Fifth point: The Qur’an’s expressions contain a superiority, power, sublimity, and magnificence. Its fluent, eloquent, and pure composition and word order, as well as eloquent meanings, and original and unique styles, lead to an evident excellence in its explanations. Truly, in all categories of expression and address, its expositions are of the highest degree. For example: The expressions in Surat al-Insan, one of many examples of exhorting and encouraging good deeds, are most pleasing, like the water of a river of Paradise, and as sweet as the fruits of Paradise.

Aimed at deterrence and threat, its explanations at the beginning of Surat al-Ghashiya·produce an effect like lead boiling in misguided people’s ears, fire burning in their brains, Zaqqum scalding their palates, Hellfire assaulting their faces, and a bitter, thorny tree in their stomachs. That Hell, an “official” charged with torturing, tormenting, and demonstrating the Divine Being’s threats, roars and nearly bursts with rage and fury (67:7-8), shows how dreadful and awesome that Being’s powers of deterrence and threat are.

In the category of praise, the Qur’anic explanations in the five surasbeginning with All praise be to God[1] are brilliant like the sun, adorned like stars, majestic like the heavens and Earth, lovely like angels, full of the tenderness and compassion shown to the young in this world, and beautiful like Paradise. As for censure and restraint, consider: Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?·(49: 12). It induces a heart-felt aversion to backbiting, reprimands the backbiter with six degrees of reprimand, and restrains him or her with six degrees of severity.

The initial hamza (in the original Arabic) is interrogative. This sense penetrates the entire sentence like water, so that each word in effect asks: “Do you not have enough intelligence to ask, answer, and discriminate between good and bad, to perceive how abominable this thing is?” Like asks: “Is your heart, with which you love and hate, so corrupted that you love such a repugnant thing?” Any of you asks: “What has happened to your sense of social relationship and civilization, which derive their liveliness from collectivity, that you accept something so poisonous to social life?”

To eat the flesh asks: “What has happened to your sense of humanity, that you tear your friend to pieces with your teeth like a wild animal?” Of his brother asks: “Do you have no human tenderness, no sense of kinship? How can you sink your teeth into an innocent person tied to you by numerous links of brotherhood? Or do you have no intelligence, and so senselessly bite into your own limbs?” Dead asks: “Where is your conscience? Is your nature so corrupt that you can engage in cannibalism although your brother deserves great respect?” Thus slander and backbiting are repugnant to one’s intelligence, heart, humanity, conscience, human nature, and religious and national brotherhood. This verse condemns backbiting in six degrees very concisely, and restrains people from it in six miraculous ways.

As for proving and demonstration, consider the following:

Look, therefore, at the prints of God’s mercy: how He revives Earth after its death. Indeed, He it is Who revives the dead (in the same way), and He is powerful over all things·(30:50). This verse is such a wonderful proof of the Resurrection that no better proof is conceivable.

The annual spring resurrection of countless plants and animals that died during the previous autumn and winter contains uncountable examples of resurrection.[2] The verse states that the One Who does these things can raise the dead with ease after destroying the world. Since it is the stamp of the One of Unity to inscribe on the page of Earth countless species with the Pen of His Power, one within the other without confusion, together with proving Divine Oneness like the sun, the verse shows the Resurrection as evidently as sunrise and sunset. The Qur’an uses how to refer to the way of Resurrection, and describes it in many other suras.

Also, in Sura Qaf (50), the Qur’an proves the Resurrection in a brilliant, beautiful, lovely, and elevated manner of expression. Replying to the unbelievers’ denial that decomposed bones can come to life once again, it declares:

Have they not then observed the sky above them, how We have constructed it and beautified it, and how there are no rifts therein? And Earth We have spread out, and have flung firm hills therein, and have caused every lively kind to grow therein, a sight and a reminder for every penitent servant. And We send down from the sky blessed water whereby We give growth to gardens and the grain of crops, and lofty date-palms with ranged clusters, provision for people; and therewith We revive a dead land. Even so will be the resurrection of the dead. (50:6-11)

Truly, the manner of its exposition flows like water, glitters like stars and, just as dates give to the body, gives pleasure, delight, and nourishment to the heart.

Among the most delightful examples of proof and demonstration is: Ya Sin. By the Wise Qur’an. Certainly you are among those sent (as Messengers of God)·(36:1-3). This oath points out that the proof of Muhammad’s Messengership is so certain and true that an oath can be sworn upon it. In other words: “You are the Messenger, for the Qur’an, the truth and word of God, is in your hand. It contains true wisdom and bears the seal of miraculousness.”

Another concise and miraculous example of this type is: (Humanity) asked: “Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away?” Say: “He will revive them Who built them at the first; He has absolute knowledge of every creation” (36:77-78). As explained elsewhere, one who reassembles a huge, dispersed army in a day can certainly gather, through a trumpet call, a battalion dispersed for rest and then line the soldiers up in their previous positions.[3] ·Not believing this is irrational.

Similarly, an All-Powerful, All-Knowing One can assemble all living beings’ atoms, regardless of their location, by: “Be, and it is”·(2: 117) with perfect orderliness and the balance of wisdom, and make from them bodies having the most delicate senses and keenest faculties. Each spring He creates innumerable army-like animate species on Earth. If He can do this, why do you think He cannot reassemble all of a formerly living entity’s atoms and raise it in a new body through a blow of Israfil’s Trumpet?

As for guidance, the Qur’an is so affective, penetrating, tender, and touching that its verses uplift the spirit with ardor, the heart with delight, the intellect with curiosity, and the eyes with tears. Just one example shows this:

Then your hearts became hardened thereafter and were like stones, or even harder; for there are stones from which rivers come gushing, and others split, so that water issues from them, and others crash down in the fear of God. God is not heedless of the things you do. (2:74)

This verse, addressed to the Children of Israel, means: “Even a hard rock cried tears like a spring from its twelve ‘eyes’ when it saw Moses’ miracle, and yet your eyes remained dry and your hearts hard and unfeeling. What has happened to you?” Since the verse’s meaning was elaborated elsewhere, I will not discuss it here.[4]

As for silencing and overcoming in argument, consider: If you are in doubt concerning what We have sent down on Our servant, then bring a sura like it and call your helpers and witnesses, other than God, if you are truthful (2:23). The verse, directed to humanity and jinn, briefly means:

If you think a human being wrote the Qur’an, let one of your unlettered people, as Muhammad is unlettered, produce something similar. If he cannot, send your most famous writers or scholars. If they cannot, let them work together and call upon all their history, “deities,”·scientists, philosophers, sociologists, theologians, and writers to produce something similar. If they cannot, let them try—leaving aside the miraculous and inimitable aspects of its meaning—to produce a work of equal eloquence in word order and composition.

By: Then bring 10 suras like it, contrived (11:13), the Qur’an means:

What you write does not have to be true. But if you still cannot match the Qur’an’s length, produce only 10 chapters. If you cannot do that, produce only one chapter. If you cannot do that, produce only a short chapter. If you cannot do that—which you cannot—although such inability will put your honor, religion, nationality, lives, and property at risk, you will die humiliated. Moreover, as stated in: Then fear the Fire, whose fuel is people and stones·(2:14), you and your idols will spend eternity in Hell. Having understood your eight degrees of inability, what else can you do but admit eight times that the Qur’an is a miracle?

As for silencing, consider: There cannot be and is no need for any other exposition after that of the Qur’an, as well as:

Therefore remind. By Your Lord’s blessing you are not a soothsayer, neither possessed. Or do they say: “He is a poet for whom we await what fate will bring?” Say: “Wait. I shall be waiting with you.” Or do their intellects bid them to do this? Or are they an insolent, rebellious people? Or do they say: “He has invented it?” Nay, but they do not believe. Then let them bring a discourse like it, if they speak truly. Or were they created out of nothing? Or are they the creators? Or did they create the heavens and Earth? Nay, but they do not have sure belief. Or are your Lord’s treasuries in their keeping? Or are they the watching registrars? Or do they have a ladder whereon they listen? Then let any of them that listened bring a clear authority. Or does He have daughters, and they sons? Or do you ask them for a wage, and so they are weighed down with debt? Or is the Unseen in their keeping, and so they are writing it down? Or do they intend a plot? But those who disbelieve, are they the outwitted? Or have they a god, other than God? Glory be to God, above that which they associate. (52: 29-43)

I will discuss only one of the countless truths found in these verses to show how the Qur’an silences it opponents: Through 15 questions introduced by Or, which express a rejection and impossibility, it silences all opponents, ends all doubt, and makes misguidance impossible. It rends all veils under which they may hide and discloses their fallacies. Each question exposes the fallacy, remains silent where a fallacy is evident, or refutes briefly (and in more detail elsewhere) the unbelievers’ assertion. For example, it refers their assertion that the Prophet is a poet to: We have not taught him poetry; it is not seemly for him (36:69), and their claim in the last section finds its answer in: Were there gods in them (Earth and the heavens) other than God, they would surely go to ruin·(21:22).

In the beginning, it says: “Relay the Divine Commandments. You are not a soothsayer, for their words are confused and consist of conjecture. You speak the truth with absolute certainty and are not possessed. Even your enemies testify to your perfect intellect.” Or do they say: “He is a poet. We will wait to see what happens.” Say to them: “Wait, and I shall also be waiting.” The great and brilliant truths you bring are free of poetic fancy and artificial embellishment.

Or do their intellects bid them to do this? Or, like senseless philosophers, do they consider their own intellects sufficient and so refuse to follow you? Any sound intellect requires following you, for whatever you say is reasonable. However, human intellect is unable to produce a like of it and grasp it by itself. Or are they insolent and rebellious? Or, like rebellious wrongdoers, is their denial due to their non-submission to truth? Everybody knows the end of such leaders of mutinous wrongdoers as Pharaoh and Nimrod.

Or do they say: “He has invented it.” They do not believe, and, like lying and unscrupulous hypocrites, accuse you of inventing the Qur’an. Until this time, however, they knew you as the most trustworthy among them and even called you Muhammad the Trustworthy. They have no intention to believe. Otherwise they must find a human work similar to the Qur’an. Or were they created out of nothing? Or, like those philosophers who see existence as absurd and purposeless, do they regard themselves as purposeless, without a Creator, and left to themselves? Are they blind? Do they not see that the universe is embellished with instances of wisdom and fruitfulness, that everything has duties and obeys Divine commandments?

Or are they the creators? Or, like materialists who are each like a Pharaoh, do they imagine themselves self-existent and self-subsistent, able to create whatever they need? Is this why they refuse belief and worship? It seems that they consider themselves creators. But one who creates one thing must be able to create everything. Self-conceit and vanity have made them so foolish that they suppose such an impotent one to be absolutely powerful. They are so devoid of humanity and reason that they have fallen lower than animals and inanimate objects. So do not be grieved by their denial.

Or did they create the heavens and Earth? No, for they have no sure belief. Or, like those who deny the Creator, do they deny God and so ignore the Qur’an? If so, let them deny the existence of the heavens and Earth or claim to be their creators, so that all can see their complete lack of reason. The proofs of Divine Existence and Unity are as numerous as stars and as many as flowers. Such people have no intention of acquiring sure belief and accepting the truth. Otherwise, how can they say that this Book of the Universe, in each letter of which is inscribed a book, has no author when they know that a letter must have an author?

Or do they possess your Lord’s treasuries? Or, like some misguided philosophers and Brahmans who deny Almighty God’s free will, do they deny Prophethood and therefore belief in you? If so, let them deny all prints of wisdom, purpose, order, purposeful results, favors, and works of mercy seen throughout the universe. Let them manifest a deliberate choice and absolute will, as well as all the Prophets’ miracles. Or let them claim to possess the treasuries of favors bestowed on all creatures, and show that they are not worthy of address. If this is so, do not feel sorrow for their denial.

Or are they watching registrars? Or, like the Mu‘tazilites who made reason the absolute authority in judging matters, do they consider themselves overseers and inspectors of the Creator’s work and desire to hold Him responsible? Never be disheartened and do not mind their denial, for it is vain. Or do they have a ladder whereon they listen? If so, let one of them bring a clear authority. Or, like the soothsayers and spiritualists who follow jinn and Satan, do they imagine that they have discovered another route to the Unseen? Do they think they have a ladder by which to ascend to the heavens, which are closed to their satans? Is this why they deny your heavenly tidings? The denial of such people means nothing.

Or has He daughters and they sons? Or, like philosophers who associate partners with God (e.g., the Ten Intellects and the Masters of Species), the Sabeans (who ascribe a sort of divinity to heavenly objects and angels), or those who attribute sons to God Almighty, do they assert that angels are His daughters, despite the fact that such is contrary to the necessary existence of the Unique, Eternally Besought One, to His Unity and absolute independence, to His being the Eternally-Besought-of-All, and to the innocence and servanthood of the genderless angels? Do they consider angels their intercessors with God and therefore not follow you? Sexual relations ensure the multiplication, cooperation, and continuance of all contingent and mortal entities. A great example is humanity, whose members are impotent, enamored with the world, and want to be succeeded by children. It is sheer foolishness to ascribe fatherhood to God, for His necessary and eternal Existence, absolute freedom from all physical qualities, exemption from multiplication and division, and absolute power make fatherhood unnecessary. Even more amazing is their saying that God has daughters, when they regard their own daughters as sources of shame. Given this, do not mind the denial of such people.

Or do you ask them for a wage and place them in debt? Or, like the rebellious and insolent, miserly and ambitious, do they find the commandments you convey unbearable and so avoid you? Do they not know that you expect your wage only from God? They find it hard to receive the blessing of abundant wealth, and yet have to give one-tenth or one-fortieth of it to the poor. Do they oppose Islam so that they will not have to pay zakat?[5] ·Their denial is not worth answering, and they will be punished.

Or is the Unseen in their keeping? Are they writing it down? Or, like those who claim to have knowledge of the Unseen and those pseudo-intellectuals who imagine their guesses of future events to be certain, do they not like your tidings of the Unseen? Do they have books of the Unseen that refute your book of the Unseen? If so, they mistakenly believe that the Unseen, which is only open to Messengers receiving Divine Revelation and cannot be entered by anyone on his or her own, is open to them and that they are just writing down the information they obtain from it. Do not be disheartened by the denial of such conceited people, for the truths you bring will destroy their fancies in a very short time.

Or do they want to outwit you? Know that the unbelievers are outwitted. Or, like hypocrites and heretics, do they encourage others to join them in their unbelief or consider you a soothsayer, a magician, or one possessed? They are not truly human, and so you should not be disheartened by their denial and tricks. Rather, be more vigorous and strive harder, for their trickery only deceives themselves. Their apparent success in evil-doing is temporary, a gradual perdition prepared for them by God.

Or do have they a deity other than God? Glory be to God, above that which they associate. Or, like the Magians who believe in two deities (a creator of goodness and a creator of evil), and those who attribute everything to causality and make it a point of support for them, do they rely on false deities and argue with you? Do they consider themselves independent of you? If they do, they are blind to the universe’s perfect order and delicate coherence: Were there deities in them (the heavens and Earth) other than God, they would surely go to ruin·(21: 22). Two headmen or elders in a village, two governors in a town, or two sovereigns in a country would make order impossible. If God had partners, the universe’s delicate order and harmony would be impossible. Since such people act completely contrary to reason, wisdom, common sense, and evident realities, do not let their denial cause you to abandon communicating the Divine Message.

So far, I have sought to summarize only one of the hundreds of jewels in such truth-laden verses. If I could show a few more of their jewels, you would conclude: “Each verse is a miracle.”

The Qur’anic expositions in teaching and explaining are so wonderful, beautiful, and fluent that anyone can understand easily the most profound truths. The Qur’an of miraculous exposition teaches and explains many profound and subtle truths so clearly and directly that it neither offends human sensibility nor opposes generally held opinions. Rather, such exposition conforms with what is familiar to us. Just as one uses appropriate words when addressing a child, the Qur’an, described as “the Divine address to the human mind,” uses a style appropriate to its audience’s level. By speaking in allegories, parables, and comparisons, it makes the most difficult Divine truths and mysteries easily understood by even the most common, unlettered person. For example: The Most Merciful One has settled Himself on the Supreme Divine Throne (20:5) shows Divine Lordship as though it were a Kingdom, and the aspect of His Lordship administering the universe as though He were a King seated on His Sovereignty’s throne and exercising His rule.

The Qur’an, the word of the Majestic Creator of the universe issuing from His Lordship’s highest degree of manifestation, surpasses all other degrees. It guides those who rise to those degrees, and passes through 70,000 veils to illuminate each. Radiating enlightenment to all levels of understanding and intelligence, it continues to pour out its meaning, regardless of people’s ability and scientific level, and maintains its infinite freshness and delicacy. It continues to teach all people in an easy yet most skillful and comprehensible way, and convinces them of its truth. Wherever you look in it, you will find a gleam of its miraculousness.

In short, when a Qur’anic phrase like All praise be to God·is recited, it fills up the ear of a tiny fly as well as that of a mountain (a cave). Like-wise, just as its meanings fully saturate the greatest intellects, the same words satisfy the smallest intellects. The Qur’an calls all levels of humanity and jinn to belief and instructs them in the sciences of belief. Given this, the most unlettered person as well as the most distinguished member of the educated elite will follow and benefit from its lessons.

The Qur’an is such a heavenly table spread with intellectual and spiritual foods that beings of all levels of intellect, reason, heart, and spirit can find their sustenance and satisfy their appetites therein. Moreover, the Qur’an has many more treasures of meaning and truths that will be opened by future generations. The whole Qur’an is an example of this truth. All Muslims, regardless of profession, level of intelligence, or knowledge of God, declare: “The Qur’an teaches us in the best way.”

[1] 1Namely, al-Fatiha, al-An‘am, al-Kahf, al-Saba’, and al-Fatir.

[2] 1In the Ninth Truth of The Tenth Word and in the Fifth Gleam of The Twenty-second Word.

[3] 1In the Third Comparison of the Ninth Truth of The Tenth Word.

[4] 1In the First Station of The Twentieth Word. These are: When We said unto the angels, “Prostrate before Adam, they fell prostrate,” all save Iblis (2:34); God commands you to sacrifice a cow (2:67); and Then your hearts became hardened thereafter and were like stones, or even yet harder  (2:74).

[5] 1The obligatory amount of wealth that each adult and sane Muslim who can do so must give each year to any or all of the eight classes of people mentioned in 9:60. Its exact amount and who can receive it depends upon various factors. (Ed.)

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