By karkooshy
One of the proofs for the prophethood of Muhammed ﷺ is the Quran,
which is an imitable literary miracle of unrivaled eloquence. However,
the miraculousness of the Quran is very difficult to realize for someone
who is not specialized in Arabic, never mind someone who does not speak
Arabic at all! Such a person would not be qualified to judge the
literary quality of the Quran, nor be able compare it with other
literature in order to determine its imitability. Fortunately, there are
ways around this problem.
One can appreciate the miraculousness of the Quran, even if one does not speak Arabic, by considering the following three facts:
First: the Quran challenges Prophet Muhammed’s opponents (the
pagan Arabs) to disprove its miraculousness, by getting together and
producing a chapter that rivals the eloquence of any of its chapters:
وَإِن كُنتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِّمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَىٰ عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِّن مِّثْلِهِ وَادْعُوا شُهَدَاءَكُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
And if you doubt about what We have revealed to Our slave,
roduce a chapter like it, and call upon your supporters other than Allah, if you are truthful[1].
And if you doubt about what We have revealed to Our slave,
roduce a chapter like it, and call upon your supporters other than Allah, if you are truthful[1].
Second: The pagan Arabs were expert poets. Likely, the best in
the Arabic language in all of history. To this day, Arabic linguists
use pre-Islamic as a template for grammatical and linguistic rules. This
is proof that Prophet Muhammed’s opponents were competent, and that it
is nomically necessary for them to have been able to meet the Quranic
challenge.
Third: Prophet Muhammed’s opponents were heavily invested in
destroying Islam, and disproving his prophethood. The pagan Arabs
imprisoned, tortured, and killed many of the early Muslims. They even
engaged in wars against Prophet Muhammed ﷺ and his community. Wars where
those pagans spent much time, much money, and risked their very lives,
in order to stop the spread of Islam.
With the above in mind, we argue:
-
- If a claimant to prophethood is aided by a negation of nomic necessity, then he is a true prophet.
- Muhammed ﷺ is a claimant to prophet who was aided by a negation of nomic necessity.
- Therefore, Muhammed ﷺ is a true prophet.
As for the first premise, it is true because God is the creator of
normalcy. So His aiding a claimant to prophethood by negating normalcy
for him, signals His support for this claimant. More on this here.
As for the second premise- Muhammed ﷺ is a claimant to prophethood
who was aided by a negation of nomic necessity- this is actualized in
the pagan Arabs’ inability to address the Quranic challenge. For if the
pagan Arabs were able to fulfill the Quranic challenge, and given their
extreme desire to destroy Islam, they would have spared themselves the
time, money, and the risks of death in battle, and they would have
simply cooperated with one another in order to produce a text which
rivaled the Quran literarily. But they did not, and Islam ultimately
prevailed[2]. Thus, the Quran resulted in a negation of nomic
necessity. Namely, the inability of the pagans to address its
challenge, when they should have been able to do so.
To make the above clearer, Imam Al-Baqilani[2] compares
the failure of the pagans in addressing the Quranic challenge, to a
prophet who challenges his opponents to move their hands, when God
prevents them from this act for the timeframe of the prophet’s
challenge. This is a negation of nomic necessity for those people, and
proof for this prophet’s prophethood. Likewise, God preventing the
pagans from being able to address the Quranic challenge, is a negation
of nomic necessity for them, and proof for Muhammed’s ﷺ prophethood.
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