Miracles of the Quran

Miracles of the Quran

The iʿjāz of the Quran — its inimitable language, its prophecies, its preservation, and its signs in creation, as the scholars have explained them.

How the scholars approach iʿjāz

  • •The miracle the Quran itself advances is its inimitable speech — the challenge in 2:23 is linguistic, and the classical works of iʿjāz (al-Bāqillānī, al-Jurjānī, al-Rāzī) treat it as the foundation.
  • •The Quran is a book of guidance, not a textbook of science. Verses about creation are called āyāt — signs pointing to the Creator.
  • •Scholars including Ibn Taymiyyah and, in the modern era, many muḥaqqiqīn warn against tying the Quran to changeable scientific theories: what is used as proof today can become an objection tomorrow.
  • •A verse's meaning is settled by Arabic language and the transmitted tafsīr of the Companions and the early generations — not by retro-fitting later discoveries.
  • •Reflection on creation is itself commanded (Quran 3:190-191). The balance is to reflect freely while not claiming the text says more than it says.

The primary miracle affirmed by the scholars: the Quran's language could not be matched by the greatest Arab poets, in an age when eloquence was the highest art.

The open challenge to produce its like

The Quran challenges its opponents to produce a comparable book, then ten chapters, then a single chapter like it — and records that they could not.

Scholarly view: Al-Bāqillānī (d. 403 AH) in Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān argues that the challenge's force lies in its narrowing: had any answer been possible, the Quraysh — masters of Arabic, and highly motivated — would have given it instead of resorting to war.

Quran 2:23-24, 10:38, 11:13, 17:88

A style belonging to no known genre

The Quran is neither poetry (shiʿr), nor rhymed prose (sajʿ), nor ordinary speech, yet it holds a rhythm the Arabs recognised as unmatched.

Scholarly view: Al-Jurjānī (d. 471 AH) located the iʿjāz in naẓm — the precise arrangement of words — rather than in individual vocabulary. This became the dominant scholarly explanation.

Quran 36:69; Sahih al-Bukhari 4953

The testimony of its opponents

Al-Walīd b. al-Mughīrah, asked to describe it, said it was not the speech of a man; ʿUtbah b. Rabīʿah returned from hearing it visibly shaken.

Scholarly view: Ibn Kathīr treats these reports as historically strong and argues they carry weight precisely because the speakers remained hostile to the message.

Sahih al-Bukhari 4937; Ibn Hisham's Sirah

Consistency across twenty-three years

Revealed piecemeal over twenty-three years, in changing circumstances of war, migration, and peace, without internal contradiction or shift in style.

Scholarly view: Al-Suyūṭī notes in al-Itqān that no author composing across two decades of upheaval preserves a single voice — the absence of variation is itself an argument.

Quran 4:82

Verse references and classical sources are given for each point. For detailed study, refer to qualified scholars and the works of iʿjāz.