Signs & Miracles · The Language Argument in Full

"You Just Feel It" Is Not an Argument

Handle with care. Never answer 'why is it a miracle?' with 'you would know if you read it in Arabic'. That is the exact move al-Khattabi objects to.

In short

• 1.Al-Khattabi criticises those who assert eloquence without being able to specify it.
• 2.Undefined claims cannot be argued, taught, or defended against a critic.
• 3.His whole treatise is an attempt to say what the quality consists of.
• 4.This is also the most useful lesson for a dawah conversation: describe, do not gush.

The claim being examined

Much popular apologetics rests i'jaz on an undefined emotional response. Al-Khattabi treats this as an evasion of the scholar's job.

The Islamic position

If the Qur'an's inimitability is a real property of the text, it can be described in terms of diction, meaning and arrangement.

Analysis

One of the most striking features of the treatise is how much of it is aimed at Muslims rather than at critics. Al-Khattabi complains that people affirm the Qur'an's inimitability while being unable to say what makes it so, which leaves the doctrine as a slogan. His remedy is analytic: identify the elements of speech, show what excellence in each looks like, and then show the Qur'an holding them together. For a modern reader, this sets the standard of honesty for the whole section. A claim that cannot be unpacked is not a strong claim, however sincerely felt, and a listener is right to be unmoved by it.

From the Qur'an

Sources

Al-Khattabi, Bayan I'jaz al-Qur'an · Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani, Dala'il al-I'jaz · Al-Khattabi, The Miracle of the Qur'an (Sapience Publishing, 2022)

More in The Language Argument in Full

• Al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah's Verdict
• Arabic Has Almost No True Synonyms
• Bala, Not Na'am (Q 7:172)
• Classical Criticisms of Qur'anic Wording
• Do Not Substitute Number Games
• 'Ilm and Ma'rifah, Hamd and Shukr