CHAPTER TWO The Quran — The Prophet’s Miracle

message of the Quran. Even the subjects of history and geography were originally taken up as part of the Arabs’ attempt to understand and practice the teachings of the Quran. There is no other example in the history of the world of any single book having such an enormous impact on a people and their language. Through its development and improvement of the Arabic language, the Quran became a superb literary masterpiece. Anyone who knows Arabic can appreciate the unique quality of the Quran’s style as compared to that of any other work of Arabic literature. The Quran is written in a divine style vastly superior to anything humans can aspire to. We will close this chapter by relating a story which clearly portrays the difference between the work of God and that of man. It is taken from Sheikh Tantawi’s commentary of the Quran, Al-Jawahir fi Tafsir Al-Quran Al-Karim. ‘On 13 June 1932,’ Tantawi writes, ‘I met an Egyptian writer, Kamil Gilani, who told me an amazing story. One day he was with an American Orientalist by the name of Finkle, with whom he enjoyed a deep intellectual relationship. ‘Tell me, are you still among those who consider the Quran a miracle?’ whispered Finkle in Gilani’s ear, adding a laugh to indicate his ridicule of such belief. He thought that Muslims could only hold this belief in blind faith. It could not be based on any sound, objective reasoning. Thinking that his blow had really gone home, Finkle was visibly pleased with himself. Seeing his attitude, Gilani too started laughing. ‘Before issuing any pronouncement on the style of the Quran,’ he said, ‘We should first have a look and see if we can produce anything comparable to it. Only when we have tried our hand, shall we be able to say conclusively whether humans can produce anything comparable to the Quran or not.’ Gilani then invited Finkle to join him in putting a Quranic idea into Arabic words. The idea he chose was: Hell is extremely vast. Finkle agreed, and both men sat down with pen and paper. Between them, they produced about twenty Arabic sentences. ‘Hell is extremely vast,’ ‘Hell is vaster than you can imagine,’ ‘Man’s intellect cannot fathom the vastness of Hell,’ and many examples of this nature, were some of the sentences they produced. They tried until they could think of no other sentence to express this idea. Gilani looked at Finkle triumphantly. ‘Now that we have done our best, we shall be able to see how the Quran stands above all works of men,’ he said. ‘What, has the Quran expressed this idea more eloquently?’ Finkle enquired. ‘We are like little children compared to the Quran,’ Gilani told him. Amazed, Finkle asked what was in the Quran. Gilani recited this verse from Surah Qaf: ‘On that Day We will ask Hell: ‘Are you full?’ And Hell will answer: ‘Are there any more?’ (50:30) Finkle was startled on hearing this verse. Amazed at the supreme eloquence of the Quran, he openly admitted defeat. ‘You were right, quite right,’ he said, ‘I unreservedly concede defeat.’