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Quran and Sunnah

The Unique Literary Form of the Qur’an

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I was browsing some articles and I came across an excellent piece regarding the eloquence of the Qur’an. This is a subject that I have recently started reading about more and more, and I really wish that it is something that was highlighted to me much earlier on.

We have had a number of articles about the eloquence of the Quran, mostly by Br. Nouman. The paper below is written by  Hamza Tzortzis.

According to both Muslim and Non-Muslim scholarship, the Qur’an cannot be described as any of the known forms of Arabic speech; namely poetry and prose. Taha Husayn, a prominent Egyptian Litterateur, during the course of a public lecture summarised how the Qur’an achieves this unique form…
Abstract:

The inability of any person to produce anything like the Qur’an, due to its unique literary form is the essence of the Qur’anic miracle. A miracle is defined as “events which lie outside the productive capacity of nature”. The argument posed by Muslim theologians and philosophers is that if, with the finite set of Arabic linguistic tools at humanity’s disposal, there is no effective challenge; then providing a naturalistic explanation for the Qur’an’s uniqueness is incoherent and does not explain its inimitability. This is because the natural capacity of the text producer, or author, is able to produce the known literary forms in the Arabic language. The development of an entirely unique literary form is beyond the scope of the productive nature of any author, hence a supernatural entity, God, is the only sufficient and comprehensive explanation. It is the purpose of this article to explain how the Qur’an achieves this unique literary form, thereby explaining the miracle of its inimitability.

Source

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Alhamdulillah, we're at over 850 supporters. Help us get to 900 supporters this month. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

The Prophet (SAW) has taught us the best of deeds are those that done consistently, even if they are small. Click here to support MuslimMatters with a monthly donation of $2 per month. Set it and collect blessings from Allah (swt) for the khayr you're supporting without thinking about it.

Omar Usman is a founding member of MuslimMatters and Qalam Institute. He teaches Islamic seminars across the US including Khateeb Workshop and Fiqh of Social Media. He has served in varying administrative capacities for multiple national and local Islamic organizations. You can follow his work at ibnabeeomar.com.

5 Comments

5 Comments

  1. Pingback: POEMS, POETS, RHYMES AND POETRY » Blog Archive » The Unique Literary Form of the Qur’an

  2. Amatullah

    November 19, 2008 at 11:12 AM

    I’ve also been searching for articles on balaaghah, I haven’t found much in English. Alhamdulillah there are a few great scholarly articles on http://www.islamic-awareness.org by Dr. Mustansir Mir and MAS Abdul Haleem. They can be found in this section: http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Q_Studies/

  3. Marya

    November 20, 2008 at 10:26 PM

    We were blessed in southern California this week to have Br. Hamza come and speak on this topic. If you would like audio from any of his speeches here, please let me know.

    Also, I thought Muslim Matters might be interested in his latest article regarding homosexuality, especially because of the huge furor about the banning of gay marriage in California. You can read it here: http://hamzatzortzis.blogspot.com/2008/11/homosexuality-is-not-unnatural-but-its.html

  4. Pingback: Introduction to the Intellectual Challenge of the Qur’an | MuslimMatters.org

  5. Khan

    November 28, 2008 at 5:44 PM

    Assalamu alaikum

    Sr Marya, would it be possible for you to provide links to Br Hamza’s speeches that were held in SoCal ? Jazakillah.

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