The Quran’s
Arguments for
Itself
&
The Satanic Verses
The Quran’s
Arguments for
Itself
Arguments in
General
1) the Book itself
2) the Messenger
3) Reasoning from signs
Accusations of Quraysh
Muhammad is a…
1) Poet
2) Kahin (soothsayer)
3) Possessed by jinn
4) Sorcerer
5) Receiving Quran from a foreign teacher
The Book itself is a
wonder…
• “Say: indeed if all mankind and the jinn
came together to bring about the like of
this Quran, they could not bring its like,
even if they all were to assist one another.”
(17:88)
The ‘Book’: Style
• Quran challenges the Quraysh 5 times…
• The Quraysh want a treasure revealed or an angel sent:
“Or do they say that he has made it up? Say: then bring
ten suras like it, made up, and call whomever you can
other than God, if you are truthful. And if they do not
respond to you, then know that this could only be
revealed by God, that there is no god but He, so then will
you submit (muslimun)?” (11:13-4)
• “And if you are in doubt as to what We have revealed to
Our servant, then bring a sura of its like, and call your
witnesses other than God, if you are truthful. And if they
do not do this – and they will not, then fear the Fire
whose fuel is people and stones, prepared for those who
deny the truth.” (2:23-4)
Inimitability (I’jaz) of the
Quran
• Meccans awed: Walid b. al-Mughira and Rabi’ b.
‘Utba are shocked by the “sweet”, otherworldly
language
• Developed in 9th century by scholars like al-Jahiz
(d. 868) and in the 10th century: ex. al-Khattabi
(d. 998) & al-Baqillani (d. 1013) books on I’jaz.
• Some Mutazilites held that the Arabs lost their
ability to produce language like the Quran with
the coming of Muhammad
• Critics:
– Ibn al-Rawandi (d. 910-1)
The Book: Consistency
• “Will you not reflect on the Quran, if it
were from other than God they would find
it in great disagreement.” (4:82)
What better is there?
• “And when the Truth came to them from
Us they said, ‘If only there was brought
like what was brought to Moses.’ But did
they not disbelieve in what Moses was
brought before? They say, ‘two sorceries,
aiding one another!’ And they say, ‘We
disbelieve in it all!’ Say: then bring a book
from God that is better guidance than
these two that I may follow it, if you are
truthful. ” (28:48-50)
The Prophet: You’ve Known Me!
• Those who oppose Muhammad want him
to alter his message and the Quran,
but:“Say: It is not for me to change it from
my own part, I do but follow what is
revealed to me. Indeed I fear, if I
disobeyed my Lord, the punishment of a
grave Day. Say: if God wished I would not
read it to you or make it known to you, for
indeed I have lingered here a lifetime
before it, will you not then reason.” (10:156)
Muhammad: no access to Ilm
• He is not from the Ahl al-Kitab: he is ummi…
• “All that is in the heavens and the earth praises God, the
King, the Sanctified, the Mighty, the Wise. He is it that
sent to the Ummiyeen a messenger from amongst
themselves to rehearse His signs to them, to purify them,
to teach them the Book and the Wisdom, if before they
were but in clear misguidance.” (62:1-2)
• God praises those: “who follow the messenger, the Ummi
prophet, that they find written about in their books, the
Torah and the Injil. He enjoins them to good and forbids
them from bad, makes permitted for them the goodly
things and making prohibited the foul thing, removing
from them the burdening covenant and fetters that were
upon them…” (7:157)
“For thus it is that We have bestowed this
Book upon you from on high. And they to
whom We have given it believe in it, and
there are amongst those others those who
believe. Only the disbelievers deny Our
signs. You did not read from any book
before this, not did you pen one. so that
those falsifiers could doubt.” (29:47-8)
He has no foreign
teacher:
… if he did, this would be in a foreign
language, but it is a “clear Arabic book.”
Muhammad as Honest and
Goodly
• Muhammad is well respected:
– “By the pen and what they write, thou are not,
by the grace of thy Lord, mad. Indeed for you
there is a reward unending, and indeed you
are of sublime character (khuluq azim).”
(68:1-4)
• Not a liar:
– Abu Jahl: “It is not you that we disbelieve but
rather that which you bring”  “For indeed
they do not deny you, but rather it is the signs
of God that the wrongdoers disbelieve.” (6:33)
• He asks no fee
Argument: If he forged it…
• “And if he ascribed words to Us, We would
take him by the right hand and cut his
jugular vein. And no one among you could
prevent Us from him.”
• It’s a real possibility:
“And woe unto to them who write of the Book
with their own hands, saying this is from God,
buying with it a pitiful value….” (2:79)
Nature and God’s Signs
• Natural world: everything obeys God!
– Sun, moon & stars: “It is He who made the stars for
you that you may guide yourselves with their help
through the dark spaces of land and sea…” (6:97)
– Plants and animals
– Creation of humans
• Order in the world: “O my two companions in
prison, are many divergent gods better or the
One God, Mighty?” (12:39)
• The events of nature are God’s will
Past Nations
• “Travel through the earth and see the fate
of those who came before you and denied
the truth”
• “Ways of life have passed away before
you.”
• “More powerful than you were they.”
Argument: Human Soul
• Pre-Time recognition of God
• Who created the world?
• Belief in a storm…