Surah 17. Al-Israa

104Though these words arc apparently addressed by the Holy Prophet, they are in fact meant for the disbelievers who considered the Holy Qur'an to be either the invention of the Holy Prophet himself or of some other man, who secretly taught him the Qur'an. They are being told that this is the Word of Allah, as if to say, "Our Prophet has not fabricated the Qur'an but We have bestowed this on him, and if We take it back from him, the Prophet has no power to invent such a thing nor has any other man the power to help the Prophet to present such a miraculous Book."

105This challenge occurs at several other places in the Qur'an: (II: 23, X: 38-39, XL: 13-14, LII: 33-34). At all these places, this has been cited as an answer to the charge of the disbelievers that Muhammad (Allah's peace be upon him) has himself invented the Qur'an but is presenting it as Allah's Word. Besides this, the same has also been refuted in X: 16: “Say also, “Had not Allah willed that I should recite the Qur'an to you, I could not have recited it to you, nor could I have been able to give you any information about it: already have I lived a lifetime among you before its revelation. Do you not use your common sense?”

Now let us turn to the three arguments contained in these verses as a proof that the Qur'an is the Word of Allah.

(1) The Qur'an is such a miracle in regard to its language, style, arguments, themes, topics, teachings and prophecies that it is beyond any human power to produce the like of it, as if to say, "You say that a man has invented this but We challenge that even the whole of mankind combined cannot produce a Book like this: nay, even if the jinns, whom the mushriks worship as deities and whom this Book openly attacks, should come to the help of the disbelievers, they cannot produce a Book like this to refute this challenge."

(2) As regards the charge that Muhammad (Allah's peace be upon him) has himself invented this Book, the Qur'an refutes their claim, as if to say, "Muhammad is one of you and not a foreigner. He has lived among you for forty years before the revelation of the Qur'an. Did you ever hear words like those of the Qur'an from him even a day before his claim of Prophethood, or did you ever hear him discussing themes and problems contained in the Qur'an? If you consider the matter from this point of view, it will become obvious to you that the sudden change which has come about in the language, ideas, information, style and the way of thinking of Muhammad, could not take place without Divine Guidance."

(3) "Can you not see that after the recital of the Qur'an he does not disappear but lives among you? You hear other things than the Qur'an from him. Do you not notice that the distinction between the two different styles of expression is so obvious that no man can successfully adopt the two styles at one and the same time?" The distinction can also be noticed, even today, between the language of the Qur'an and that of the Traditions of the Holy Prophet. Anyone well-versed in the Arabic language and literature notices the difference which is so marked that one can categorically say that these modes of expression cannot belong to one and the same person. (For further reference please also see E.N. 21 of X 16).