Signs & Miracles · The Language Argument in Full

Classical Criticisms of Qur'anic Wording

Handle with care. These answers require Arabic to assess. Do not present them to a non-Arabic speaker as though they were self-evident.

In short

1.Q 12:17 — 'and the wolf ate him' with the definite article, though no particular wolf was known.
2.Q 12:65 — 'that is an easy measure', where critics wanted a different phrasing.
3.Q 38:6 — 'walk on and be steadfast in your gods', with an unexpected preposition.
4.In each case al-Khattabi shows the usage in attested Arabic and states what the alternative would have lost.

The claim being examined

Early critics did engage the text at the level of grammar and idiom, alleging faults in particular constructions. Al-Khattabi answers them one by one.

The Islamic position

Each alleged fault turns out to be a deliberate construction with a discernible purpose, drawn from attested Arabic usage.

Analysis

These passages matter more than their content suggests, because they show that the classical dispute was technical rather than devotional. Critics who could not produce a matching surah instead attacked specific constructions, and the exegetical tradition answered by citing parallel usage in pre-Islamic poetry and by explaining the rhetorical purpose. The definite article in fa-akalahu al-dhi'b, for instance, is read as generic rather than particular — the wolf as a species, the standing danger the brothers had already named at 12:13 — which is a normal function of the Arabic article. The value of these exchanges today is methodological: they model an argument conducted on evidence, with both sides able to cite.

From the Qur'an

Qur'an 12:17

فَأَكَلَهُ ٱلذِّئْبُ

And the wolf ate him — the brothers' report, echoing the danger they themselves had raised at 12:13.

Qur'an 12:13

وَأَخَافُ أَن يَأْكُلَهُ ٱلذِّئْبُ وَأَنتُمْ عَنْهُ غَٰفِلُونَ

And I fear that the wolf will eat him while you are heedless of him.

Qur'an 12:65

ذَٰلِكَ كَيْلٌۭ يَسِيرٌۭ

That is an easy measure.

Sources

Al-Khattabi, Bayan I'jaz al-Qur'an · al-Zamakhshari, al-Kashshaf · Ibn Qutaybah, Ta'wil Mushkil al-Qur'an · Al-Khattabi, The Miracle of the Qur'an (Sapience Publishing, 2022), answering objections to particular constructions

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