The Eloquence and Rhetoric of the Qur’an

Allah (SWT) says: “Allah has send down the best Statement….” (XXXIX: 23) Allah (SWT) has shown that the Holy Qur’an is the best and most excellent speech, for it has come down carrying His knowledge and beause Allah (SWT) knows well which utterance expresses best the intended meaning, and which utterance should precede or follow it, or even which letter suits a certain position. Thus Qur’an is characterized by the utmost eloquence and rhetoric in both vocabulary and structure.[4]

The secret of the eloquence and rhetoric of Qur’an:

The Great Qur’an is most eloquent and rhetorical for it is the Speech of Allah, which carries the Divine Knowledge and reflects the Divine Greatness and limitless Attributes. Eloquent and rhetorical figures, when failing to imitate it, could do nothing but describe it as sorcery, as Allah (SWT) tells us of  their claim: “…This is nothing but magic from that of old.” (LXXIV: 24)

Following are some of the aspects of its eloquence and rhetoric:

a.     It includes the most authentic, precise and perfect pieces of information, the most truthful and clearest meanings, the best speech, the use of the most eloquent, rhetorical and sweetest words and structures. All this characterizes the whole Qur’an from beginning to end. It is utterly impossible for a human being to attain this superior standard, for if he takes care of the precision of the information he may often miss the elegance and sweetness of the expression. If he wanted to decorate and beautify the expressions he might not convey the piece of information precisely. One notices the sweetness of its expression even when dealing with doctrinal and legal topics that are often expressed with undecorated plain expressions.

 b.   Its style is both elegant and strong, two seemingly contradictory characteristics that hardly appear in the same speech.

c.     Its meeting the requirements of both mind and sentiment so that neither overrides the other.

d.   Its use of concise expressions that express the meaning intended fully:

It clarifies the meaning in concise words and expressions without tedious verbosity. As to a human, if he wanted to use brief expressions, he would be short of expressing the intended meaning fully; if he wanted to clarify the meaning he would have to resort to verbosity. If he could be terse and expressive at the same time in one or two sentences, he would be too tired and bored to observe that in the rest of his speech. He would rarely be fortunate enough to achieve that except occasionally.

e.    The excellence of its formulation and precision of its presentation:

Although it contains many diverse subjects covering the human needs in both this life and the Hereafter, such as legislation, stories, sermons, intellectual and psychological proofs, discussions, parables and wise sayings, it put all these subjects and others together wisely and harmoniously, so that you find it integrated the way body and soul are integrated in one entity.

f.      Its appealing to both laymen and educated people:

Laymen enjoy it and understand of it what is within their mental and perceptive abilities; the educated find in it gracefulness and understand of it more than what laymen understand. In contrast, human speech may be of the kind that pleases laymen because of its simplicity but does not appeal to the educated because it is below their standard. If it satisfies the educated because of its lofty style it does not appeal to laymen because they do not understand it.

g.    Its distinctive phonetic feature:

It is a charming wonderful feature reflected in its phonetic system and linguistic beauty. As to its phonetic system, you find it wonderfully harmonious in all its vowels or absence of vowels, the lengthening of certain sounds and the nasalization of others, and the positions where to continue reading or have a pause, in a way that attracts the attention of the listener and enraptures him, an influence no other speech, whether poetry or prose, can have.

Its peculiar sound attracts the attention of the listener even if he is a non-Arabic speaker. Perhaps this led some Arabs at the time of Prophethood to describe it as poetry and then, on recognizing that it was superior to poetry and did not follow the methodology and patterns of poetry, they said it was magic.

Its linguistic beauty is reflected in the wonderful way its letters (sounds) and words are aligned, so that you enjoy listening to the sounds of the Qur’an coming out of the correct points of articulation: a hissing sound and a tapping one, a hidden (assimilated) sound and a manifest one, a whispering sound and a loud one. Thus we have a group of sounds that are different and coordinated at the same time. They display such characteristics as leniency and tenseness, roughness and gentleness, loudness and silence precisely. Contrastive sounds are matched with equilibrium. All that has constituted a wonderful verbal mould whose linguistic beauty has reached the peak of miraculous nature, so much so that if any ordinary speech were inserted into the Qur’an it would sound defective when recited and disrupted when heard.[5]

h.    Its perfect coherence and excellent coordination although it was revealed piecemeal according to the events during 23 years.

In contrast human beings cannot write a book as coherent as the Qur’an if it its parts are composed on different occasions and at intervals. Al-Khatabi (may Allah bestow His Mercy on him) said: “The Qur’an is miraculous in that it has the most eloquent expressions, the best style of composition and the most authentic meanings….[6]

Eloquent Arabs acknowledged the eloquence and rhetoric of the Qur’an:

Eloquent Arabs acknowledged the sublimity of the Qur’anic composition, eloquence and style because of their being affected by it. They even used to warn those traveling to Mecca against listening to it lest they should be affected by it. Moreover, they advised each other to make noise (to cause disturbance) on hearing the Qur’an so that the listener would not be affected by it. Allah (SWT) says: “And those who disbelieve say: ‘Listen not to this Qur’an, and make noise in the midst of its (recitation) that you may gain the upper hand.” (XLI: 26)

Mujahid said: “make noise in the midst of its (recitation) through whistling and clapping and mixing up speech so that it becomes nonsense.” Al-Shawkani said: “(It means) ‘Oppose it with idle nonsense, or raise your voices to confuse its reader.’”[7]

When al-Tufail Ibn ‘Amr came to Mecca, the infidels warned him of listening to the Qur’an so persistently that he had to insert cotton into his ears lest he should hear any of it. Yet, Allah (SWT) caused him to hear some of it despite the cotton in his ears. Allah (SWT) directed his heart to listen to the Qur’an and then made him glad to accept Islam.[8]

When al-Walid Ibn al-Mughirah listened to the Qur’an, he seemed to be inclined to it. Abu Jahl heard of that; therefore, he went up to him and said: “O Uncle! Your people want to gather money to give to you, for you went to Muhammad hoping to receive a gift from him.” He said: “The Quraishites know that I am the wealthiest among them.” Abu Jahl said: “Then say something about him (Muhammad) to inform your people that you reject him.” He said: “What should I say? By Allah, none among you is more knowledgeable than me in poetry and its meters and composition, or in the poems of the jinn. By Allah, what he says resembles nothing thereof. By Allah, his speech is sweet and graceful; its root is deep and its branches are fruitful. It is ever superior and can never be surpassed, and it crashes what is beneath it!”

Abu Jahl then said: “Your people will never be pleased with you unless you say something about him.” He said: “Let me think over him!” After prolonged consideration he said: “It is sorcery transmitted from somebody else.” Then there were revealed the Verses concerning al-Walid. Allah (SWT) said: “Leave Me alone, (to deal) with the (creature), whom I created (bare and) alone! To whom I granted resources in abundance, and sons to be by his side! To whom I made (life) smooth and comfortable! Yet he desires that I should add (yet more). By no means! For to Our Signs he has been refractory! Soon will I visit him with a mount of calamities! For he thought and he plotted, and woe to him! How he plotted! Yea, Woe to him! How he plotted! Then he looked round; then he frowned and he scowled; then he turned back and was haughty;
then said he: ‘This is nothing but magic, derived from of old. This is nothing but the word of a mortal!’ Soon will I cast him into Hell-Fire!” (LXXIV: 11-26)

So, al-Walid’s allegation that the Qur’an was sorcery reflects the profound influence the Qur’an impacted on him. Al-Zuhri said: “I have been told that Abu Jahl, Abu Sufyan and al-Akhnas Ibn Shariq went out one night to listen to Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) while he was performing prayers at night in his house. Unobserved by his colleagues, each one of them took his place in some corner to listen. As dawn arrived they departed to meet one another again on the road. They blamed each other saying: ‘Do not do it again, for if one of their fools should see you (doing so), he would suspect you,’ And went away. The following night each of them went back to his place to listen to the Prophet. As dawn arrived they departed to meet one another again on the road. They said to each other what they had said the previous night, and then departed. The third night each of them took his place again and continued overnight to listen till dawn broke when they departed to meet again on the road. They then said to each other: ‘We will not do it again.’ They pledged to that and each of them went his way. In the morning al-Akhnas Ibn Shariq picked up his stick and went out to meet Abu Sufyan in the latter’s house. He said to him: ‘Tell me, O Father of Abi Hanzalah, your opinion on what you have heard from Muhammad.’ Abu Syfyan said: ‘O Abu Tha’labah! By Allah, I have heard things that I know and the aim of which I know, and I have heard other things the meaning of which I do not know and the aim of which I do not know.’ Al-Akhnas then said: ‘By Him by Whom you have sworn, the same applies to me.’ Then he left him to go to Abu Jahl. He entered his house and said: ‘O Abu al-Hakam! What is your opinion on what you have heard from Muhammad?’ He said: ‘What I have heard! We entered in rivalry with Banu ‘Abd Manaf for reputation. They entertained others and we did; they gave others a ride and we did; they gave others and we did, till we got ready on our knees like two racing horses, and then they said: ‘There has risen amongst us a Prophet who receives Revelation from heaven.’ When can we get like this (privilage)? I swear by Allah that we shall never express belief in him and shall never believe his claim.’” Then al-Akhnas got up and left him.

So, their being keen to go and listen to the Qur’an at night indicates that they were influenced and amazed by it, for it did not resmble human speech. Yet, stubbornness and arrogance caused them to reject it, as Abu Jahl said.

What proves that the Qur’an was distinct from the speech of Arabs is the testimony of Unais Ibn Jinadah al-Ghifari before his conversion to Islam when his brother Abu Dharr asked him what people used to say about the Prophet (peace be upon him) and he said: “They say he is a poet, a soothsayer, a sorcerer.” Unais, who was a poet added: “I have heard the speech of soothsayers. His speech does not resemble theirs. I have compared his speech with the methods and types of peotry and found that nobody can claim it is poetry. By Allah, he is truthful and they are liars….”[9] 

Jubair Ibn Mut’im (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Medina before he embraced Islam to ransom the war prisoners of Badr. When he heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) reciting Surat al-Tur[10], he said: “When I heard the Qur’an it was as if my heart had been cracked.”[11]In another narration: “That was the first time faith settled in my heart.”[12]

So, these men from Quraish, the most eloquent Arabs, testify to the rhetoric and eloquence of the Qur’an as a result of being affected by it.[13]

Al-Rafi’i wonderfully described the effect of Qur’an on the Arabs, who were proud of their eloquence and rhetoric as the most remarkabe of their virtues. But for the eloquence of its expressions that amounts to the level of a miracle, it would not have affected them, for through their eloquence there was established “the kingdom of speech  but it remained without a king till the Qur’an came to them.”[14]

Challenging the unbelievers to produce the like of it:

Confirming the inability of  mankind and Jinns together to produce the like of the Holy Qur’an, Allah (SWT) says: “Say: ‘If the whole of mankind and Jinns were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support.’” (XVII: 88) This Verse is Meccan and it was revealed when the faithful were weak and few in number. The Prophet would not have conveyed this remarkable piece of news concerning all mankind and jinns asserting that they would not be able to produce the like of this Qur’an, while he was inviting people to believe him, unless he had been sure that it was true. A reasonable man in the cicumastances of the Prophet (peace be upon him) at that time would not convey such information if he suspected its truthfulness. But the Prophet (peace be upon him) was definitely sure because he received the information from Allah (SWT).[15]

Allah challenged the unbelievers to produce the like of it if they thought it was the speech of Muhammad (peace be upon him). Allah (SWT) says:  “Then let them produce speech the like thereof, if they are truthful.” (LII: 34)

He challenged them to produce ten surahs (chapters) like those in it. Allah (SWT) says: “Or they may say: ‘He forged it.’ Say: ‘Bring then ten surahs forged, like unto it, and call (to your aid) whomsoever you can, other than Allah, if you are truthful!’” (XI: 13) Then He challenged them to produce even a single surah thereof but they could not, and He told them that they would not do so. Allah (SWT) says: “And if you are in doubt as to that which We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a chapter like it and call on your witnesses other than Allah if you are truthful. But if you cannot—and of a surety you cannot—then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones,- which is prepared for those who reject Faith.” (II: 23-24)

If the Qur’an had been the speech of the Messenger (peace be upon him) it would not have confirmed that nobody would be able to produce the like of it. The verification of this confirmation later on proves that the Qur’an is the miraculous Speech of Allah (SWT).

They could have disproved the Qur’an if they had accepted the challenge and produced one surah like those of the Qur’an. But since they refused the challenge although it would not have been burdonsome, and chose the rough route to confront the Messenger; namely, blood-shedding and waste of property, we conclude that they were completely unable to produce the like of it despite their being the masters of eloquence and rhetoric.

Suppose somebody wrote a book or composed a poem and then challenged other authors and poets saying: “If you cannot imitate my work, you are unbelievers and will abide in the Fire, and your blood is shed with impunity,” it would be impossible that all of them would reject his challenge, for they should save their lives and avoid the outcome of his threat to send them to the Fire. If they should not imitate him in spite of having the means to do that, that would be an unusal wonder indicating the truthfulness of his challenge.[16]

This Miracle is everlasting and will remain till Allah inherits the earth and those on it.[17]      

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