Is Quran the word of God
Is Quran the word of God? A critical assessment of Qur’anic Revelation
Ali Jaffri
The Quran that is available to us at present in book format has been through several stages. Starting with God’s intention to provide his creation with guidance directly from him. Then he chose one of his creation, the angels, to deliver the message to the best of his human creations, Prophet Muhammad pbuh using the communication mode of (wahy) or Revelation. Prophet conveyed the message to people around him. As the messages were coming until the last days of his life and due to other limitations, it was physically not possible to create a book during his lifetime. Therefore, the Prophet instructed his companions to memorise it. Some wrote it on animal skin some on bones and stones. The critical thing was the order of the verses and ensuring that the memorisation has been done correctly. This is what the prophet ensured before leaving this world. After some time, finally the book was created and muslims were able to benefit from it all over the world.
Revelation or (wahy) is defined by Muhammad Hadi Maarifat defines as information that is passed on quickly and secretly. This can be done is different forms and directly or indirectly [1]. In Islamic terminology revelation is referred to as a mode of communication between God and human beings. The holy Quran explains the revelation process in this verse: “It is not possible for a man that he should receive the message of Allah except either by inspiration or from behind a curtain, or Allah sends angels, and the angels bring the message of Allah, whatever Allah wishes. Verily Allah is High, Omniscient.” (42:51). There are several examples of revelations in the Quran however this essay will discuss revelation with reference to the experience of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in receiving the message of God, known as Quran, which was later compiled into a book format by Muslims. Quran is considered Divine guidance and source of all knowledge as confirmed in this verse: “…..And no grain is there within the darkness of the earth and no moist or dry [thing] but that it is [written] in a clear record.” (6:59). The process of revelation of the Quran involved multiple forms of communication, with Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) being the person who interacted with Muslims around him to pass the message of God. There wasn’t a fixed place or time for revelation. However, as the messages were delivered secretly, there is a possibility that the words written in the Quran are not the exact words of God as claimed by Lionel Luckhoo that he was told by God directly to inform the world that Islam is not a right religion [2] or Will Jones who believed that Prophet Muhammad wrote the Quran himself and was not inspired by God [3]. This essay will critically analyse the process of revelation, the interaction of angel Gabriel with Prophet Muhammad, the claims made in the Quran itself about its authenticity as the word of content and answer some of the arguments from non-Muslims.
The revelation of the Quranic verses took place over a period of 23 years spread across the cities of Makkah and Madina. The Quran states: We relate unto thee (Muhammad) the best of narratives; in that We have revealed (awhayna) to thee this Quran (12:3). The first of the verses were revealed in the Cave the Hira where Prophet Muhammad used to worship frequently. Angel Gabriel came in his original form and the Prophet was afraid of his appearance [4], after that Gabriel always came in human form as confirmed by Imam Sadiq narrated by Al-Suduq [5] Gabriel would come to the Prophet and not enter until he had asked permission. When he came in, he would sit before him the way a slave sits. From then onward the verses were revealed in battlefields, whilst he was eating, praying, on the pulpit, riding his horse, etc [6] in public and in private. When the Prophet used to receive a revelation in public, he used to relay it to the people straight away. When he was worried about forgetting it, God sent this message: Do not move your tongue with it to make haste with it, (16) Surely on Us (devolves) the collecting of it and the reciting of it. (17) Therefore, when We have recited it, follow its recitation. (75:16-17). When he was trying to keep up with the speed of revelation coming and conveying it to the people. God sent this message: Be not in haste with the Quran before its revelation to thee is complete, but say, ‘0 my Lord, increase me in knowledge…’ (20:114). Muhammad Hadi Maaria, using various references, also quote that at the time revelation Prophet’s state did not used to be normal. He sometimes sweat and fainted [7]. If we analyse this process of revelation and the interaction of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) with Angel Gabriel, we can see there are some natural effect on the Prophet when he is going through the receiving of revelation. His body is fully engaged as well as his mind. Receiving communication on a frequent basis from God via his Angel which was meant to last until the end of time is not supposed to be an easy thing. This is clearly reflected in the process and claimed by the Quran as well. God says: Had We sent down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have certainly seen it humbled and torn apart (59:21).
If we look at the possibility of Prophet Muhammad making the words of the Quran himself, he will have to be very consistently acting in the same way and would have to do a lot of preparation to collect and deliver messages. They would also need to be worded cleverly to make them sound like the words of God. Also, the whole drama of an angel being used to convey this would have to be created. If we examine the possibility of Gabriel getting the whole message from God and then explaining it in simple Arabic language to the Prophet, this would have not rendered the Prophet into the state mentioned earlier. Furthermore, Angels are messengers of God to the Prophets. They are meant to pass on the information secretly and quickly. The concept of revelation would not apply in the case of Gabriel interpreting the message and then delivering to the Prophet. Revelation simply means to uncover the original. Ibrahim Amini writes in his book Prophethood and the Prophet of Islam that the Prophet used to recite the verses revealed to him frequently in sermons and explanation of Islamic laws. He would recommend Muslims to learn and memorise the verses by heart. He also used to listen to them repeating the verses to ensure that they have memorised it correctly [8]. The Quran consists of more than 6000 verses, when it was revealed for the first time, for a human to follow this sort of practice in order to prove his supremacy over God doesn’t seem to be possible. God says in the Quran: But Allah bears witness to what He has sent down to you—He sent it down with His knowledge—and the angels bear witness [too], and Allah quite suffices as witness. (4:166). If Prophet Muhammad was supposedly making the Quran up and was so clever and calculated in this endeavour, he would have never recited this verse which states that God is bearing witness than Quran is part of His knowledge. We also observe in the Quran that there is a lot of praise of God in different verses. For example, “All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds” (1:2). The continuous mention of God as worthy of praise goes against the Prophet trying to preach his personal religion to others.
We also need to consider the timing of the start of the revelation process. This is the start of the journey of the prophet introducing Islam to the people of Makkah who were idol worshipper. The Prophet was born in Makkah and grew up between them. Over the course of 40 years, he developed an exemplary character and personality which was accepted and praised by even though who didn’t liked his at the time. He was know as the most trustworthy and the most reliable person. People used to believe in the whatever the Prophet said as they never heard any lies or bad things from him. Therefore, when he announced that he was the Prophet of God and the final messenger, people had no choice but to believe what he is saying. However, as the teachings of Islam was against, they habitual practices and they were jealous of the popularity of the Prophet, they came in large numbers to oppose him and created doubts amongst muslims. This led to claims being made against the Prophet, of which some of them were responded to by the Quran as well. For example: “And We have not taught him poetry, nor is it meet for him; it is nothing but a reminder and a plain Quran” (34:69)
If we analyse the process of revelation closely there is a message from God, passed on to the angel and then its passed on to the Prophet. The format its passed on by God to angel is unknown, the format angel receives it is unknown. Only how the angel gives it to the prophet is known as it is in Arabic language. For God to give something to the human, there are a lot of complexities involved. An argument can be that it is impossible for Gods message to be converted exactly into a human language as the language is finite and God is infinite. There are several reason to reject this argument. First one is the verse from the Quran which says: “Say, ‘Should all humans and jinn rally to bring the like of this Quran, they will not bring its like, even if they assisted one another.” (Qur’an 17:88). This challenge from God applied to all humans including the Prophet. The content of Quran expressed in words and arranged in verses and chapters is such that it is incomparable to any human creation. Therefore, even if the Prophet wanted to create something similar or add some of his own bits into the words of the Quran, he was not capable of it. Interesting to note that the challenge is given to humans and jinns only and not angels. This is because humans and jinns are the only creation whom God has given free will. They have the ability to deny or challenge God. So, the challenge was given to them, and it still exists but no one has ever been able to produce a book like Quran. The following verse of the Quran explains the process very clearly: And most surely this is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds. The Faithful Spirit has descended with it, upon your heart that you may be of the warners. In plain Arabic language. (Quran 26:191-194)
Observing the contents of the Quran in verses and chapters, which the Prophet arranged in his own life, one can see that it is not arranged in a standard textbook format but rather in a speech format. When books are written the authors create a table of content and arrange content according to chapters. The chapters talk about specific subjects only. In the Quran we see that multiple subjects are being spoken about in the same series of verses organised in chapters later on. For example, in Chapter 54 Al- Qamar, God is speaking about Prophet Nuh and what happened to his community in verse 8 then he speaks about Prophet Samood, then about Prophet Lut and then about Firon, all stories and reminders separated with the same verse “And certainly We have made the Quran easy for remembrance, but is there anyone who will mind?” This kind of format can only be observed when someone is speaking. This shows that Quran, as its literal meaning suggests, to speak or to recite, is the word of God where the Al-Mighty is speaking to the best of the creations on earth, to pass on the messages to mankind explaining how to recognise their Creator and what he likes and dislikes.
In conclusion, we can say that after analysing the process of revelation, observing the contents of the Quran, reviewing the format of the book, analysing standard features of human speech and finally the character of the last messenger of God, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) we can say that both him and angel Gabriel delivered exactly what they received from God. The Quran that exists in our hands is the word of God and so far, there is no better book of divine guidance available in this world.
References
[1] Book Introduction to the Sciences of the Quran_Muhammad_Hadi_Marifat_vol_I_of_II – Page 12 PDF version
[2] https://trinity-aloha.org/helpful-links/study-on-islam/sir-lionel-luckhoo/
[3] https://www.psephizo.com/life-ministry/who-really-wrote-the-quran/
[4] Book Introduction to the Sciences of the Quran_Muhammad_Hadi_Marifat_vol_I_of_II – Page 25 PDF version
[5] Al-Saduq, Kamal al-Din, 85
[7] Book Introduction to the Sciences of the Quran_Muhammad_Hadi_Marifat_vol_I_of_II – Page 28 PDF version
[8] https://www.al-islam.org/quran-and-hadith-sayyid-saeed-akhtar-rizvi/chapter-1-revelation