Challenge of the Quran

The challenge of the Quran or Tahaddi (Arabic: التحدي في القرآن‎, translit. al-tahaddi fi al-Quran), in Islamic theology, refers to a challenge proposed in the Quran. It requests non-Muslims among both humans and jinn to produce either a chapter or multiple chapters like those within the holy book, with the aim of proving the Quran's superiority over any work. The Quran says that this is impossible to achieve.[1]

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A verse referencing the challenge of the Quran

Challenge types

Non-Muslims are challenged to produce a "statement" or speech similar to the Quran one verse,[2] and challenged to produce either one[3][4] or ten[5] similar chapters in others. Another verse states that neither humans nor jinn could create a book like it, even if they were working together.[6][7]

Some of the verses of Quran which mentioned the challenge:

  • “And if you all are in doubt about what I have revealed to My servant, bring a single chapter like it, and call your witnesses besides God if you are truthful (24) But if you do not do this, and you can never do this, then fear the Fire which has been prepared for the disbelievers and which shall have men and stones for fuel” (Quran 2:23-24)
  • “Or do they say that he has invented it? Say (to them), ‘Bring ten invented chapters like it, and call (for help) on whomever you can besides God, if you are truthful.” (Quran 11:13)
  • “Say: ‘If all mankind and the jinn would come together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce its like even though they exerted all and their strength in aiding one another.” (Quran 17:88)

Said about the challenge

Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb, in his book " Mohammedanism: An Historical Survey" said:

"But the Meccans still demanded of him a miracle, and with remarkable boldness and self confidence Mohammad appealed as a supreme confirmation of his mission to the Koran itself. Like all Arabs they were the connoisseurs of language and rhetoric. Well, then if the Koran were his own composition other men could rival it. Let them produce ten verses like it. If they could not (and it is obvious that they could not), them let them accept the Koran as an outstanding evident miracle"[8]


Dr.Maurice Bucaille author of “The Bible,the Quran and Science” said in page 86 of his book:

" The above observation makes the hypothesis advanced by those who see Muhammad as the author of the Qur'an quite untenable. How could a man, from being illiterate, become the most important author, in terms of literary merit,in the whole of Arabic literature? How could he then pronounce truths of a scientific  nature  that  no other human being could possibly have  developed at the time, and all this without once making the slightest error in his pronouncements on the subject?

The ideas in this study are developed from a purely scientific point of view. They leadto the conclusion that it is inconceivable for a human being living in the Seventh century A.D. to have made statements in the Qur'an on a great variety of subjects that do not belong to his period and for them to be in keeping with what was to be known only centuries later. For me, there can be no human explanation to the Qur'an." [9]

Challengers

While the Quran itself does not explain what parameters people are meant to judge works attempting to meet the challenge by, but Implicitly the challenge in the first place about the rhetoric of the Qur’an and its unique style in the Arabic language, at a time in history when eloquence and poetry was most highly prized in the Arabian Peninsula, Allah revealed the Quran of miraculous exposition to Prophet Mohammad, eloquence was the most suitable miracle for him. Also it was notable aspect of the Quran. During descending of Quran, it first challenged the literary figures of the Arabian Peninsula and then all the people throughout the ages and at every level of knowledge and understanding until the judgment Day, Islamic scholars state that the challenge can never be fulfilled, as no one can compete with the wisdom of God. This view holds that the Quran is the most perfect book to ever exist.[10] Muslims believe that this challenge was unable to be fulfilled in the era of Muhammad,[11] and will remain unfulfilled until the end times.[12] Some scholars attribute this to divine intervention, stating that God will prevent all those who attempt it from achieving their goal.[13]

A number of people, both atheists and members of other religions, have nonetheless attempted to fulfill the challenge, and others have created their own works to meet it. The True Furqan, a Christian work written in Arabic mirroring and published in 1999, is one such attempt.[14]

See also

References
  1. Quran 2:23–24 (Translated by Yusuf Ali)
  2. Quran 52:34 (Yusuf Ali)
  3. Quran 2:23 (Yusuf Ali)
  4. Quran 10:38 (Yusuf Ali)
  5. Quran 11:13 (Yusuf Ali)
  6. Quran 17:88 (Yusuf Ali)
  7. Soltani biyrami, Ismail (2012). "Secret of the kinds of challenging in Quran" (PDF). Quran knowledge (Quran shinakht). 5: 85.
  8. H. A. R. Gibb (1962). Mohammedanism An Historical Survey. Universal Digital Library. A Galaxy Book. pp. 41–42.
  9. "Bucaille, Maurice". Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
  10. "Quran Tafsir Ibn Kathir". Retrieved 2018-08-22.
  11. Julie, Paul; Scott Meisami, Starkey (1998). Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature (1 ed.). Routledge. pp. 654, 876. ISBN 978-0415571135.
  12. Unal, Ali (2008). The Qur'an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English. Tughra Books. p. 1278. ISBN 978-1597841443.
  13. Ghazizade, Kadhim (1995). "outlook on Sarrafah (rejection)". beneficial letter. 3.
  14. al-Mahdy (1999). The True Furqan.
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