By: Dr. Meraj Ahmad Meraj

Abstract: The literary inimitability of the Holy Quran and its wisdom, it’s rhythmical and phonetically excellence, in its perfect meanings, in its unmatched literary styles and its perfect grammatical structure has been discussed thorough out the Islamic History. The most important point of Quran’s miracle which means the words and expressions applied in Quran are arranged in a very specific and precise way that any movement changes the meaning. The Quran’s challenges everyone mostly to make only one verse in terms of rhetoric and eloquence like Quran, So far no one has surmounted this challenge. The Quran is neither prose nor poem while majority of the words are either prose or poems. It is not poem on the ground that it doesn’t have the basic elements of rhyme. In addition to rhyme another element of poem is imagination which is not applied in Quran and the words in it are imagination free. The Qur’an indeed contains an ocean of information relating to a wide variety of subjects. They include: religious and moral guidance, lessons from the lives of the peoples of the past, the message of the Prophets and Messengers of Allah, the physical sciences and historical accounts of important events. But all of this is delivered with the most fantastic literary rhythm and excellence. The Qur’an achieved this unique literary form by fusing together metrical and non-metrical speech. This fusion of metrical and non-metrical composition is present throughout the whole of the Qur’an and cannot be found in any Arabic text, past or present. The aim of this paper is to study three basic aspects that have been propounded by scholars including literary, linguistic, and scientific miraculousness. The paper also highlights the literary miracles of the Holy Quran as well as rediscover it uniqueness in modern age. A full understanding of its merit as a literary masterpiece requires a fresh approach to the study of the scriptures that present the literary beauty of the Quran in the most precise and coherent fashion.

Key Words; The Quran, Literary Miracle, Rhymed Prose. Style Variation, Orientalism

1. Introduction: The Holy Qur’an is the preeminent word of the Almighty, inimitable in style and absolute in nature. The Quran was revealed in the 7th century over 23 years of period, but has no contradictions in it. This living miracle book is preserved over 1400 years in the same way as it was reserved without changing a single word. The matchless style of the Quran, its superior wisdom and the miraculous attributes are definite evidence proving that the Quran is the word of Allah. The Quran possesses an inimitable and astounding style from the literary perspective. The apparent unique literary form of the Qur’an is an understandable result of a piece of literature produced over a period of 23 years. The language of the Quran is an entirely unknown and unmatched literary form. The structural features of the Quranic discourse render it unique and not the subjective appreciation of its literary and linguistic makeup. The Qur’an is known as a momentous literary masterpiece of Arabic literature yet its verse was at many times revealed for specific circumstances and events that occurred. However, without revision or deletion they are literary masterpieces. All literary masterpieces have undergone revision and deletion to ensure literary perfection, however the Qur’an was revealed instantaneously. The Noble Qur’an was not granted to any other prophet. Its linguistic superiority, style, clarity of message, strength of argument, quality of rhetoric, and the human inability to match even its shortest chapter till the end of time grants it an exquisite uniqueness. This conviction is as strong for believers of today as it has been for believers of the past. As the tradition of truth is distinguished from falsehood, the authenticity of the Qur’an has been challenged today as it has been in the past. The Quran is the eternal miracle. It is the word of Allah which no human anywhere will ever be able to compose something like it in times to come and everywhere. It continues to be a literary source of such stature that no literary figure has been able to produce anything resembling it. With the passing of time, the Quran is becoming new to newer and every day a new miracle is revealed.
   
2. What is the Qur’an: The word Quran is derived from the root “qara” that means to read, to call, to proclaim, to recite. “Quran” is the Arabic word that means to be read. The first Surah revealed to the Prophet of Islam stars with the command word “read in the name of your Lord who created”. The word “Quran” is a proper noun that means ‘reading or reciting. It is to be noted that at the time of revelation, there was no written text to justify the rendering of “Iqra” as “read”. As used in the Quran itself, the word refers to the revelation from Allah in the broad sense and is not always restricted to the written form in the shape of a book, as we have it today before us today. Thus, the literary meaning of “Quran” would be a proclamation, a charter. In This sense, the Quran can be considered a collection of revealed oral message or divine addresses. As a proper noun The Quran is the collection of Divine messages which were revealed to Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) through “Wahy”. The definition of the Quran is: “That which was revealed to the Apostel Rasul committed to writing in ‘mushaf, and transmitted by many with continuity and without any doubt.”
   
   Allah has revealed the Quran to human beings as a book of guidance. He called upon people to guide to the truth. It is the last divine book to the end of this world. The Quran will remain a sole guide, faith and a methodology of life for humanity. The Quran is not a book of science. The principle goal of this book is to form a righteous man and to establish a virtuous community. It is a miracle in respect of its manner and exposition. It continues to be a literary source of such stature that no literary figure has been able to produce anything resembling it. The holy Quran is a living miracle which can be studied from innumerable points of views and there is no end to this research. With passing of time, the Quran is becoming new to newer and every day a new miracle is revealed.
   
3. What is not the Qur’an: The Quran is not poetry. Acquisition were made during the lifetime of the prophet that it was poetry. The accusation was based on the usage of a particular style employed by the Quran which is very close to Saj’. Apart from the fact that Saj’is not sophisticated as poetry. The accusation was motivated to allege that the message of the Quran was not of Divine origin. They refuted the accusation and said: “This is verily the revealed word of an honored messenger. It is not the word of a poet. Arabic poetry usually dealt with pure fantasy and with matters which hardly had any basis in wisdom. The Quran, on the other hand, is a book of pure wisdom. Furthermore, Poetry usually dealt with ephemeral matters, whereas the Quran emphasizes matters of everlasting values and eternal life. Arabic poetry combined truth and false hood in such a way that it was unable to distinguish between the two, whereas the Quran is an absolute truth. Moreover, poetry was usually an array of words which impressed the listeners with its artistic beauty. The impact of such poetry, however, was only short lived, where as the Quran is devoid of exaggeration and ephemeral matters. In the same way, The Quran has used narration to convey its message of guidance but it is not a book of history. The law of nature referred in the Quran is to point out the garden heaven of the creature, yet the Quran is not a book of science. The Quran is not a book of philosophy; similarly, the Quran has used almost all the figure of speech which is to be found in any literature. Yet the Quran is not a book of literary composition. The Quran is not authored by any human being. It was presented by Prophet of Islam but he himself made it very clear that he was not its author and that Allah had bestowed it through revelation Wahy.
   
4. The Miraculous Qur’an: All kinds of literary forms of human expression can be imitated if the blueprint of that expression exists. Artwork can be imitated even though some art is thought to be extraordinary or amazingly unique. But in the case of the Qur’an, we have the blueprint- the Qur’an itself -yet no one has been able to imitate its unique literary form. It makes the Qur’an a miracle, is that it lies outside the productive capacity of the nature of the Arabic language and literature. The productive capacity of nature is that any grammatically sound expression of the Arabic language will always fall within the known Arabic literary forms of Prose and Poetry. The Qur’an is a miracle as its literary form cannot be explained via the productive capacity of the Arabic language, because all the possible combinations of Arabic words, letters and grammatical rules have been exhausted and yet the Qur’an’s literary form has not been imitated. The Arabs who were known to have been Arab linguists par excellence failed before the challenge of the Qur’an. Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot who was a notable British Orientalist and translator states: “although several attempts have been made to produce a work equal to it as far as elegant writing is concerned, none has yet succeeded.” The Qur’an was revealed over 1430 years ago and the challenge to produce something like the Qur’an has remained still today. Throughout the centuries, thinkers, poets, theologians and literary critics have attempted to challenge the Qur’an. Some of these challengers in the past have included: Musaylamah; Ibn Al-Mukaffa; Yahya ibn Al-Hakam al-Ghazal; Sayyid ‘Ali Muhammad; Bassar ibn Burd. They rationally assessed that if an Arab cannot challenge the Qur’an and nor could a non-Arab, then the only source of the Qur’an is the Creator.
   
   The Qur’an states: “If you are in doubt of what We have revealed to Our Messenger, then produce one chapter like it, call upon all your helpers, besides Allah, if you are truthful.” The miraculous nature of the Quran is attributed to several points. Its words are eloquent and its style is rhetorically elevated. It is easy to recite and it has a touching effect on listener. It takes the heart by thrilling storm. It foretells about future events. It preaches utopian high morals, and it contains scientific facts and all-comprehensive legal rulings that are just and valid for any time and everywhere. Besides, the Quran is free from any contradictions or disagreements. (to be cont.)
   
   References:
   1. Dr. Hasananuddion Ahmed: Introducing the Quran, Good words Book New Delhi, 2004, page. 13
   2. Quran: 69, 40 & 41
   3. Maulana Abul kalam Azad: Tarjaman al- Quran Edited by Syed Abdul Latif Vol, 1 Page, 43
   4. F.F. Arbuthnot. 1885. The Construction of the Bible and the Koran. London, p 5
   5. Quran: 2: 23