The Qur’an is a book of perfect fluency, superb clarity and soundness, firm coherence, and well-established harmony and proportion. There is a strong, mutual support and interrelation among its sentences and their parts, and an elevated correspondence among its verses and their purposes. Such leading figures in Arabic philology, literature, and semantics as al-Zamakhshari, al-Sakkaki, and ‘Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani testify to this.

Second light

This second light has three rays.

First ray

The Qur’an is a book of perfect fluency, superb clarity and soundness, firm coherence, and well-established harmony and proportion. There is a strong, mutual support and interrelation among its sentences and their parts, and an elevated correspondence among its verses and their purposes. Such leading figures in Arabic philology, literature, and semantics as al-Zamakhshari, al-Sakkaki, and ‘Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani testify to this.

In addition, although seven or eight factors counter fluency, soundness, coherence, harmony, proportion, interrelation, and correspondence, these factors rather enrich the Qur’an’s fluency, soundness, and coherence. Like branches and twigs stemming from a fruit-producing tree’s trunk and completing the tree’s beauty and growth, these factors sometimes do not cause discord in the fluent harmony of the Qur’an’s composition, but rather express new, richer, and complementary meanings.

Consider the following facts:

• Although the Qur’an was revealed in parts over 23 years for different needs and purposes, it has such a perfect harmony that it is as if it were revealed all at once.
• Although the Qur’an was revealed over 23 years on different occasions, its parts are so mutually supportive that it is as if it were revealed all at once.
• Although the Qur’an came in answer to different and repeated questions, its parts are so united and harmonious with each other that it is as if it were the answer to a single question.
• Although the Qur’an came to judge diverse cases and events, it displays such a perfect order that it is as if it were the judgment delivered on a single case or event.
• Although the Qur’an was revealed by Divine courtesy in styles varied to suit innumerable people of different levels of understanding, moods, and temperament, its parts exhibit so beautiful a similarity, correspondence, and fluency that it is as if it were addressing one degree of understanding and temperament.
• Although the Qur’an speaks to countless varieties of people who are remote from each one in time, space, and character, it has such an easy way of explanation, pure style, and clear way of description that it is as if it were addressing one homogenous group, with each different group thinking that it is being addressed uniquely and specifically.
• Although the Qur’an was revealed for the gradual guidance of different peoples with various purposes, it has such a perfect straightforwardness, sensitive balance, and beautiful order that it is as if it were pursuing only one purpose.

Despite being the reasons of confusion, these factors add to the miraculousness of the Qur’an’s explanations and to its fluency of style and harmony. Anyone with an undiseased heart, a sound conscience, and good taste sees graceful fluency, exquisite proportion, pleasant harmony, and matchless eloquence in its explanations. Anyone with a sound power of sight and insight sees that the Qur’an has an eye with which to see the whole universe, with all its inner and outer dimensions, like a single page and to read all the meanings contained in it. Since I would need many volumes to ·explain this truth with examples, please refer to my Isharat al-I‘jaz·and the Words written so far.

Second ray

This relates to the Qur’an’s miraculous qualities displayed by means of its summaries and unique style of using God’s Beautiful Names to conclude many of its verses.

Note: This ray contains many verses that serve as examples for this ray as well as for other previously discussed matters. I therefore mention them only briefly.

The Qur’an generally concludes its verses with summaries that comprise those Divine Beautiful Names in which the contents of the verses originate, contain in a summarized form all meanings of the verses or all-comprehensive principles concerning the Qur’an’s main aims, confirm and corroborate the verses, or incite the mind to meditation. Given this, these summaries contain traces from the Qur’an’s elevated wisdom, drops from the water of life of Divine guidance, or sparks from the lightning of the Qur’an’s miraculousness.

I will discuss briefly only 10 of the numerous traces, and mention only one of the many examples of each trace’s several aspects. I will append a brief statement of the meaning of one of the many truths contained in each example. Most traces are found together in most of the verses and form a real design of miraculousness. Most of the verses given as examples are also examples for most of the traces. With respect to verses mentioned in previous Words, I will make a short reference to the meanings of those cited here.

First quality of eloquence:·With its miraculous expression, the Qur’an spreads out the Majestic Maker’s acts and works. It then concludes either with the Divine Name or Names originating those acts and works, as with proof of an essential aim of the Qur’an (e.g., Divine Unity or Resurrection).

For example, in: He created for you all that is in Earth. Then He turned to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. He is the Knower of all things (2:29), the verse relates, in a manner leading to a particular result or important goal, the most comprehensive works, all of which testify to Divine Knowledge and Power via their purposes and order, and concludes with the Name “the Knower.” In: Have We not made Earth a cradle, and the mountains masts? And We have created you in pairs ... Surely the Day of Decision is a time appointed (76:6-8, 12), it mentions Almighty God’s mighty acts and tremendous works and concludes with the Day of Resurrection (the Day of Judgment).

Second point of eloquence: The Qur’an lays out the works of Divine art without specifying the Divine Name originating each work, and concludes by either mentioning the Names together or referring them to the intellect. For example:

Say: “Who provides for you from the sky and Earth, or who owns all hearing and sight (of which you have a portion); and who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living; who rules and directs all affairs?” They will say: “God.” Then say: “Will you not then fear (God) and keep your duty (concerning both this world and the next)? Such then is God, your Lord, the Truth.” (10:31-32)

At the beginning, it asks: “Who, having prepared the heaven and Earth as two sources of your provision, sends rain from there and brings forth grains from here? Who but He subjugates the heaven and Earth as two stores of your provision? That being so, praise and thanksgiving are due to Him exclusively.” In the second part it means: “Who owns your eyes and ears, which are your most precious bodily parts? From which shop or factory did you buy them? Only your Lord can give you these subtle faculties of hearing and sight. He also creates and nurtures you. Therefore, there is no Lord but He, and only He deserves worship.”

In the third part, it signifies: “Who gives life to the dead Earth every spring, and quickens innumerable species that died in the previous autumn or winter? Who but the Truth, the Creator of the whole universe, can do that? As He gives life to Earth, He will also resurrect you and send you to a Supreme Tribunal.” In the fourth part it explains: “Who but God can administer this vast universe with perfect order? Since only He can do that, the Power easily governing the universe and its various spheres is so perfect and infinite that It needs no partners and helpers. The One Who governs the universe does not leave smaller creatures to other hands. Therefore you must admit God willingly or unwillingly.”

The first and fourth parts suggest God, while the second suggests the Lord and the third suggests the Truth. Understand from this the miraculousness of Such then is God, your Lord, the Truth.·After presenting the mighty acts of Almighty God, and the important products of His Power, the Qur’an mentions the Names God, the Lord and the Truth, and thereby points out the origin of those acts and products.

An example of how the Qur’an urges the human intellect to reflect on His works and recognize Him is presented below:

In the creation of the heavens and Earth, the alternation of night and day, the ships sailing on the sea for humanity’s benefit, the water which God sends down from the sky and thereby reviving Earth after its death, and dispersing all kinds of beasts therein, (in His) directing and disposal of the winds, and the clouds subjugated between heaven and Earth, are signs for people who use their intellects. (3:26-27)

The verse enumerates the works and manifestations of Divine creation, such as displaying Divine Sovereignty by creating the heavens and Earth; of Divine Lordship in alternating night and day, demonstrating the perfection of Almighty God’s Power and the grandeur of His Lordship, and testifying to His Oneness; manifesting Mercy by subduing the sea and the ship, which are of great use for human social life; manifesting Power’s greatness in sending rain to revive Earth and its innumerable creatures, and to make it like an exquisite place of resurrection and gathering; manifesting Power and Compassion in creating innumerable animals from soil; manifesting Mercy and Wisdom in charging the winds to pollinate plants and to allow animate beings to breathe; manifesting Lordship in accumulating and dispersing the clouds (means of Mercy), and suspending them between the heavens and Earth.

After enumerating such works and manifestations of Divine acting without mentioning the Names originating them, the verse concludes ...are signs for people who use their intellects·and urges the intellect to reflect fully on the truths they contain.

Third quality of eloquence:·Sometimes the Qur’an describes Almighty God’s acts in detail and concludes with a summary. It uses detailed description to give conviction, and then impresses them on the mind by summarizing them.

From Sura Yusuf:

So will your Lord choose you, and teach you the interpretation of dreams, and all social and natural phenomena, and perfect His blessing upon you and upon the family of Jacob, as He perfected it formerly on your forefathers Abraham and Isaac. Your Lord is All-Knowing, All-Wise. (12:6)

This verse points to the Divine blessings on Prophet Joseph, his father and forefathers, and says: “He has distinguished you (Joseph) with Prophethood and, by connecting the chain of Prophets to yours, made your lineage the most honored and prominent. He has made your house a place of education and guidance in which knowledge of God and Divine wisdom are taught, and combined in you, through that knowledge and wisdom, felicitous spiritual sovereignty of the world with eternal happiness in the Hereafter. He will equip you with that knowledge and wisdom and make you a dignified ruler, a noble Prophet, and a wise guide.”

By concluding with Your Lord is All-Knowing, All-Wise,·the verse summarizes all those blessings and means: “Your Lord is the All-Knowing and All-Wise. His Lordship and Wisdom require that He shall manifest His Names the All-Knowing and the All-Wise through you and make you a knowledgeable and wise one, as He did your father and forefathers.”

From Surat Al-‘Imran:

Say: “O God, Master of the Kingdom, You give the Kingdom to whom You will, and seize the Kingdom from whom You will. You exalt whom You will and You abase whom You will. In Your hand is the good. You are Powerful over everything. You make the night enter into the day and the day enter into the night. You bring forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living. You provide whoever You will without measure.” (3:26-27)

These verses point out God’s execution of His Laws in humanity’s social life and the universe. They emphasize that honor and degradation, as well as wealth and poverty, depend directly on Almighty God’s Will and Choice. Nothing, not even the most insignificant happenings in the Realm of Multiplicity, is beyond the domain of Divine Will, and so there is no place for chance.

After pointing out this essential principle, the verse affirms that our provision, which is most essential in this worldly life, originates directly from the Real Provider’s treasury of Mercy, and means: “Your provision depends on Earth’s vitality, the revival of which is possible through the coming of spring. Only the One Who has subdued the sun and the moon, and alternates night and day, can bring spring. If this is so, then only the One Who fills Earth’s surface with fruits can provide someone with an apple and become one’s real provider.”

By concluding with and You provide whomever You will without measure, the verses summarize all acts previously described in detail and affirm that the One Who provides you without measure does all those things.

Fourth point of eloquence:·Sometimes the Qur’an mentions God’s creation and creatures in a certain series. By showing that their existence and life have a purposeful order and balance, it seems to give them a certain radiance and brightness. Then it points to the Divine Name or Names originating that order, which, like mirrors, reflect Him. It is as if each mentioned creature were a word and the Names were those words’ meanings, or each creature were a fruit and the Names were their seeds or substantial parts. For example:

From Surat al-Mu’minun:

We created humanity of an extraction of clay. Then We set a sperm in a safe lodging, and then created the sperm drop into something suspended (on the womb’s wall). We created that suspended thing into something like a lump of chewed flesh, and created bones from that lump, and clothed the bones in muscular tissue. Then We built humanity in another creation. So blessed be God, of the highest and most blessed degree of creating. (23:12-14)

The Qur’an mentions the extraordinary and wonderful, well-ordered, well-proportioned stages of humanity’s creation in such a manner that, as if in a mirror, So blessed be God, of the highest and most blessed degree of creating is seen in it, with the result that whoever reads or listens to it cannot help but utter that same phrase of blessing. A scribe employed by God’s Messenger to record the Revelations uttered this phrase before the Messenger recited it, so that he wondered whether he too was receiving Revelation. But in reality, it was the verses’ perfect order, coherence, and clarity that led to that phrase even before its recitation.

From Surat al-A‘raf:

Your Lord is God, Who created the heavens and Earth in 6 days—then set Himself upon the Supreme Throne, covering the day with the night, pursuing each other urgently—and the sun, the moon, and the stars subservient, by His command. Truly, His are the creation and the command. Blessed be God, the Lord of the worlds. (7:54)

Here the Qur’an shows the tremendousness of God’s Power and His Lordship’s sovereignty by indicating how the sun, moon, and stars obey His commands; and the Majesty of the All-Powerful One seated on the Throne of Lordship, Who, by making night and day continuously follow each other like white and black ribbons or lines, inscribes His Lordship’s sign on the pages of the universe. Therefore, whoever reads or hears this verse feels eagerness to utter Blessed be God, the Lord of the worlds.·Thus this phrase summarizes the preceding lines in the context, its substance or seed or fruit.

Fifth quality of eloquence:·The Qur’an sometimes mentions certain physical or material things or substances of various qualities and subject to change and disintegration. Then, in order to transform them into stable and unchanging realities, it connects and concludes them with certain universal and permanent Divine Names, or concludes with a summary urging reflection and taking a lesson.

From Surat al-Baqara:

And He taught Adam the names, all of them; then He presented them unto the angels and said: “Now tell me the names of these, if you speak truly.” They said: “Glory be to You, we have no knowledge save only what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, All-Wise.” (2:31-32)

The verses first mention that Adam is superior to angels in being God’s vicegerent due to the knowledge he received as a Divine gift, and then the angels’ defeat before Adam with regard to knowledge. The Qur’an concludes its description of this event with two universal Names: the All-Knowing, All-Wise. Thus the angels acknowledge: “Since You are the All-Knowing and All-Wise, You instructed Adam in the Names and made him superior to us through that knowledge. You are the All-Wise, and therefore give us according to our capacities and give him superiority because·of his capacity.”

From Surat al-Nahl:

There is a lesson for you in cattle. We give you to drink of what is in their bellies, between filth and blood, pure milk, sweet to drinkers. You take from the fruits of the palms and vines a strong drink and a fair provision. In that is a sign for a people who understand. Your Lord inspired the bee, saying: “Take for yourself, of mountains, houses, and trees, and of what they are building. Then eat of every kind of fruit and follow the ways of your Lord, easy to go upon.” Then comes out of their bellies a fluid of diverse hues wherein is healing for people. In this is a sign for a people who reflect. (16:66-69)

After demonstrating that Almighty God has made some animals (e.g., sheep, goats, cows, and camels) sources of pure and delicious milk; some of His vegetable creatures (e.g., date palms and vines) tables of sweet, pleasant, and delicious bounties; and some of His Power’s miracles (e.g., the bee, a producer of honey that contains healing) to urge humanity to compare similar gifts with these and so reflect and take lessons, the verses conclude with In this is a sign for a people who reflect.

Sixth point of eloquence:·Sometimes a verse lays out many results and decrees of Divine Lordship and unites them with a bond of unity or inserts a universal principle.

From Surat al-Baqara:

God, there is no god but He, the Living, the Self-Subsistent. Slumber overtakes Him not, nor sleep. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and what is in Earth. Who is there that shall intercede with Him save with His permission? He knows what is before them (in time and space) and what is behind them (in time and space), and they comprehend nothing of His Knowledge save such as He wills. His Seat comprises the heavens and Earth, and upholding them does not oppress Him. He is the All-High, the Tremendous. (2:255)

Together with proving Divine Unity in 10 ways, this verse, called the Verse of the (Supreme) Throne, rejects and refutes associating partners with God with the question: Who is there that shall intercede with Him save with His permission? Further, since God’s Greatest Name is manifested here, the meanings it contains concerning Divine truths are of the highest degree. It also shows an act expressive of Lordship in Its highest degree. Moreover, after mentioning God’s all-encompassing preserving or upholding in the greatest degree—His simultaneous control of the heavens and Earth—as a bond of unity or an aspect of oneness, it summarizes their origins in He is the All-High, the Tremendous.

From Surat Ibrahim:

God created the heavens and Earth and sends down from heaven water wherewith He brings forth fruits for your sustenance. He subjected to you the ships to run upon the sea at His command; He subjected to you the sun and moon constant upon their courses, and He subjected to you the night and day and gives you of all that you ask Him. If you count the bounties of God, you can never number them. (14:32-34)

These verses show how Almighty God created this universe like a palace and how, making the heavens and Earth like two servants for us, He sends rain to provide for us. They also state that He has subjected ships to us so that all may benefit from fruits and grains grown elsewhere and may make their livelihood through bartering their produce. In other words, He created the sea, the winds, and trees in such a way and with such qualities that the wind serves as a whip, the ship as a horse, and the sea as a desert.

In addition to enabling us to have global relations through ships, He made mighty rivers a natural means of transportation. To bring about seasons and present His bounties produced therein to us, the True Giver of Bounties made the sun and moon run on their courses and created them like two obedient servants or wheels to steer that vast revolving machine. He has appointed the night as a cloak, a cover for our rest and sleep, and the day as a means for making our livelihood.

After enumerating these favors to show how broad is their circle and how uncountable are the favors in themselves, the verses end in this summary: He gives you of all that you ask Him. If you count the bounties of God, you can never number them.·In other words, God gives to us whatever we ask for in the tongue of capacity and natural neediness. His favors are beyond counting. If they are presented in terms of the heavens and Earth, as well as the sun and the moon, the night and the day, then of course it is impossible to count them.

Seventh manifestation of eloquence:·To show that apparent causes have no creative part in bringing about the associated effect or result, the Qur’an sometimes presents the purposes for something’s existence and the results it yields. This shows that unconscious and lifeless causes are only apparent veils, and that very wise purposes and significant results can be willed and pursued only by an All-Knowing and All-Wise One.

By mentioning the purposes and results, the Qur’an shows the great distance between the cause and result, regardless of what our eyes tell us. No cause, no matter how great, can produce the smallest result. Thus the Divine Names appear as stars and connect them with each other. Like a line of mountain peaks seeming to meet the sky on the horizon, despite the vast space between them in which the stars rise and set, the distance between causes and results is so great that it can only be seen through belief and the Qur’an’s light.

From Surat ‘Abasa:

Let people consider the food (they eat): We pour out rain abundantly, then We split Earth in fissures and therein make the grains grow, as well as grapes, fresh herbage, olives, palms, enclosed gardens dense with lofty trees, and fruits and pastures, provision for you and your cattle. (80:24-32)

The verses first mention Divine Power’s miracles in a purposeful order together with their apparent causes, and then, through provision for you and your cattle,·draw attention to the purpose behind them. They then prove that there is a free Agent pursuing that purpose, along with the series of all those causes and results, and that causes are only a veil hiding Him from manifest sight.

Through the same phrase, the verses declare that material or natural causes have no creative part in bringing about the results and mean: “The water necessary for you and your cattle comes from heaven. Since it cannot have mercy on you and your cattle and thereby provide for you, it does not come by itself; rather, it is sent down. Then Earth splits in clefts for vegetation to grow in and provide you with food. As the unfeeling, unconscious Earth cannot consider your provision or have mercy on you, it does not split by itself; rather, someone opens that “door” to you and hands you your provision. Since pastures and trees do not think about your provision or producing fruits and grains for you out of mercy, they are only threads, ropes, or cables that an All-Wise, All-Merciful One stretches out from behind a veil to extend His bounties to living beings.” Thus several Divine Names like the All-Merciful, All-Compassionate, All-Provider, All-Giver of Bounties, and All-Magnificent manifest themselves in these verses, even though they are not mentioned.

From Surat al-Nur:

Do you not see how God drives the clouds lightly, then gathers them together in piles and completes the circuit between them? Then you see rain issuing out of their midst. He causes (clouds like) mountains charged with hail to descend from heaven, and makes it fall on whom He wills, and from whom He wills He turns it aside. The brightness of His lightning all but takes away the sight. God turns about the night and the day. Truly, in that is a lesson for people of insight. God created every moving creature of water. Some of them go on their bellies, some go on two feet, and some go on four feet. God creates whatever He wills. God is All-Powerful over all things. (24:43-45)

These verses explain the curious Divine disposals in sending rain from accumulated clouds, which are among the Divine Lordship’s most important miracles and the most curious veils over the Divine treasuries of Mercy. While the cloud’s atoms are scattered in the atmosphere, they come together to form a cloud at God’s command, just like a dispersed army assembling at the call of a trumpet. Then, like small troops coming from different directions to form an army, God joins the clouds together to enable the completion of an electric circuit between them. He causes those piled-up clouds, charged with rain or snow or hail, to pour down the water of life to all living beings on Earth.

Rain does not fall by itself, but is sent to meet certain purposes and according to need. While the atmosphere is clear and no clouds can be seen, the mountain-like forms of clouds, gathered like a striking assembly, assemble because the One Who knows all living beings and their needs gathers them together to send rain therefrom. These events suggest several Divine Names: the All-Powerful, All-Knowing, All-Disposer of Things, All-Arranger, All-Upbringing, All-Helper, and Reviver.

Eighth quality of eloquence:·To convince our hearts of God Almighty’s wonderful acts in the Hereafter, and to prepare our intellects to confirm them, the Qur’an sometimes mentions His amazing actions in the world. In other places, it describes His miraculous acts pertaining to the future and the Hereafter in such a manner that we are convinced of them due to something with which we are familiar in our own lives.

From Sura Ya Sin:

Does humanity not regard how We created it of a sperm-drop? Yet humanity is a manifest adversary. Humanity has coined for Us a similitude and has forgotten its creation. It asks: “Who will revive the bones when they have rotted away?” Say: “He will revive them Who originated them the first time. He knows all creation, Who has made for you fire out of the green tree and lo, from it you kindle.” Is not He Who created the heavens and Earth able to create the like of them? Yes indeed. He is the All-Creator, the All-Knowing. His command, when He wills a thing, is to say to it ‘Be,’ and it is. So glory be to Him, in Whose hand is the dominion of everything, and unto Him you will be returned. (36:77-83)

In the verses above, the Qur’an proves the Resurrection in seven or eight ways. First, it presents humanity’s first creation and means: “You are created through the stages of a sperm-drop, something suspended on the wall of your mother’s womb, something like a lump of chewed flesh, the bones and the clothing of bones in muscular tissue. As you can see this, how can you deny the other creation (the Resurrection), which is even easier than the first one?”

By reminding people of His great favors to them through He has made for you fire out of the green tree, Almighty God means: “The One Who bestows such favors does not leave you to yourselves, so that you enter the grave and lie there, not to be raised again.” He suggests: “You see how dead or dried trees are revived and turn green, so how can you deem it unlikely that wood-like bones will be revived? Further, is He Who created the heavens and Earth·unable to create humanity, the fruit of the heavens and Earth? Does One Who governs a huge tree attach no importance to its fruit and leave it to others? Do you think He will leave humanity, the result of the Tree of Creation, to it own devices or to others, and thereby allow that Tree of Creation, all parts of which have been kneaded with wisdom, to go to waste?”

Again He means: “The One Who will revive you on the Day of Judgment is such that the whole universe is like an obedient soldier before Him. It submits with perfect obedience to His command of ‘Be,’ and it is. For Him, creating spring and a flower are equal. It is absolutely improper and irrational to see Him as impotent and challenge His Power by asking: ‘Who will revive the bones?’”

Through So glory be to Him, in Whose hand is the dominion of all things,·the Qur’an signifies: “He controls everything and has the keys to everything. He alternates night and day, and winter and summer, as easily as turning the pages of a book. He is such an All-Powerful One of Majesty that, like closing one house and opening another, He closes this world and opens the next. Given this fact and its proofs, you will be returned to Him. He will resurrect everyone and gather them in the Place of Mustering, where He will call you to account for what you did while in the world.”

Such verses prepare one’s mind and heart to accept the Resurrection, because they show how it resembles several common things in our lives. The Qur’an sometimes mentions God’s acts in the other world in a similar way, so that we can see the truth.

From suras Takwir, Infitar, and Inshiqaq, respectively:

When the sun is folded up. (81:1)

When the heaven is cleft asunder. (82:1)

When the heaven is split asunder. (84:1)

In these suras, the Qur’an describes this world’s destruction and the Great Gathering in a way that we can understand. We see similar events during spring and autumn, and in earthquakes and large storms, and so can have some understanding of the events being described.

I shall point out one verse as an example: When the rolls of pages are laid open·(81:10). This verse states that on the Day of Judgment, everyone will be confronted with a role of pages containing the record of their deeds. This is hard for us to comprehend, ·although we witness events every year, such as what happens during the general revival observed every spring, that are similar to the world’s destruction and the Resurrection.

Every fruit-bearing tree or flowering plant has deeds, actions, and duties. Its type of worship shows the Divine Names manifested in it. All of its deeds (its life-cycle from germination to blossoming and yielding fruits) are recorded in its seeds to be exhibited in a subsequent spring on Earth. As it clearly displays the deeds of its source or origin in the tongue of its form and shape, its branches, twigs, leaves, blossoms, and fruits lay open the pages of those deeds. Thus the One Who does this work before our eyes as manifestations of His Names the All-Wise, All-Preserving, All-Arranging, All-Upbringing, and All-Subtle, is He Who says: When the rolls of pages are laid open.·Compare other points with this and understand.

Consider the explanation of: When the sun is folded up (81:1). Besides the brilliant metaphor in folded up (meaning “rolled” or “wrapped up”), the verse alludes to several related events: First, by drawing back non-existence, ether, and the skies respectively like veils, Almighty God brought a brilliant lamp (the sun) out of His Mercy’s treasury to illuminate and be displayed to the world. After the world is destroyed, He will rewrap it in its veils and remove it.

Second, the sun is an official of God charged with spreading its goods of light and folding light and darkness alternately round the world’s head. Each evening it gathers up and conceals its goods. Sometimes it does little business because a cloud veils it; sometimes it withdraws from doing business because the moon draws a veil over its face and closes its account book for a short, fixed time. At some [future] time, this official will resign from its post. Even if there is no cause for its dismissal, due to the two black spots growing on its face, as they have begun to do, the sun will obey the Divine command to draw back the light it sends to the Earth and wrap it around its own head. God will order it: “You no longer have any duty toward Earth. Now, go to Hell and burn those who, by worshipping you, insulted an obedient official with disloyalty as if you had claimed divinity.” Through its black-spotted face, the sun exhibits the meaning of: When the sun is folded up.

Ninth point of eloquence:·Sometimes the wise Qur’an mentions a particular purpose and, to urge our minds to think in universal terms, confirms and establishes that purpose through Divine Names functioning as universal rules.

From Surat al-Mujadila:

God has heard the statement of the woman who argues with you about her husband and complains unto God. God hears your conversation. God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (58:1)

The Qur’an says: “Almighty God is All-Hearing. He hears through His Name of Truth a wife arguing with you and complaining about her husband, a most particular matter. A woman is most compassionate among human beings, and a mine of care and tenderness leading to self-sacrifice. So, as a requirement of His being All-Compassionate, Almighty God hears her complaint and considers it a matter of great importance through His Name of Truth.” By concluding a universal principle from a particular event, One Who hears and sees a particular, minor incident must hear and see all things. One Who claims Lordship over the universe must be aware of the troubles of any creature who has been wronged and hear its cries. One Who cannot do so cannot be Lord. Thus God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing·establishes those two mighty truths.

From Surat al-Isra’:

Glorified be He Who took His servant by night from the Sacred Mosque (Masjid al-Haram) to Masjid al-Aqsa’, Whose neighborhood We have blessed, that We might show him of Our signs. He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (17:1)

This verse relates the first stage of the Prophet’s Ascension. He can refer to either the Prophet or Almighty God. If it refers to the Prophet, it means: “This journey is a comprehensive one, a universal ascension. During it, as far as the lote-tree of the utmost boundary (where the Realm of the Created ends) and at a distance of two bows’ length, he heard and saw God’s signs. Amazing works of Divine art were displayed before his eyes and ears in the Divine Names’ universal degrees of manifestations.” Thus the verse presents this journey as the key to a universal journey.

If He refers to Almighty God, its means: “To admit His servant to His Presence at the end of a journey and to entrust him with a duty, He took him from Masjid al-Haram to Masjid al-Aqsa. He caused him to meet the Prophets, who were gathered there. After showing that he is the heir to the principles of all Prophets’ religions, He caused him to travel through the realms of His dominion in all their inner and outer dimensions, to the distance of two bows’ length.”

The Prophet is a servant and ascended to God’s Presence. But together with him was a trust pertaining to the universe and a light that would change the universe’s color. There also was a key to open the door to eternal happiness. Therefore, Almighty God describes Himself with the attributes of hearing and seeing all things to demonstrate the global purposes for the trust, the light, and the key.

From Surat al-Fatir:

Praise be to God, Creator of the heavens and Earth, Who appoints angels as messengers with wings, two, three, or four. He multiplies in creation as He wills. God is Powerful over all beings. (35:1)

This verse means: “By adorning the heavens and Earth and demonstrating His Perfection’s works, their Majestic Creator causes their innumerable spectators to extol and praise Him infinitely. He decorated them with uncountable bounties so that the heavens and ·Earth praise and exalt endlessly their Most Merciful Creator in the tongue of all bounties and those who receive them.”

The verse also shows that the Majestic One Who has equipped all Earth’s inhabitants with the necessary limbs, faculties, and wings to travel throughout the world, and Who has equipped angels (the heavens’ inhabitants) with wings to fly and travel throughout the heavenly palaces of stars and lofty lands of constellations, must be powerful over all things. The One Who has given wings to a fly to fly from one fruit to another, and to a sparrow to fly from one tree to another, is He Who gives the wings with which to fly from Venus to Jupiter and from Jupiter to Saturn.

Furthermore, unlike Earth’s inhabitants, angels are not restricted to particularity or confined by a specific limited space. Through ·two, three, or four. He multiplies in creation as He wills, the verse suggests that angels may be present on four or more stars at the same time. Thus by stating that God has equipped angels with wings (a particular event), the Qur’an points to the origin of a universal, tremendous power and establishes it with the summary: God is Powerful over all things.

Tenth point of eloquence:·Sometimes the Qur’an mentions humanity’s rebellious acts and restrains its members with severe threats. But so as not to cast people into despair, it concludes with certain Divine Names pointing to His Mercy and consoles them.

From Surat al-Shura:

Say: “Had there been deities besides Him, as they say, they would certainly have sought out a way against the Lord of the Supreme Throne.” Glorified is He, and high exalted above what they say. The seven heavens and Earth and all that is therein glorify Him. Everything glorifies Him with praise, but you do not understand their glorification. He is Ever-Clement, Most Forgiving. (42:4)

The verses mean: “Say: ‘If there were deities with Him in His Sovereignty, they would have sought a share in His absolute rule over creation. This would have caused disorder in the universe. However, each part of creation glorifies the Majestic One signified by those Names in the tongue of the inscriptions of the Divine Names manifested on them. They declare Him free of any partners. Just as the heavens declare Him to be Holy and testify to His Unity through their light-diffusing worlds of suns and stars, as well as through their displayed wisdom and order, the atmosphere glorifies and sanctifies Him through the ‘voice’ of clouds and its words of thunder, lighting, and rain.”

It also testifies to His Unity. Just as Earth glorifies its Majestic Creator and declares Him to be One through its living words of plants and animate creatures, each tree glorifies Him and testifies to His Oneness through its words of leaves, blossoms, and fruits. Likewise, even the smallest and most particular creature glorifies the All-Majestic One, many of Whose Names it displays through their inscriptions that it bears, and testifies to His Unity.

The verses state that humanity is the issue and result of the universe, its delicate fruit that has been honored with ruling Earth in God’s name. However, unbelievers and those who associate partners with God (even though the universe glorifies its majestic Creator with one voice, testifies to His Oneness, and worships in perfect obedience) commit an ugly act that deserves punishment. So that such people will not give in to despair, the All-Overwhelming One of Majesty gives them time to reconsider. The concluding words of He is Ever-Clement, Most Forgiving·leave a door open for repentance and the hope of being forgiven.

The summaries at the verses’ ends contain many aspects of guidance and gleams of miraculousness. Even the greatest geniuses of eloquence have been astonished by the Qur’an’s authentic forms and, concluding that it cannot have a human origin, have believed with absolute certainty that it is a Revelation revealed. Together with the points and qualities already mentioned, other verses contain many further qualities such that even the “blind” can see the impress of their miraculous arrangement.

Third ray

The Qur’an cannot be compared with other words and speeches, for there are different categories of speech. In regard to superiority, power, beauty, and fineness, speech has four sources: the speaker, the person addressed, the purpose, and when it is spoken. Its source is not only the occasion, as some literary people have wrongly supposed. So do not consider only the speech itself. Since speech derives its strength and beauty from these four sources, if the Qur’an’s sources are studied carefully, the degree of its eloquence, superiority, and beauty will be understood. Since speech is first considered according to the speaker, if it is in the form of command and prohibition it contains a will and power proportional to the speaker’s rank. Then it may be irresistible and have an effect like electricity, increasing in superiority and power.

From suras Hud and Fussilat, respectively:

“O Earth, swallow your water, o sky, cease (your rain)!” (11:44)

O heaven. O Earth. Come both of you, willingly or unwillingly. They said: “We come obedient.” (41:11)

That means: “O heaven and Earth, come willingly or unwillingly, and submit yourselves to My Wisdom and Power. Come out of non-existence and appear as places where My works of art will be exhibited.” They answered: “We come in perfect obedience. We will carry out, by Your leave and Power, all duties You have assigned us.”

Consider the sublimity and force of those compelling commands bearing an irresistible power and will, and think about the commands we direct toward inanimate objects: “O Earth, stop. O heaven, rend asunder. O world, destroy yourself.” Can such commands be compared with His? How can our wishes and insensible commands be compared with the compelling commands of a supreme ruler having all of rulership’s essential qualities?

The difference between a supreme commander’s compelling command to march to a mighty, obedient army, and that of an ordinary private is as great as the difference between the commander and the private. Consider the force and superiority of the commands in: His command, when He wills a thing, is to say to it “Be,” and it is (36:82), and When We said to the angels: “Prostrate yourselves before Adam”·(2:34) with human orders, and see whether the difference between them is not like that between a firefly and the sun.

Consider how masters describe their work while doing it, how artists explain their artistry while working, and how benefactors discuss their goodness while doing it. We see the result of their combined actions and words. If they say that they have done that in a certain way and for a certain purpose, and in the way it must be done, you can see its difference from mere words without action.

From Sura Qaf:

Have they not observed the sky above them, how We built and adorned it? There are no rifts therein. Earth We have spread out, and have flung firm hills therein, and have caused of every lovely kind to grow thereon. A matter of insight and reflection, and a teaching and reminder for every servant who always turns to God in penitence and worship. We send down from the sky blessed water whereby We give growth unto gardens and the grain of crops, and lofty date palms with ranged clusters. Provision for the servants; and therewith We quicken a dead land. So will be the raising of the dead. (50:6-11)

The descriptions in the verses introduce, with perfect eloquence, many proofs of the Resurrection derived from the observable part of the universe, which is in action. By concluding with So will be the raising of the dead, they silence those whom the sura says deny the Resurrection. How different this is from the people’s discussion of happenings with which they have little concern. The difference is greater than that between real and plastic flowers. I will interpret these verses very briefly.

The sura begins with the unbelievers’ denial of the Resurrection. To convince them of its truth, the sura asks: “Don’t you see how We constructed this ordered and magnificent sky; how We adorned it with the sun, the moon, and stars, with no rifts therein; how We spread Earth out for you, and how wisely We furnished it? Having fixed mountains thereon, We protect it against the oceans’ invasion. Don’t you see how We created on it all kinds of multicolored and beautiful pairs of vegetation and pasturage and then embellished Earth with them; how We send blessed water from the sky so that gardens and orchards may grow thereby, as well as grains and lofty trees like date palms bearing delicious fruits, with which We provide Our servants; how We quicken the dead soil with that water and bring about thousands of instances of resurrection? In the same way that We cause vegetation to grow on the dead Earth, We will resurrect you on the Day of Judgment, when Earth will die and you will rise out of it alive!” How exalted is the eloquence displayed in these verses that prove the Resurrection, how superior to the words we use to prove a claim!

Concluding my use of objective reasoning and verification to convince unbelievers of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, I point out its incomparable rank in the name of truth.

When compared with the Qur’an, all other words are like tiny reflections of stars in a glass in comparison with the stars themselves. In fact, how far are the meanings that human minds picture, in the mirrors of their thoughts and feelings, from the Qur’an’s words, each of which describes an unchanging truth! How great is the distance between the Qur’an’s angel-like, life-giving words, the Word of the Creator of the sun and moon, which also diffuses the lights of guidance, and the stinging words originated by bewitching souls and affected manners that incite desire! When compared with the Qur’an, our words are like stinging insects in comparison with angels and other luminous spirit beings. This is not a mere assertion; rather, as is apparent in our discussions in The Words·written so far, it is a conclusion based on evidence.

How far are our words, full of fancies and fantasies, from the Qur’an’s words and phrases. This eternal Divine address, which originated from the Most Merciful One’s Supreme Throne, came in consideration of humanity as an independent being superior to all other creatures, and is founded upon God’s Knowledge, Power, and Will. Each word and statement is the source of a pearl of guidance and of the truths of belief, as well as the mine of an Islamic principle. How great is the distance between our familiar words and those of the Qur’an.

Like a blessed tree under which the universe lies, the Qur’an has produced the leaves of all Islamic spiritual values and moral perfections, public symbols and rules, principles and commandments. It has burst into blossoms of saints and purified scholars, and yielded fruits of Divine truths, truths and realities concerning the Divine laws of creation and the operation of the universe, and fruit pits that have grown into “trees” as principles of conduct and programs of practical life.

Every person and land has benefited from the gems of truth exhibited by the Qur’an for 14 centuries. During that time, neither too much familiarity nor the abundance of its truths, neither time’s passage nor the great changes and upheavals in human life, have made people indifferent to its invaluable truths and fine, authentic styles. Nor have these things damaged or devalued them, or extinguished its beauty and freshness. This is miraculous by itself.

If someone were to claim to have produced a likeness of the Qur’an, arranged some Qur’anic truths into a book and claimed to have brought about a book similar to the Qur’an, it would be like the following: Suppose a master-builder built a magnificent palace of various jewels, all laid in a symmetrical manner, and embellished it proportionally to each jewel’s position and the palace’s general design. Then imagine that an ordinary architect, knowing nothing of the palace’s jewels, design, and embellishments, were to enter it and destroy the master-builder’s work to make it look like an ordinary building. Suppose this person hangs some beads on it that please children, and then says: “Look! I am more skillful than the original builder and have more wealth and more valuable adornments.” Could anyone take such an absurd claim seriously?