The Qur'an: Essential Teachings. Abdur Raheem Kidwai

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alt="image"/> The Qur’ān is the direct Word of God.

       It was sent down piecemeal to Allah’s servant, the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

       The Qur’ān is inimitable.

       No human being, individually or jointly, can produce anything like the Qur’ān.

       Those refusing to accept the above statement as true will be consigned to Hellfire.

      Moreover, the passage vindicates the Oneness and Omnipotence of Allah, the Messengership as well as the humanness of the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and the genuineness of the Qur’ān as the Word of God.

      At the outset, it is declared that the Qur’ān is the direct Word of God. On this count the Qur’ān excels all existing Scriptures. For the latter have been distorted beyond recognition. It is impossible for one to distinguish between their divine and human components. By contrast, the Qur’ān has been preserved in its pristine purity since the day of its revelation up to the present time. It exists word by word exactly as it was sent down by Allah. Another striking feature of the Qur’ān is its gradual revelation, spread over around 23 years, which bears out its uniqueness. For it was sent down as the Book of guidance for an emerging community of believers in seventh-century Arabia. Circumstances changed dramatically during the course of its revelation. The community naturally needed clear instructions at each and every step. That the Qur’ān adequately catered for their ever-changing needs reinforces its divine credentials. For only the Word of God could steer a community in such trying circumstances. Furthermore, that the Qur’ān helped establish the invincible Muslim community and Islamic state and the splendid Islamic civilisation in Arabia during the brief span of only 23 years is another pointer to its miraculous nature. Only Allah’s Book could accomplish all this in such a short time. Such a feat is without a parallel in history.

      The Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), servant of Allah is introduced as its recipient. This point is emphasised with a view to refuting misconceptions about his role in the authorship of the Qur’ān. Being a servant of Allah he regarded it as his greatest privilege to transmit it faithfully to his audience. As an unlettered person, not known for his literary or intellectual prowess in his pre-Prophetic life, he could not be credited with the composition of such a masterpiece as the Qur’ān is. However, blinded by their stubborn opposition to Islam, the unbelieving Arabs rejected the Qur’ān as the product of the Prophet’s mind. In this passage they are asked to see reason and realise that the Prophet being Allah’s obedient servant did not and could not ascribe anything to Allah which was not His. Notwithstanding this weighty argument adduced by the Qur’ān, even present-day detractors of Islam persist in hurling the same silly charge of dubbing the Qur’ān as the work of the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him). It shows their ignorance of the phenomenon of divine revelation and their inability to note the marked distinctions between the human and the divine. In their malicious attempt to divest the Qur’ān of its divine origin, they betray their lack of discernment. A work as perfect as the Qur’ān could not be produced by the human mind.

      Going a step further, the Qur’ān throws out an open challenge, asking the distrustful unbelievers to compose even one sūrah (chapter) like the Qur’ān. They are further told to seek the help of others, including those whom they imagine to be gods, besides Allah, in taking up this challenge. As part of this scintillating challenge the Qur’ān asserts that the unbelievers, both in the present and future, will never achieve any success in this attempt. History testifies that this Qur’ānic challenge has remained unanswered. Man should better realise that the Qur’ān is a miracle and that he is wholly subservient to Allah. Since this is the incontrovertible truth, man should not pursue further the path of falsehood or self-destruction which would land him only in Hellfire. Both the unbelievers and their idols made of stone will be the fuel of Hellfire. It will add to the unbelievers’ anguish to see their idols beside them being roasted in Hellfire.

      This dire warning rests on the premise that the Qur’ān is an unmatchable work. The unbelievers will never be successful in composing anything like the Qur’ān because it is characterised by numerous outstanding features. Of these, the following are worth mentioning:

       Unlike the palpable miracles granted to earlier messengers, which were specific to their time and place, the Qur’ān is timeless, relevant for all mankind until the end of time.

       The Qur’ān is inimitable in terms of its literary, linguistic and rhetorical excellence, a point conceded, in equal measure, by both the seventh-century unbelieving Arabs and twentieth century Orientalists. Since its emergence on the scene, the Qur’ān has all along been the standard in the Arabic language and literature, against which all literary works are measured. In its vocabulary, usage, idiom, figurative language, literary devices, narrative techniques, textual finesse and stylistic features the Qur’ān is a work par excellence. Any human work pales into insignificance in comparison to its literary splendour and majesty.

       Notwithstanding its considerable length, consisting of more than six thousand verses, the Qur’ān stands out for its perfect coherence and cohesion. Unity of thought and singleness of purpose permeate and bind every part of the text. This distinction has never been achieved in any literary work composed by man. Some Qur’ānic scholars have conclusively identified this continuity of thought and thematic unity, featuring as it does like a thread, connecting one verse with the next and one sūrah with the next. Such thematic links appear more pronounced between the concluding part of one sūrah and the opening of the next. In sum, the Qur’ān is thematically an indivisible whole. Its distinct overarching worldview characterises its each and every part. Such amazing unity of thought and dexterity in introducing and developing intertwined themes is unimaginable in any product of the human mind. Moreover, the several layers of meaning as found in the Qur’ān are its other baffling characteristic. Readers of varying mental calibre grasp the meaning and message of the Qur’ān to their utmost satisfaction. Yet on each reading the Qur’ānic text yields new meanings. It would be pointless to look for such valuable elements in any human work.

       The Qur’ān is essentially the Book of guidance. In this respect, once again, it is unique. Contained in it are directives of abiding value both for individuals in their personal lives and for the society and community at large. Its scheme of instruction envisages every conceivable situation in which man might find himself – adversity or prosperity, war or peace, fear or hope, and a minority or majority condition. In all that the Qur’ān relates, especially of the history of earlier communities, the note of guidance for readers is always to the fore. It is to the Qur’ān’s credit that its immediate addressees, the seventh century Arabs notorious for their evil ways and moral and spiritual degeneration, turned into role models of excellent conduct and enviable morals and manners. Their transformation, needless to add, was achieved, thanks only to the guidance imparted to them by the Qur’ān. More strikingly, the Qur’ān has continued to provide the same guidance to billions of people in every age, including our own times. No book can compete in any degree with the Qur’ān in terms of the perfect guidance it embodies for everyone – the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the specialist and

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