Signs & Miracles · The Qur'an Itself

The challenge, in one paragraph

Handle with care. Do not claim nobody has ever attempted a reply. People have; the argument is about the verdict of competent Arabic critics, not about silence.

In short

• 1.The Qur'an says: if you doubt it, bring one chapter like it, and call anyone you like to help.
• 2.It was said to Arabs who prized poetry above almost everything and had every reason to answer.
• 3.They answered with boycott, exile and war instead — which are far costlier than a chapter.
• 4.Say it in one paragraph and stop. It is an invitation to look, not a dare.

The claim being examined

The Qur'an publicly invited its critics to produce something like it — and named the terms itself.

The Islamic position

The challenge narrowed from the whole book, to ten chapters, to a single chapter, and was issued to the finest poets of the Arabic language in their own city.

Analysis

The tahaddi (challenge) verses appear in stages: the whole Qur'an (17:88), ten chapters (11:13) and a single chapter (10:38, 2:23). Classical scholars stressed the social setting: the Quraysh were a society of oral poetry with public competitions and recognised critics, and they had both the motive and the ability to attempt a reply. Later Arabic attempts at imitation exist and are discussed in the literature; the argument rests on the judgement of competent Arabic critics, not on the claim that nobody ever tried.

From the Qur'an

Sources

Al-Jahiz, Hujaj al-Nubuwwah · Al-Khattabi, Bayan I'jaz al-Qur'an · Q 2:23; Q 10:38; Q 11:13; Q 17:88

More in The Qur'an Itself

• The challenge nobody answered
• Who made you?
• One Qur'an, everywhere
• Look at what is around you
• Held in the heart, not just on paper
• What the poets of Mecca said