The 'Perfect' Literary Style of the Qur'an Myth

How perfect is the literary style of the Quran really?

On the whole, while many parts of the Qur'an undoubtedly have considerable rhetorical power, even over an unbelieving reader, the book, aesthetically considered, is by no means a first-rate performance. ...let us look at some of the more extended narratives. It has already been noticed how vehement and abrupt they are where they ought to be characterized by epic repose. Indispensable links, both in expression and in the sequence of events, are often omitted, so that to understand these histories is sometimes far easier for us than for those who learned them first, because we know most of them from better sources. Along with this, there is a great deal of superfluous verbiage; and nowhere do we find a steady advance in the narration. Contrast, in these respects, "the most beautiful tale," the history of Joseph (xii.), and its glaring improprieties, with the story in Genesis, so admirably executed in spite of some slight discrepancies. Similar faults are found in the non-narrative portions of the Qur'an. The connection of ideas is extremely loose, and even the syntax betrays great awkwardness. Anancloutha are of frequent occurrence, and cannot be explained as conscious literary devices. Many sentences begin with a "when" or "on the day when," which seem to hover in the air, so that the commentators are driven to supply a "think of this" or some ellipsis. Again, there is no great literary skill evinced in the frequent and needless harping on the same words and phrases; in xviii., for example, "till that" (hatta idha) occurs no fewer than eight times. Muhammad, in short, is not in any sense a master of style.

Nöldeke, Theodor. "The Qur'an," Sketches from Eastern History. Trans. J.S. Black. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1892.

The Qur’an claims for itself that it is ‘mubeen,’ or clear, but if you look at it, you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn’t make sense. Many Muslims will tell you otherwise, of course, but the fact is that a fifth of the Qur’anic text is just incomprehensible. This is what has caused the traditional anxiety regarding translation. If the Qur’an is not comprehensible, if it can’t even be understood in Arabic, then it’s not translatable into any language. That is why Muslims are afraid. Since the Qur’an claims repeatedly to be clear but is not—there is an obvious and serious contradiction. Something else must be going on.

Professor Gerd R. Puin, Saarland University

"It is by no means the universal opinion of unprejudiced Arabic scholars that the literary style of the Qur'an is superior to that of all other books in the Arabic language. Some doubt whether in eloquence and poetry it surpasses the Mu'allaqat by Imraul Quais, or the Maqamat of Hariri, though in Muslim lands few people are courageous enough to express such an opinion."

C.G. Pfander, The Mizanu'l Haqq ( Balance of Truth') p.264

"When we read the Old Testament in the original Hebrew, many scholars hold that the eloquence of Isaiah, Deuteronomy, and many of the Psalms, for instance, is greater than that of any part of the Qur'an. Hardly anyone but a Muslim would deny this, and probably no Muslim who knew both Arabic and Hebrew well would be able to deny it."

C.G. Pfander, The Mizanu'l Haqq ( Balance of Truth') p.266

January 15th Demonstration: Western Peace v Islamic Peace

Gnostic Gospels vs Synoptic Gospels

This Weeks Reading List

I just picked up two excellent books that I can't wait to get into first hand:

1. Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam - Patricia Crone

2. Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World - by Patricia Crone and Michael Cook

I haven't begun Meccan Trade as yet but Hagarism has done a lot to confirm my own ideas regarding Islam. Anyone acquainted with the Bible, heretical scripture and the Jewish talmud would be well aware of the borrowing of stories present in the Qur'an. But Crone and Michael go beyond this to explain a possible narrative of how this came about using the best available sources to them.

I will follow up with an extended review after I complete the books.

The Myth of Perfect Preservation: Examining a Variant

Muslims often claim that a sign that the Qur'an is from God is that today's copy is perfectly preserved (16:8) from the eternal tablets (85:22) and this is a sign that it is from Allah. In this brief post I will put aside the evidence from the ahadith mentioning lost and variant surahs and take one example from the physical evidence.

The Uthman Quran or Today's Quran

Brief history:

The Uthman Quran, also known as Tashkent Qur'an, Osman's Koran and Samarkand Codex, is believed by many Muslims to be one of Uthman's original editions which is testified by the blood stains found on the Quran from Uthman's assassination. Then we have today's common Qur'an - a 1924 Egyptian version mass produced early last century.

One Page Examined:

(Click to see full sized)

Take note of the textual variants marked in line 2 (37:103), line 4 (37:105), line 6, line 7 (37:106) and line 8 of the Uthman Quran.


One Variant Examined:

At the start of line two we see a variant - this variant occurs in Surah 37 aya 103.

(Uthman Quran variant from line 2, page 652)

Transliteration: wa ma ‘aslamA
Translation: And they did not submit (i.e. become Muslims)

(Current 1924 Standard Quran Edition)

Transliteration: falammA‘slamA
Translation: When they too submitted (i.e. became Muslims)

Conclusion

We see that the old Uthman Quran shows a stark contradiction to the Quran in use today in surah 37 aya 103. Similarly, in that single page of 8 lines there were 5 variants to the Quran used today.

If we hold the Muslim view that a text cannot be considered inspired in light of textual variants (as they charge against the Bible), they cannot consider their own text to be inspired as it is evidently 'corrupted' and contains numerous textual variants. However, unlike with New Testament scholarship the study of textual variants in Islam is a subject of taboo as they hold onto the claim that the Quran is unchanged through transmission.

This is a dilemma for the Muslims that must be addressed.

The Lengths Muslims Will Go

There are hundreds of scientific myth floating around the internet in regard to Islam. Muslims often appeal to them after being deceived by other high profile Muslim evangelists such as Zakir Naik. Anyone quasi familiar with science and the Qur'an can see the flaws in this sort of argumentation. The Qur'anic ayat is removed from its context, manipulated and then parallelled to a poor outdated and incorrect paraphrasing of a scientific concept. At other times, the historical context of the Qur'an is thrown out altogether. We may have a scientific concept predating the Qur'an by thousands of years yet Muslims will insist that the Qur'an testified this before anyone else.

A few days ago I came across one of the worst arguments I have seen in this respect.

"But recently we have discovered, that there are pain receptor present in the skin, which is responsible, Qur’an mentions Surah Nisa, Chapter No. 4, Verse No. 54, that as to those who reject our signs, we will cast them into the hell fire and as often as the skin is roasted, we shall change it with new skin so that they shall feel the pain. Indirectly Qur’an is saying, there is something in the skin, which is responsible for the pain."
(Do note, the above aya usually appears as aya 56 not 54)

The author is claiming that the above aya demonstrates scientific foreknowledge of receptor cells in the skin. I must conceded - the author of the claim is correct in one regard. The aya does in fact indirectly claim that there is something in the skin responsible for pain. But, my challenge is - find me a book out there that does NOT make the claim that roasting your skin in fire would cause pain.

I did not need the Qur'an to tell me that if my skin gets burnt it would hurt. In fact, I learnt this lesson as a child. Is this evidence of my own divine providence? Surely, I hope an individual as errant as myself (or the Qur'an) does not deserve this title.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-24

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 (ESV)