islam mention that one of the things that struck them was how the Qur’an addresses the reader directly and seems to know your weaknesses. One feels like the prisoner caught by the beam of a searchlight from which there is nowhere to hide.

Looping: The structure of the Qur’an is, no doubt, unusual. The same story may

be repeated twenty or thirty times in different places. Laws regarding divorce and other issues are scattered throughout it in different soorahs. There is something almost like stream of consciousness about it. This has led many to dismiss it as rambling and haphazard. One frequently hears that the soorahs are a hodgepodge of unrelated topics and that the only organizing principle of the soorahs is length, from longest to shortest, and that even that principle is not systematically applied.

However, there are certain clear intellectual benefits to be derived from

pondering the Qur’an’s organization deeply. The fact that the same stories keep coming around points to the cyclical nature of history, that the particular individuals keep changing, but the struggle between those who submit themselves to the will of the Creator and those who rebel against Him is unending. As Aboo Sufyaan said in describing the war between the Prophet ρ and the pagans of Makkah:

الحرب بيننا سجال “The war between us is give and take (a seesaw struggle).”

The presence of laws in a scattered fashion throughout the Qur’an impels the

reader to become a researcher. The Qur’an invites the reader not to merely recite it but

20 Dr. Mahmood Ahmad Zayn, Tayseer al-Bayaan 'an I'jaaz al-Qur’an, Dubai: The Institute for Research in Islamic Studies and Revival of Islamic Heritage, 1423 AH (2002 CE) pp. 17-22.

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to ponder its meanings, as it also invites us to study Allah’s creation. One aspect of research is gathering evidence and a second aspect is systematizing it and analyzing it. The structure of the Qur’an thus trains the reader in observation, the extraction of evidence, synthesis and analysis.

Another important point is that what may at first glance seem to be digressions

are actually relevant. For example, in the middle of a passage about the laws of divorce in Soorah al-Baqarah, we find the following verse:

(#θÝà Ï�≈ym ’ n?tã ÏN≡uθn= ¢Á9 $# Íο4θn= ¢Á9 $# uρ 4‘sÜ ó™âθø9 $# (#θãΒθè% uρ ¬! tÏFÏΨ≈ s% ∩⊄⊂∇∪ ⟨

) 238البقرة ( Be guardians of your prayers, and of the midmost prayer, and stand up with devotion to Allah. (2:238) This is relevant to the issue, because divorce is a process that involves conflict, emotional distress and the temptation to take more than one’s right from the other spouse or harm them to get even for pain inflicted. The only protection against that is taqwaa, God-consciousness, and the most important practice for instilling that is guarding one’s salaah. Likewise, in the middle of a lengthy passage analyzing the Battle of Uhud and the lessons to be learned from that defeat, we find the following verse:

$y㕃r' ‾≈ tƒ šÏ% ©!$# (#θãΨtΒ# u Ÿω (#θè= à2ù' s? (# #θt/ Ìh�9$# $Z�≈ yèôÊr& Zπx� yè≈ ŸÒ•Β ( (#θà) ¨?$# uρ ©!$# öΝ ä3ª= yès9 tβθßsÎ= ø� è? ∩⊇⊂⊃∪ ⟨ ) 130آل عمران (

O you who believe! Devour not usury, doubling and quadrupling (the sum lent). Observe your duty to Allah, that you may be successful. (3:130) This is part of a three-verse digression on the issue of usury. Shaykh 'Atiyyah ibn Saalim, pointed out that there is a direct relevance to the two issues. It takes money to fight a war. The temptation for quick money by any means is something that Muslims must beware of, because it will ultimately be a cause for the loss of Allaah’s help, which will result in defeat in this world and punishment in the hereafter. For a lengthy discussion of Coherence in the Qur’an, see Mustansir Mir’s book of the same title. Inimitability of the Qur'an

I'jaz literally means "the rendering incapable, powerless". Mu'jizah means ‘miracle’. Both terms, i'jaz and mu'jizah come from the same verbal root. The Qur'an is a mu'jizah because it renders human beings helpless of producing the like of it.

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šχ% x. öΝ åκÝÕ÷èt/ <Ù÷èt7 Ï9 #Z�� Îγsß ∩∇∇∪ ⟨ ) سراءw088ا(

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Say: Verily, though mankind and the jinn should assemble to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof though they were helpers one of another.

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óΟ çFΖ ä. tÏ% ω≈ ) 13ھود ( ⟩ ∪⊃⊆∩ ¹|

Or they say, “He has invented it.” Say: Then bring ten soorahs, the like thereof, invented, and call on everyone you can beside Allah, if you are truthful!

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«! $# χ Î) öΝçFΖ ä. tÏ% ω≈|¹ ∩⊄⊂∪ ⟨ ) 23البقرة (

And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our servant (Muhammad), then produce a soorah the like thereof, and call upon your witnesses21 beside Allah if you are truthful. Some scholars said that the miracle of the Qur'an consisted of Allah's turning the competent away from taking up the challenge of imitating it. This process is called sarfah ("turning away"). The implication of sarfah is that the Qur'an otherwise could be imitated. The mainstream scholars rejected sarfah because of four obvious weaknesses: • It contradicts the verse of the Qur'an stating that neither jinn nor human can rival the Qur'an. • It makes a miracle of something other than the Qur'an, i.e., the sarfah, the prohibition from production, and not the Qur'an itself. • It ignores the well-known fact that the Arabs of Muhammad's time had acknowledged the superior quality of speech of the Qur'an;

Ibn 'Abbaas related that al-Waleed ibn Mugheerah came to the Prophet ρ, who recited the Qur’an to him. It seemed to affect him. [He softened to it] Aboo Jahl heard about that and went to his uncle, informing him that his people wanted to collect some money for him. Waleed asked why. He replied, “To give it to you, for you came to Muhammad to hear what he had with him.” He told him, “The Quraysh already know that I am one of the richest among them.” Aboo Jahl said, “Then say something that will convince your people that you object to him.” He responded, “And what will I say? By Allah, There is no man more knowledgeable about poetry than me, no one more knowledgeable about rajz nor qaseedah nor the poetry of the jinn. By Allah, what he says resembles none of that. By Allah, the speech he speaks has a sweetness to it, and it is imbued with elegance. It is fruitful from on top and lushly watered from below. It is elevated and nothing will be over it. It demolishes what is

21 i.e., supporters

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beneath it.” Aboo Jahl said, “Your people will not be satisfied with you until you say something [negative] about it.” He said, “Let me think.” After thinking about it, he said, “This is magic which he receives from someone else.” Upon this the verses were revealed, “Leave Me (to deal) with him whom I created lonely…[And then bestowed upon him ample means, And sons abiding in his presence And made (life) smooth for him. Yet he desires that I should give more. Nay! For indeed, he has been stubborn to Our revelations. On him I will impose a fearful doom. For indeed, he did consider; then he planned — (Self-)destroyed is he, how he planned! Again (self-)destroyed is he, how he planned! —Then he looked, Then he frowned and showed displeasure. Then he turned away in pride And said,

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“This is nothing else than magic from of old. This is nothing else than speech of mortal man.” (Soorah al-Mudath-thir 74:11-25)22 • It asserts that the Arabs were out of their minds. This doctrine, in fact, implies that they could have produced a rival to the Qur'an, but simply decided against doing so. It effectively calls into question either their motives or their sanity.

The challenge of the Qur’an for man to produce its like is not, as some

suppose, merely like the uniqueness of Shakespeare, Shelly, Keats, or Homer. The Qur'an differentiated itself in its very structure. Poetry in Arabic falls into sixteen different "Bihar" (literally "Seas", so called because of the way the poem moves, according to its rhythmic patterns), and other than that they have the speech of soothsayers, rhyming prose (saj'), and normal speech. The Qur’an's form did not fit into any of these categories. It was this that made the Qur’an inimitable, and left the pagan Arabs at a loss as to how they might combat it.

There is also a talk by Christian missionaries that there are grammatical 'errors' in the Qur'an. In retort, it can be mentioned that the Arab contemporaries of Muhammad(P) were most erudite and proficient in the idiosyncrasies of Arabic speech; and hence, if they had found any grammatical 'errors' in the Qur'an, they would have revealed it when Muhammad(P) challenged them with to do so. Therefore, since they did not take up his challenge on this issue, we can rest assured that no such grammatical 'errors' exist in the Qur'an.

22 HK 2:550.