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| Introducing the Qur’an’s Literary Excellence |
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Conclusion
The literary devices employed in the Qur'an are not ornamental elements such that they can be dispensed with, they are part and parcel of its meaning and linguistic make up. Without them its meaning and literary excellence is lost.The Quran, like all other great literary masterpieces, stands out because of its use of language to convey meaning. However, the Qur'an has remained in a unique position because of its particular use of literary devices. Irving explains:
"The Qur'an is a magnificent document... because of its matchlessness or inimitability."
The Qur'an reaches, indeed defines, the peak of eloquence in the Arabic language The Qur'an stakes its claim to divine origin on the matter of its language, by issuing a challenge to rival even its shortest chapter. This has rested at the core of many historical studies of the Qur'an, as many have attempted to answer the central question of authorship. For Bucaille,
"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?"
This article serves only as an introduction to the Qur'an's literacy excellence. It intends to provoke further questions and sufficiently stimulate the reader to research further, particularly the question of authorship. At the heart of that question lies only a limited set of possible answers. The Qur'an can only have come from an Arab, a non-Arab, the Prophet Mohammed - if you believe he had a mastery of Arabic better than the Arabs of his time - or, as Muslims suggest, the Creator, which only counts as a possible source if you believe in its existence (that is of course a subject unto itself but an important pre-requisite). Discounting possible authors, Armstrong suggests,
"From the above evidence the Quran is acknowledged to be written with the utmost beauty and purity of Language. It is incontestably the standard of the Arabic tongue, inimitable by any human pen, and because it still exists today, therefore insisted on as a permanent miracle sufficient to convince the world of its divine origin. If the Quran was written by Muhammad, why were not Arab scholars and linguists able to rival the Quran?"
There are however many other questions that relate back to the issue of authorship.To illustrate a vital point; How was it possible for an illiterate man to produce a unique style of the Arabic language and maintain that over a 23 year period, such that it has been collected to form a book, divided into chapters centred around major themes, but yet related to events that happened throughout that period and were specific to it? The following section taken from Draz's book "An Eternal Challenge" probes this point further,
"When we consider carefully the timing of the revelation of the Qur'anic passages and surahs and their arrangement, we are profoundly astonished.We almost belie what we see and hear.We then begin to ask ourselves for an explanation of this highly improbable phenomenon: is it not true that this new passage of revelation has just been heard as new, addressing a particular event which is its only concern? Yet it sounds as though it is neither new nor separate from the rest. It seems as if it has been, along with the rest of the Qur'an, perfectly impressed on this man's mind long before he has recited it to us. It has been fully engraved on his heart before its composition in the words he recites. How else can it unite so perfectly and harmoniously parts and pieces that do not naturally come together?… Is it as result of an experiment that follows a spontaneous thought? That could not be the case. When each part was put in its position, the one who placed them never had a new thought or introduced any modification or re-arrangement. How then could he have determined his plan? And how could he have made his intention so clear in advance?... When we consider such detailed instructions on the arrangement of passages and Surahs we are bound to conclude that there is a complete and detailed plan assigning the position of each passage before they are all revealed. Indeed the arrangement is made before the reasons leading to the revelation of any passage occur, and even before the start of the preliminary causes of such events… Such are the plain facts about the arrangement of the Qur'an as it was revealed in separate verses, passages and surahs over a period of 23 years. What does that tell us about its source?"
After being introduced to the literary excellence of the Qur'anic discourse, it is hoped that the reader will turn to the Qur'an in a
new light, with a fresh perspective and an open mind. It is only through frank and open dialogue that the main authority of Islam, the Qur'an, will be understood and rational arguments for its origin appreciated.To end, Rev. R. Bosworth Smith concludes that the
Qur'an, in his book "Muhammad and Muhammadanism", is:
"…A miracle of purity of style, of wisdom and of truth. It is the one miracle claimed by Muhammad, his standing miracle, and a miracle indeed it is."
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