survivalstory

What makes the Quran divine?

▼

What makes the Quran divine?

Stylistic Aspect of the Revelation.

from JoeUser Forums

Throughout ages, people have, widely, differed on the issue of Quran. For many non-Muslims, the Quran was, and is still, believed to be a "piece of litterature", that some could go too far as to say that Quran is poetry due to its usage of rythms and rhyms. Proving that the Quran is divine requires proving, in the first hand, that the it was a revelation upon Prophet Muhammad (pbuh); ie to prove that the Quran was revealed, then recited, but not written. Quran is an Arabic word, which ,simply, means recitation. Most dictionnaries define revelation as the fact of "disclosing a secret to someone", while recitation is defined as an "oral response from a pupil to a teacher" or "or as a period of classroom instruction". While pondering over these terms, it would be clear that revelation and recitation portray a verbal communication involving two people; one is holding the status of a teacher,disclosing a message, while the other is a pupil, receiving it and replying back. In fact, this was quite the same with Prophet Muhammad receiving the divine message(through Angel Gabriel) and reciting it back to people. Naming this Holy Book as "Quran", (or "recitation") is not a coincidence, but it is a proof that it was a revelation; a verbal communication between Muhammad (pbuh) and God through the angel Gabriel.

To illustrate this fact, let us move now to the style of the Quran. The Quran contains rythms and rhyms that is true, yet it would be silly to call it poetry. Despite the fact that the Quran contains rhymed verses, this is not a dominant feature, the way it is with classical Arabic peotry, which relies only on rhyms. The Quran holds other varieties of style, which all of them rely, basically, on an oral process of communication. A stunning feature of the Quranic style is that of order or instruction. God says in the Holy Quran:

 “Read in the name of your Lord who created -created Man from a clot. Read: for your Lord is Most Bountiful, who teaches by the pen, teaches Man that which he knew not.” (Quran : The Embryon 96:1-5).

‘O you (Muhammad) enveloped (in garments)! Arise and warn! And your Lord (Allah) magnify! And your garments purify! And keep away from Ar-Rujz (the idols)!’" [74:1-5]

These were the first verses revealed, gradually, to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in Hiraa's cave, through the Angel Gabriel. God begins the revelation by the word "read". Its usage (twice) in the verse of The Embryon refers to a divine order to "read", ie to get education and knowledge, as the Prophet was an illeterate person. The second revelation moves from the instruction to "read" (to get knowledge on human creation), to the divine instruction to "arise and warn". These verses, being revealed in different stages proves a logical coherence between revealing knowledge, and then reciting and "spreading it to people. Just these two verses, out of many, are great proofs of Quran as a verbal discourse, or a process of communication between God and Muhammad (pbuh), which is highly stressed by the usage of the pronoun "you" and verbs of command. Another stunning style is the inversion of the order of human language, when God says " your Lord mangnify", "your garment purify". Besides, we notice repeated words, to stress the idea of command and highlight the importance of this divine message. For humans, to write by using repetition or inverting the verb/subject/object order create disorder, confusion to the reader, and is wholly regarded as an unskilful usage of language. However, for a divine message like these verses, it creates an accurate usage of language, and a unique style. Now, let us move to another example of verbal discourse. God says in the Holy Quran:

"Say: He is Allah the One and Only. Allah, the eternal, absolute; He begets not, nor is He begotten. And there is none like unto Him" "Say: I seek refuge with the Lord of the dawn from the mischief of created things; from the mischief of darkness as it overspreads; from the mischief of those who practice secret arts, and from the mischief of the envious one, as he practices envy."

There are many verses in Quran beginning with the word "say". To began with it, initiates, beforehand, a question that God is repying to, by a ready-made answer. Whenever the Prophet Muhammad was introduced to a new situation in his life, or was asked about the nature of God, or any specific question that the Prophet can not handle, God reveals another verse depicting the situation and providing answers. "Say" proves, strongly, the concept of revelation, and recitation: God reveals "the answer" (the verse), and commands the Prophet to recite it to people. Examples like this are many in Quran, I just can not cite them all to avoid repetition and summerize my ideas the best I can. Yet, this is one stylistic features among many others, such as oath and story-telling.

Reading the Quran in this light is a proof that it was not written by humans, because if not it would be totally different. Human books are often shaped with the traditional structure of introduction, devellopement, and conclusion, which the Quranic style contradicts. Besides, while reading the Quran, we realise that we can move through different issues in just one verse, while the next issues remain unpredictable till we get to them, which human writting does not as it focuses on one theme, and then moves to another in a quite calculated way.

Tell me, how can Muhammad (pbuh) write Quran if he is illeterate? And if it was written for him according to his instructions, why would the Prophet would mention his status as a messenger, and not as a deity? Just to believe that Quran is human is silly, because how would Muhammad know about the past stories of tribes and Prophets that existed before him long years ago? How would an illeterate man, living in the desert treat issues of war, judicial issues, commercial dealings, and scientific facts, that have been discoverd of late?

This is a very interesting site, which provides modern scientific discoveries, which have been dealt by the Quran, before any human can know anything about science:

http://www.miraclesofthequran.com/index.php

                                                      A. Siham

revelation quran religion
19,837 views 31 replies
Reply #26 from JoeUser Forums Top

I'm sorry if there was any confusion. I was referring to the Muslims. If Muslims believe that Jesus is the Son of God then that would be blasphemy and punishable by death.

2-who told you that believing in Jesus is son of God is a punishable by death???? you still do not understand what you have read. there is no passage in Quran which says this!!!!!!!!

Okay. I'll take your word for it. So, if a Muslim reasons that Jesus is the Son of God, and comes to believe this.... what happens to him? Anything?  

 

Reply #27 from JoeUser Forums Top

Hello again,

It is God who is the last Judge in matter of faith, not people! There is no verse in Quran which says this! if you are alluding to apostacy, that is a quite different issue. Do you mean apostacy???? If yes, I will write a little post about it, whenever I have time, because this has a different story which happened at the time of the Prophet (pbuh)..peace!

have a nice time. 

 

Siege of Centauri
Reply #28 from JoeUser Forums Top

3-You said that the son or brother in law of Muhammad was the one who recorded Quran. you were confused in this also as to claim first that he was son of law and then said brother in law. review what you write please. and neither of them was the one to record the revelation, but they were companions of the Prophet. your informations are wrong, and make you more confused in your belief.

Welcome.

First of all, Thank you for noting my mistake regarding Uthman, the son-in-law of Mohammed. I have corrected my post #9 to "son-in-law."

Secondly,

After he passed away the third Khalifa (successor) Othman Ben-Affan ordered all writersand companion to meet in a conference and put the whole text in a single Book.

From history textbooks as well as encyclopedias, the information is the same about Mohammed and the Qur'an. They all state that Uthman was Mohammed's son-in-law.

Below is what I found on the Internet regarding Uthman. It seems that even the Muslims themselves argue over their own history.

 Uthman

Uthmān ibn ‘Affān (Arabic: عثمان بن عفان) (c 580 - July 17, 656) a son-law of Muhammad, is the third Caliph  of Islam. He is regarded by Sunni Muslims as the third of the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs of Islam.  However, Shia Muslims believe Ali was the first legitimate ruler after Muhammad, and disregard the rule of the first three Caliphs, including Uthman.

Following the assassination of Umar in 644, a six-member committee appointed by him to choose as caliph selected Uthman b. Affan (644-656), a member of the prestigious Umayyad clan. During Umar's reign, grievances stifled under Umar's heavy-handed rule came to the fore. Among the members of the opposition was Ali b. Abi Talib, another  son-in-law of Muhammad, Ali became the fourth caliph after Uthman's assassination.

Uthman attempted to maintain the integrity of the empire by appointing members of his own clan, the Umayyads, to governorships; the governorship of his kinsman Muawiya was enlarged to include all Syria and northern Iraq. This led to the charge of nepotism by Uthman's enemies. Secondly, his wars of conquest were not sufficiently lucrative in terms of booty to maintain hic court, forcing a reduction in salaries of soldiers, creating more discontent. Uthman also aroused angry by  authorizing an official version of the Quran, burning all other copies. Uthman was unable to maintain discipline and stability. A revolt broke out in Egypt. He was overthrown and murdered in 656, and succeeded by Ali.

Anyway, note the highlighted in red.

You wrote:

Quran was revealed by God to Muhammad (may God bless him) through the angel Gabriel. After revelation, the Prophet used to appoint writers to record down the revelation at the presence of Gabriel, the Prophet always asked the writer to recite back what he wrote to make sure the writer did not miss or add anything inadvertently. He had few of them and those writers kept the pieces of cloth paper, slates and animal bones with them and frequently were asked to add new revelations whenever it came to the Prophet. they instructed them as to where to put the new revelation in relation to what they wrote before. In the last year of his life (PPUH) he and Archangel Gabriel reviewedthe whole complete text with it order of chapters and verses.

They reviewed and confirmed each others' texts and presented the final single text to Othman who ordered 4 more copies to be made and sent to different regions of the Islamic State at the time.

Why would Uthman have to order all other copies to be burned if it is as you claim that Angel Gabriel reviewed the whole complete text? 

 

Reply #29 from JoeUser Forums Top

Hello, many companions of the Prophet used to note down copies of Quran as they heard it from the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). what they used to write was not done by the order of the Prophet and with the presence of Archangle Gabriel, and it was not verified either, (so taking random notes like this without verifying with the Presence of the Prophet could contain mistakes ) and this also gave rise among the companions regarding these copies . so when Uthman knew about this he consulted the Prophet and took from him the original copy of Quran and appointed a commitee of writers to write it down with the presence of the Prophet himself and burned all the copies that he doubted. 

take care!

Reply #30 from JoeUser Forums Top

Hello, many companions of the Prophet used to note down copies of Quran as they heard it from the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). what they used to write was not done by the order of the Prophet

Your explanation in #29 is at odds with your previous explanation ......

Quran was revealed by God to Muhammad (may God bless him) through the angel Gabriel. After revelation, the Prophet used to appoint writers to record down the revelation at the presence of Gabriel, the Prophet always asked the writer to recite back what he wrote to make sure the writer did not miss or add anything inadvertently. He had few of them and those writers kept the pieces of cloth paper, slates and animal bones with them and frequently were asked to add new revelations whenever it came to the Prophet. they instructed them as to where to put the new revelation in relation to what they wrote before. In the last year of his life (PPUH) he and Archangel Gabriel reviewedthe whole complete text with it order of chapters and verses.

Another point:

You write:

so when Uthman knew about this he consulted the Prophet and took from him the original copy of Quran and appointed a commitee of writers to write it down with the presence of the Prophet himself and burned all the copies that he doubted.

I understand that the verses that the Caliph Uthman rejected when he compiled the first Qur'an was in 651AD. Now how could Mohammed be with him personally when Mohammed died in 632?

 

Reply #31 from JoeUser Forums Top

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) used to appoint writers each time a message was revealed, as I said with presence of Angel Gabriel that is true..and that is how the original copy of Quran which the Prophet guarded was kept .ok.  but some companions used to write copies whenever they heard it from the Prophet (this was done by their own will, and randomly not organised with the Prophet and angel Gabriel). this created another copy of Quran, which Muslims later began to argue about, that some were against. To solve this issue what Usman did is that he borrowed the original copy , which the Prophet guarded, from one of his wives : Hafsa , and recorded it back  (because this copy was original and was written at the time with presence of the Prophet and Angel Gabriel with the writers), the other copy was burned because it could contain mistakes or that the writer mistakes and drops a word or mispell it..I know that Prophet Muhammad was already dead at that time, but the orginal copy which Usman ordered to record was written with the presence of the Prophet and angel Gabriel before he died, so the orginal copy has to kept, while doubtful one was burned...sorry for any confusion! for more information see this link: http://www.islam101.com/quran/preservedQ.htm