IX.— The Reputed Excellence of the Qurʾān, and its Miraculous Character

Copies of the Qurʾān are held in the greatest esteem and reverence amongst Muḥammadans. They dare not to touch it without being first washed and purified, and they read it with the greatest care and respect, never holding it below their girdles. They swear by it, consult it on all occasions, carry it with them to war, write sentences of it on their banners, suspend it from their necks as a charm, and always place it on the highest shelf or in some place of honour in their houses. Muḥammadans, as we have already remarked, believe the Qurʾān to be uncreated and eternal, subsisting in the very e ence of God. There have, however, been great differences of opinion on this subject. It was a point controverted with so much heat that it occasioned many calamities under the Abbaside K͟halīfahs. Al-Maʾmūn ( A . H . 218) made a public edict declaring the Qurʾān to be created, which was confirmed by his succe ors al-Muʿtaṣim and al-Wās̤iq, who whipped and imprisoned and put to death those of the contrary opinion. But at length al-Mutawakkil, who succeeded al-Wās̤iq, put an end to these persecutions by revoking the former edicts, releasing those that were imprisoned on that account, and leaving every man at liberty as to his belief on this point. ( Abū ʾl-Faraj , p. 262.) The Qurʾān is, however, generally held to be a standing miracle, indeed, the one miracle which bears witne to the truth of Muḥammad’s mi ion, an a umption which is based upon the Prophet’s own statements in the Qurʾān ( Sūrah x. 39 , xi. 16, lii. 34), where he calls upon the people who charge him with having invented it to procure a single chapter like it. But the Muʿtazilites have a erted that there is nothing miraculous in its style and composition ( vide Sharḥu ʾl-Muwāqif ). The excellences of the Qurʾān, as explained by the Prophet himself, claim a very important place in the traditions (see Faẓāʾilu ʾl-Qurʾān , in the Traditions of al-Buk͟hārī and Muslim), from which the following are a few extracts:— “The best person amongst you is he who has learnt the Qurʾān , and teaches it.” “Read the Qurʾān as long as you feel a pleasure in it, and when tired leave off.” “If the Qurʾān were wrapped in a skin and thrown into a fire, it would not burn.” “He who is an expert in the Qurʾān shall rank with the ‘Honoured Righteous Scribes,’ and he who reads the Qurʾān with difficulty and gets tired over it shall receive double rewards.” “The state of a Musulman who reads the Qurʾān is like the orange fruit whose smell and taste are pleasant.” “The person who repeats three verses from the beginning of the chapter of the Cave ( Sūrah xviii .) shall be guarded from the strife of ad-Dajjāl . ” “Everything has a heart, and the heart of the Qurʾān is the chapter Yā-sīn ( Sūrah xxxvi .); and he who reads it, God will write for him rewards equal to those for reading the whole Qurʾān ten times.” “There is a Sūrah in the Qurʾān of thirty verses which intercedes for a man until he is pardoned, and it is that commencing with the words, ‘Ble ed is he in whose hands is the kingdom.’ ” ( Sūrah lxvii .) “God wrote a book two you sand years before creating the heavens and the earth, and sent two verses down from it, which are the two last verses of the chapter of the Cow ( Sūrah ii .); and if they are not repeated in a house for three nights, the devil will be near that house.” “Verily the devil runs away from the house in which the chapter entitled the Cow is read.” “The chapter commencing with these words, ‘Say God is one God’ ( Sūrah cxii .), is equal to a third of the Qurʾān.” “The person that repeats the chapter of the Cave ( Sūrah xviii .) on Friday, the light of faith brightens him between two Fridays.” In the Qurʾān there are many a ertions of its excellence; the following are a few selected verses:— Sūrah iv. 94 : “Can they not consider the Qurʾān? Were it from any other than God, they would a uredly have found in it many contradictions.” Sūrah ix. 16 : “If they shall say, ‘The Qurʾān is his own device.’ Then bring ten Sūrahs like it of your devising.” Sūrah xlvi. 7 : “Will they say, ‘He hath devised it’? Say, If I have devised it, then not one single thing can ye ever obtain for me from God.” Sūrah liii. 4 : “Verily the Qurʾān is none other than a revelation. One terrible in power taught it him.” Maracci, von Hammer, and other Orientalists, have selected the XCI st chapter of the Qurʾān, entitled the Sūratu ʾsh-Shams, or the Chapter of the Sun, as a favourable specimen of the best style of the Qurʾān. It begins in Arabic thus:— ١ وَٱلشَّمْسِ وَضُحَاهَا‎ ٢ وَٱلقَمَرِ إذَا تَلَاهَا‎ ٣ وَٱلنَّهَارِ إذَا جَلَّاهَا‎ ٤ وَٱللَّيْلِ إذَا يَغْشَاهَا‎ ٥ وَٱلسَّمَآءِ وَمَا بَنَاهَا‎ ٦ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا طَحَاهَا‎ ٧ وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا‎ ٨ فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا ‎ ٩ قَدْ أَفْلَعَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا‎ ١٠ وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا‎ Which Mr. Rodwell translates as follows:— 1 By the Sun and his noonday brightne ! 2 By the Moon when she follow eth him! 3 By the Day when it reveal eth his glory! 4 By the Night when it enshroud eth him! 5 By the Heaven and Him who built it! 6 By the Earth and Him who spread it forth! 7 By a soul and Him who balanced it, 8 And breathed into it its wickedne and its piety, 9 Ble ed now is he who hath kept it pure, 10 And undone is he who hath corrupted it! Baron von Hammer rendered it in German thus:— 1 Bey der Sonne, und ihrem Schimmer ; 2 Bey dem Mond der ihr folget immer; 3 Bey dem Tag der sie zeigt in vollem Glanz ; 4 Bey der Nacht, die sie verfinstert ganz; 5 Bey den Himmeln und dem der sie gemacht; 6 Bey der Erde und dem der sie schuf eben; 7 Bey der Seele und dem der sie ins Gleichgewicht gebracht, 8 Bey dem der ihr das Bewu tseyn des Guten und Bösen gegeben, 9 Selig wer seine Seele reinigt; 10 Wer diesel be verdunkelt wird auf ewig gepeinigt. The renowned Orientalist, Sir William Jones, praised the following account of the drowning of Noah’s sons as truly magnificent, and inferior in sublimity only to the simple declaration of the creation of light in Genesis. D’Her be lot also considers it one of the finest pa ages in the Qurʾān ( Sūrah xi. 44–46 ):— وَهِىَ تَجْرِى بِهِمْ فىِ مَوْجٍ كَٱلْجِبَالِ وَنَادَى نُوحٌ ٱبْنَهُ وَكَانَ فىِ مَعْزِلٍ يَا بُنَىَّ ٱرْكَبْ مَعَنَا وَلَا تَكُنْ مَعَ ٱلْكَافرينَ قَالَ سَآوى إلَى جَبَلٍ يَعْصِمُنِى مِنَ ٱلْمَآءِ قَالَ لَا عَاصِم ٱلْيَوْم مِنْ أَمْرِ ٱلَّهِ إِلَّا مَن رَحِمَ وَحَالَ بَيْنَهُمَا ٱلْمَوْجُ فَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُغْرَقِينَ وَقِيلَ يَا أَرْضُ ٱبْلَعِى مَٱءَكِ وَيَا سَمَٱءُ أَقْلِعِى وَغِيض ٱلْمَٱءُ وَقُضِىَ ٱلْأَمْرُ وَٱسْتَوَتْ عَلَى ٱلْجُودِىِّ وَقِيلَ بُعْدًا للْقَوْمِ ٱلظّالِمِينَ‎ It may be rendered as follows:— “And the ark moved on with them amid waves like mountains: “And Noah called to his son—for he was apart— “ ‘Embark with us, O my child! and stay not with the unbelievers.’ “He said, ‘I will betake myself to a mountain that shall save me from the water.’ “He said, ‘None shall be saved this day from God’s decree, save him on whom He shall have mercy.’ “And a wave pa ed between them and he was drowned. “And it was said, ‘O earth! swallow up thy water! and O heaven! withhold thy rain!’ And the water abated, and God’s decree was fulfilled, and the ark rested on al-Jūdī. “And it was said, ‘Avaunt, ye tribe of the wicked!’ ”