The Word of God

“Say: ‘Surely, if men and jinn were to get together to produce the like of this Qur’ān, they will never be able to produce the like of it, howsoever they might help one another’.”

(Al-Qur’ān – 17:88)

This verse of the Qur’ān establishes the fact that the Qur’ān is the Word of God. The first argument is that the Qur’ān is miraculous in respect of its language, style, manner of argument, content, and the information it provides relating to the realm that lies beyond the ken of sense-perception. The unbelievers had claimed that the Qur’ān had been authored by an individual, but the fact is that even if all human beings and even jinn were to combine their efforts, they would still not be able to produce a Book of the Qur’ān’s magnitude.

Second, it is pointed out that Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) did not emerge on the public scene from nowhere. He had lived for a full 40 years amidst his people. Did the unbelievers ever hear from him anything that would bear the least resemblance to the Qur’ān in style, approach and content? Now, since that was definitely not the case, how could they explain how such a phenomenal change had suddenly come about in the Prophet’s discourse? How was he able to present something as excellent and exalted as the Qur’ān?

The fact that the Qur’ānic verses were so very different in language and style, from his own discourses, even though both were verbalised by him, was and is still evident today.