"Produce a Suarh like it"

Submitted by Lactantius Jr (United Kingdom), May 26, 2012 at 07:03

...

To Mahmmod

You refer to the "miracle of the Qur'an" and the challenges to "produce a Surah like it," in support of Allah being the source of the Qur'an. I deny that a meaningful "challenge" exists here, being based entirely on subjective criteria as it is, akin to me saying "my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world," but for the sake of undercutting it, I will concede that a meaningful "challenge" exists, asking you, don't you know Mahmood that the "challenge" has been met? And met by Satan the devil (one of the jinn).

Early Muslim authorities admit that Muhammad was at one time inspired by Satan to put some verses into the Qur'an, and there are three passages in the Qur'an which document this event, Surah An-Najm (53:19-26) Surah Al-Hajj (22:52-53) and Al-Isra (17:73-75) and are referred to in the Sirah literature, and the Qur'anic Surah may be referred to online at http://www/quranbrowser.com/

Does the fact that the devil met the challenge and spoke words which couldn't be distinguished from Allah's words bother you Mahmood? Because neither Muhammad nor those hearing him speaking the devil's words could distinguish them from Allah's words, showing at the very least, that Muhammad himself did not have any objective criteria on which to base an acceptance or rejection of a text that would take up and meet the challenge in the Qur'an, in terms (to use your own terminology) of its, "unique linguistic style, in words selected and arranged like the Qur'an, in similar grammatical particles, matching the Qur'an's super eloquence and sound, equalling the Qur'an's frequency of rhetorical devices, matching its level of content and informativeness (sic), and its conciseness and flexibility," and if you are fluent in Qur'anic Arabic, please refer to these modern compositions and tell me where they fail to meet the "challenge." Surat Al-Hayat, Surat Al-Hafdal, Surat Araja, Surat Al-Mukataa, Surat Al-Kitab, Surat Al-Usfoor, Surat An-Nabi, Surat Ad-Du'a, Surat Al-Iman, Surat At-Tajassud, Surat Al-Muslimoon and Surat Al-Wasaya which are online at, http://tinyurl.com/6g8lqtu

Given Muhammad's encounters with "Gabriel" in the cave on mount Hira, and his initial belief that it was the devil, leading him to attempt suicide until prevented from doing so by "Gabriel," and his numerous encounters with jinn, the ramifications of this "Satanic verses" episode are very large; was Muhammad's initial belief that it was the devil appearing to him in the cave correct, and how many of the words spoken as Allah's words by Muhammad, were in fact interjected by the devil and remain in the Qur'an?

Also of great significance is your claim that "the Qur'an is written in Arabic in very simple way so that everyone can understand it," firstly being wrong in that 80% of the world's Muslims do not understand Arabic, secondly being wrong because no less an authority than Al-Ghazali (Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad at-Tusi al-Ghazali AD1058-1111 the great Islamic philosopher/theologian) said that "The number of the clear verses is 500" (Suyuti, 'Itqan Fii 'Ulum Al-Qur'an, Al-Hai'ah Al-Misriyah Al-'Aamah Lil-Kitab, Part 11, Section 65: Al-'Ulum Al-Mustanbata Men Al-Qur'an) ie. a mere 8% of the 6,616 verses in the Qur'an, with many Muslims readily agreeing that much of the Qur'an is incomprehensible without resorting to the Tafsir literature and Hadith.

I readily agree with you Mahmood that "light is better than darkness," and I pray that you will have a life-changing encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ, Who said of Himself, ""I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life." John 8:12

With kind regards and best wishes

Lactantius Jr

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