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WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE QURAN
Humanity has received the Divine guidance only 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 ultimate lost. Similarly the
Christian, 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 Quran 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 efforts 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 made by the followers of the said Prophets. On the contrary,
the last revealed Book, the Quran, is extant is its original form.
Allah Himself guaranteed its preservation and that is why the whole of
the Quran was written during the life time of the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) himself though on separate pieces of palm leaves, parchments,
bones etc.. Moreover, there were tens of thousands of the companions of
the Prophet who memorized the whole Quran and the Prophet himself used
to recite it to the angel Gabriel once a year and twice when he was
about to die. Then the first Caliph Abu Bakr entrusted the collection
of the whole Quran 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 Quran 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 human being:
"O Man! What has
seduced you from your Lord". The practicability of the Quranic
teachings is established by the examples of Muhammad (PBUH) and the
good Muslims throughout the ages. The distinctive approach of the Quran
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
of the Quranic 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 Quran claim something which is humanly impossible. Could any person
of the sixth century C.E. utter such scientific truths as the Quran
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 caliber
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 Quran is the revealed Book of Allah. Without necessarily
agreeing with all what they said, we furnished here some opinions of
important non-Muslim scholars about the Quran. Readers can easily see
how the modern world is coming closer to reality regarding the Quran.
We appeal to all open-minded scholars to study the Quran in the light
of the fore mentioned points. We are sure that any such attempt will
convince the reader that the Quran could never be written by any human
being.
However often we
turn to it (the Quran) 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 a non 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 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 :
Every man'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 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. 526-7
The above
observation makes the hypothesis advanced by those who see Muhammad as
the author of the Quran 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 Quran 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 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 Arabia Koran, I have been at pain 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 masterpiece of mankind.. This very characteristic
feature - ęthat inimitable symphony', as the believing Pickthall
described his Holy Book, ęthe 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 Quran) 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 Muhammds'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 Quranic Revelations 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 Quran and Modern Science, 1981, p. 18.
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Source:
WAMY SERIES On Islam
World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY)
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