divine revelation
According to the explanation of modern non-Muslims and atheists, the
Prophet's nature was pure through which came to him the word of God, meaning
that the divine system of thought was alive in his own thoughts; the idea
of divinity manifested itself in his thoughts because he was pure and holy;
it was natural (in the minds Of these Scholars) for prophets to attribute
these thoughts to God for, in this way, they ennobled and exalted their
own task.
The Qur'an, however, strongly and convincingly denies that it is the
speech or the ideas of the prophet or, indeed, of any other man. In chapters
X:38 and XI:13 the Qur'an declares that if it is the word of man then detractors
of Islam should produce similar words about every subject treated in the
Qur'an, namely, belief in the after-life, morals, laws, stories of past
generations and other prophets, wisdom and advice. The Qur'an urges them
to seek help anywhere if they do not realize that it is the word of God
and not of man, but adds that even if jinn and man joined forces together
they would not be able to produce a qur'an like it.
In chapter II:23 the Qur'an challenges those who consider it merely
the speech of Muhammad to produce a book similar to it or even just one
chapter like it. The force of this challenge becomes clear when we realize
that it is issued for someone whose life should resemble that of Muhammad,
namely, the life of an orphan, uneducated in any formal sense, not being
able to read or write and grew up in the unenlightened age of the jahiliyah
period (the age of ignorance) before islam.
In IV:82 the Qur'an asks why no inconsistencies or changes appeared
in the verses considering that neither the wording nor the meaning of the
verses has altered despite being revealed over a period of twenty-three
years. If it was the word of man and not the word of Gods then it would
have certainly been affected by change like all other things in the temporal
world of nature and matter.
It is clear that this challenge and these explanations are not mere
empty words of exultation; rather they present the Qur'an for what it is,
namely the word of god.
The Qur'an establishes its own miraculous nature in hundreds of verses.
This miracle is still unexplained by normal literacy standards used to
"grasp" a text. Indeed successive prophets established their prophethood
through similar verses revealed by God. If prophecy was merely the call
of an individual conscience or the inspiration of a pure and sincere soul,
then there would be no sense in claiming it as divine proof or seeking
help in its miraculous nature as the prophet, in fact, did.
Some writers interpret the many miracles of the Qur'an in terms of undisguised
mockery. When we investigate the subject of their mockery we inevitably
discover that the Qur'an means something other than that which they have
understood.
It is not our intention to try and prove the miraculous nature of the
Qur'an nor to demonstrate the soundness and authenticity of its narration;
rather, we would point out that the Qur'an clearly describes the miracles
of the past prophets, like Salih, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. The stories
related in the Qur'an can only be understood and interpreted in the light
of miraculous guidance.
Why, we may ask, if the prophets were mere men, inspired by the purity
of their character, was it necessary to establish the existence of this
miraculous guidance?