1 - Re-Defining Iijaz Al-Quran - Fahad Fallahi

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Re-defining Iijz al-Quran: A Study of the Modern

Scholars of Islam on the Inimitability of the Quran - II
Obaidullah Fahad Fallahi *
Abstract: This aims at an evaluation of the modern Arabic scholars of the Quran
who have tried their best to redefine the classical theory of the iijz (the
inimitability of the Quran) in the perspective of the challenges and problems faced
by the Muslim society emphasizing a need to cope with the rational thinking,
modernity, scientific progress, psychological advancement and civilizational
development, though there has been a comparatively lesser description of the
rhetoricism of the Quran too. From Tantwi Jawhari, Muhammad Abduh, Rashid
Rida, Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafii to Amin al-Khauli, Abdul Hamid al-Farhi, Sayyid
Qutb, Bint al-Shati, Abdul Azim al-Zurqni, Nuaym al-Himsi, Bahjah al-Baytr all
of them have explored in their writings some novel dimensions of the matchlessness
of the Quran in the contemporaneous context. They have justified rationally and
psychologically the Quranic historic challenge of producing a book or its some
surahs or few verses similar to the Quran that has offered the irresistable call to the
whole mankind: Say: If the whole of mankind and Jinns were to gather together to
produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they
backed up each other with help and support. (The Quran, 17: 88) The same
challenge occurs in the Quran on three previous occasions (al-Baqarah, 2: 23-24;
Yunus 10: 38, and Hd 11:13) and later also in al-Tr (52: 33-34). The content of all
the verses referred to above is in response to the allegation of the unbelievers that the
Quran had been composed by the Prophet (SAW) and then falsely ascribed to God.
All this was refuted. This refutation of the Quran was logically established by the
modern Arabic scholars through their sound arguments.

The theory of iijz al-Quran (the inimitability or matchlessness of the
Quran) was redefined and reformulated in the modern times, seeking to
address a much wider audience not only the scholars but the common people
as well by using an idiom comprehensible to all. A change in points of
emphasis was notable in the modern discussions on the Quranic challenge to
produce a book or its some chapters, or few verses similar to the Quran. There
was in some cases flying emphasis and in others an almost total neglect with
regard to such aspects of classical deliberations as grammer, rhetoric and
scholastic theology. By contrast, there was an increased emphasis on the
discussions faced by the society at large; the scholars concentrated on the
socio-political dimensions as well as a need to cope with the modernity,
scientific awareness and rational thinking. Now most of the commentators,
exegetes, and scholars of the Quran portrayed the issues of iijz al-Quran in
the canvas of Islamic reform and revival.
The classical theory of iijz was now tried to be rationalized with the
due influence and inspiration from the western intellectual renaissance.
_________________________________________________________
* Reader, Deptt. Of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh- India
Jiht al-Islm Vol. 3 (July-December 2009) No.1

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This jump from the rhetoricism of the Quran to the rationalism and sciencism
explored in it was originally a sharp reaction created by the Muslim interaction
with the rising Europe and by the inactive Muslim culture with the developed
and awakened western civilization. The modern educated scholars or those
who followed modernism or westernizing process thought in case they did not
cope with the modernity and did not try to trace the origin of these scientific
developments and flourishing natural and social sciences in the Quran the
newer generation would see the Islamic legacy as fading and meager and their
faith in the Islamic teaching and in their eternity would be tottering and
disappearing against the amazing advancement of the modern civilization.
They, consequently, tried to prove that the holy Quran had already implied all
these sciences and discoveries in its very design and construction prior to the
modern scholars and scientists who could disclose them only after the fourteen
centuries, this constituted the newer dimension of iijz al-Quran.

In the process of rationalizing the theory of iijz some writers on the
Quranic studies as well as commentators and exegetes challenged the
fundamental issues as well as the methodology applied therein. They provided
a novel dimension to the inimitability of the Quran that provoked the ulama
and the traditional writers. Says in this regard Amin al-Khauli, a modern
Egyptian writer of repute in his book al-Tafsir Malim Hayatih wa Manhajuh
al-Yaum
1
as follows :

This trend (of rationalization) prevailed the tafsir literature and the
theory of iijz al-Quran in the rationalized form became the
dominating ideology and thus compatability of Islam with the
modern life was proved. If Fakhruddin al-Razi had tried to initiate it
in his tafsir, independent books were composed separately in
deriving various sciences from the holy Quran; persuing the verses
specifying different branches of learning. This trend became popular
in the later period. We, therefore, find the specialized books in the
field like Kashf al-Asrr al-Nurniyah al-Quraniyah fima
yataallaqu bi al-Ajrm al-Samwiyah wa al-Ardiyah wa al-
Hayawant wa al-Nabatt wa al-Jawhir al-Madiniyah by
Muhammd bin Ahmad al-Iskandarni in the 13
th
century hijra, and
the book Tibyn al-Asrar al-Rabbniyah fi al-Nabatat wa al-
Madin wa al-Khawss al-Hayawniyah by the same writer. The
first was published from Cairo in 1297 AH while the second from
Syria in 1300 AH. The treatise comparing some issues of astronomy
with the Shariah texts, composed by Fikri Pasha, formerly Education
Re-defining Iijz al-Quran - II

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Minister in Egypt, published from Cairo in 1315 AH, also comes
under this category.

Rationalising the iijz Sayyid Abdur Rahman al-Kawakibi (1849-
1902) the famous reformist thinker of Syria who commenced therein al-
Shahba the famous magazine and faced the persecutions managed by the
Ottomans due to his liberating ideas and movement of renaissance in the Arab
world, derived from the Quran, the scientific discoveries made by the modern
world. He claimed in his writings that the elaborations or implications of these
scientific developments were revealed in the Quran thirteen centuries ago. But
these were not disclosed so that these might be proved a miracle of the Quran
at the time of their emergence.

Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafii (1880-1937), the famous writer and essayist in
Egypt too tilting toward the claim that the Quran consists of the principles of
all the disciplines of learning, has counted it the main constituent of the
mujizah of the Quran. Dr. Abdul Aziz Ismail also expressed the similar views
serially in the magazine al-Azhar and got it published later on in the form of a
book titled al-Islam wa al-Tibb al-Hadith in 1357 AH by Matba al-Itimd in
Egypt. The author claimed a number of Quranic verses were to be
comprehended extensively only by those who were aware of the modern
knowledge.
2
He also expressed that with the increased knowledge and
advanced science the connotations and implications of the holy verses would
be more exposed and there would come a time surely when the men of
temporal knowledge will turn into the vanguard of Islam.
3
This rationalizing
trend, was, however, theorized and more elaborated by Shaykh Tantawi
Jawhari (1870-1940) of Egypt.
4

Tantawi Jawhari
Shaykh Jawhari, the Egyptian scholar and exegete, acquired, besides
Arabic Islamic learning, a number of sciences and became famous because of
his keen interest in interpreting the religious texts in the light of modern
scientific advancements. After being graduated from Dar al-Uloom, Cairo he
was appointed lecturer therein. He delivered lectures in the Egyptian
University and supported enthusiastically the freedom movement. He died in
Cairo.

Shaykh Jawhari, acclaimingly, states that he was, by very nature, fond
of the wonders of the universe and the beauties and splendours of the nature.
He realized, after a deep understanding and full comprehension of the Muslim
Ummah and its deteriorating condition as well as its rich legacy of thought,

10
that most of the intellectuals and modern educated enlightened men overlooked
the religious truths and humiliated them. To him, there were very rare people
who had ever reflected in the creation of the universe and in the secrets and the
marvelous living miracles of the nature. Facing this critical situation he
composed a number of treatises arguing the scientific discoveries with the help
of the Quranic verses and tried his best to reconciliate between the two. His
book covering this conciliatory approach included Nizm al-lam wa al-
Umam, Jawhir al-Uloom, al-Taj al-Murassa, Jamal al-Aalam, al-Nizm wa
al-Islam and al-Ummah wa Hayatuha.

These books were publicized and even translated into various
languages because of their conciliatory approach between the religion and the
science but could not satisfy the author himself. He therefore planned to
provide a full-fledged commentary of the Quran following the same
methodology. He prayed to God bestow on him to write a tafsir that might be
proved an exhaustive to all the sciences and fully satisfying to all the groups of
people. The author initiated to dictate the tafsir to his students in the Dar ul-
Uloom and publish them first serially in the magazines and then in the form of
the book entitled as Al-Jawhir fi Tafsir al-Quran al-Karim al-Mushtaml ala
Ajaaib al-Mukawwant wa Gharib al-Ayt al-Bhirah, with the notes on the
title cover that reads God willing after being the tafsir completely published a
supplementary volume would be followed to elaborate what was concisely
described in the book, of the sciences of the universe, the legal ordinances
implied therein and the varying schools in it.

Shaykh Jawhari composed the tafsir in order to provide an strong
force to study the temporal and metaphysical worlds, and that such youths
might emerge from amongst this ummah who compete the Europeans in the
agricultural science, medicine, mineralogy, mathematics, engineering and other
sciences and technologies. Why is it not possible while the Quran contained
the verses dealing with the knowledge and its whereabouts that exceeded seven
hundred and fifty in number and the verses concerning the jurisprudence are, in
contrast, reduced to one hundred and fifty only?
5

The learned author discussed in the tafsir what was required to a
Muslim: the legal ordinances, the moral ethics, and the wonders of the
universe; he identified in it the marvels of the learnings and unusuals of the
creation in order to encourage the Muslims to discover the truths of the
meanings of the signs implied in the animals, the plants, the earth and the
skies. Addressing the young generation he says: You must know that this
tafsir constitutes a Godly fragrance, a sanctified counsel, a symbolical tidings,

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instructed by the divine inspiration, and I believe this tafsir will gain a standing
to receive the popular recognition, and it will be proved an strong factor for the
advancement of those who were subjugated in the land and God will surely
help those who will assist Him, verily Allah is Powerful, Mighty.
6

Science-based Approach
Shaykh Jawhari persuades Muslims to seriously think over the Quranic
verses concerning the sciences of the universe and that they should not
demonstrate lethargy in reflecting in the Quran rationally. He says: O Muslim
community! Quite surprising is the reality that only few verses were revealed
about the law of inheritance but the Muslims being inspired from that
developed their taste to mathematics. More than seven hundred verses relating
to the wonders of the nature are recited from the Quran but these are not
operated genuinely in the life! This is the age of learning and science. This age
signifies the emergence and advancement of the light of Islam. Why do we not
dynamically deal with the verses concerning the universe as our ancestors used
to interact enthusiastically the verses of inheritance? By the grace of Allah this
tafsir of mine will offer the gist of all the sciences and technological progress;
the study of which precedes the study of the religious obligations. Studying the
science of religious obligations forms the supererogatory position in law. The
thinking over the wonders of the universe, conversely, supports the acquisition
of the knowledge of God, and it constitutes the individual obligation.
7

Again he, emphasizing on the learning of modern knowledge and
technology, expresses his feeling of mild astonishment: Amazingly in the
field of legal ordinances the scholars blacked thousands of pages while the
Quranic verses dealing with them are no more than 150 in number? They very
rarely touched the verses that interacted the sciences of the universe while no
Quranic chapter is evacuated of them? The verses dealing with these sciences
and their accessories, instead, are enumerated as more than seven hundred and
fifty in number. How justified in Shariah as well as in reason is the attitude of
neglecting the science of which the verses revealed are abundant in number? If
our ancestors were upperhanded in the jurisprudence, we must compete others
in the natural sciences.
8

The author while explaining the Quranic verses, first provides a literal
meaning in brief as well as the socio-political issues involved therein, a method
usual to other commentators of the Quran. Then he elaborates in detail the
scientific and rational advancements made by the west in the field of
technology as well as the social sciences that relate in one way or the other to
the verses under discussion and calls this portion as Latif or jawhir, a

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method opposed to all the exegetes. These latif constitutes the iijz al-Quran
and declares the divine book as inimitable. The author convincingly gives the
impression to the readers that the scientific discoveries made, the philosophical
and social thoughts developed so far by the European intellectuals were
inimitably discussed or implied in the Quran fourteen centuries ago.

This sciencism in the interpretation of the Quran as well as in
redefining the theory of iijz al-Quran was vehemently criticized and
disapproved by the contemporary scholars, ulama and commentators of the
Quran like Shaykh Mahmud Shaltut, Professor Amin al-Khauli, Shaykh
Muhammad Mustafa al-Maraghi, as well as Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Rida,
Sayyid Qutb, Muhammad Husain Dhahabi and others.
Another dimension of iijz was discovered by Shaykh Muhammad
Abduh (1848-1905), in which the literary taste alongwith the socio-political
dimensions of the Quranic teachings dominates other methods and schools,
overlooking sectarian approach as well as the excessive technical discussions
of grammer, rhetoric and jurisprudential microscopic issues. This literary taste
represented the miraculous refined beauties of the Quranic style; elaborated the
principles and secrets of nature the Quran implied; and accommodated the
modern knowledge since these were in conformity with the Quranic ideology
of tawhid.

Abduh
Shaykh Muhammad Abduh, the Egyptian politician and Islamic
reformist, one of the graduates of Azhar who was later on appointed mufti al-
diyr al-Misriyah in 1899, was among the prominent leaders of the Muslim
world. He initiated the national movement through his writings against the
British occupation in the magazine al-Waqi al-Misriyah as the editor, and
was expatriated. He consequently released the worldwide famous magazine al-
Urwah al-Uthqua alongwith Shaykh Jamaluddin al-Afghani (1838-1897)
from Paris. Among his contributions are the books like Rislah al-Tawhid,
Sharh Maqmt al-Badi al-Hamadani, Sharh Nihaj al-Balaghah. The field in
which he gained the name and fame was of tafsir.

Shaykh Abduh composed the commentary of the 30
th
part of the Quran
in 1321 AH. after the due advice given by some members of the al-Jamiah al-
Khayriyah al-Islamiyah for the individual benefit of those ulama who used to
teach the Quran in the schools of the Jamiah. Tafsir Surah al-Asr, another
work of the Shaykh, is the collection of the lectures delivered by him to the
scholars of Algeria in 1903. He also delivered the tafsir lectures in Jamia al-
Azhar initiating from the chapter al-Fatiha in Muharram 1317 A.H. and this

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continued recurrently till the verse No. 126, chapter al-Nisa in the month of
Muharram 1323 A.H. He died on 8
th
Jumada al-Ula in the same year. These
lectures were used to be noted, edited, and serially published in the monthly al-
Manr by his notable disciple Sayyid Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865-1935)
after being revised by the learned teacher. Inspite of being negligible in
quantity, this work created a revolution in the tafsir literature and provided a
broader canvas for the coming commentators of the Quran who were inspired
by him in one way or the other.

Muhammad Abduh believes in the inimitable position of the Quran
because the Book was offered by the unschooled Prophet; it predicted the
unseen; and all the human attempts to resist the Quranic challenge were
defeated. He says, in case a person raises the objection that inimitability is
established against one who personally failed to respond and not against the
others who might access the nearest method to refute it, he will be answered
that the inimitability here in this case differed from the inimitability to produce
any proof. The iijaz is established on the ground reality that the human
capabilities are actually below the status and position of the Quran. This
inimitability stands, to Abduh, because of the rhetoric of the Quran
9
, a stand
already taken by al-Baqillani in this regard.

The books on the theory of iijaz al-Quran composed by the ancestors
fulfilled the need of the time in which these were written excellently, but do
not satisfy the requirements of the modern age, says Sayyid Muhammad
Rashid Rida in his preface to the second edition of Iijaz al-Quran wa al-
Balghah al-Nabawiyah by Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafii. The theory of iijaz now
needed a saying more comprehensive, an elaboration more extensive, an
argument more exhaustive in the style that might appeal the heart, attract the
mind, satisfy the ears and encourage the taste. This emergent demand of the
time was responded enthusiastically by a distinguished scholar who was none
but Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafii, appreciates and welcomes him Shaykh Rida.
10

Al-Rfii
Mustafa Sadiq al-Rfii (1880-1937), the Egyptian scholar and essayist
who criticized in the letter and spirit the movement of renovation and
modernization launched by Dr. Taha Hussain in the field of thought as well as
in the literature. The articles written by him on the controversy over the
prevailing conflict between the traditionalism and modernism in the Arab
world during the period from 1908 to 1926 were edited and published under
the title of Tahta Rayah al-Quran. Rafii held the firm view that the
modernization led by Taha Hussain and his supporters planned to divide the

14
Arabic literature in to classical and modern and thus to target victimize the
Arabic language by the refined sugar-quoted methods and to criticize the
Quran and its inimitability. He considered, therefore, all the efforts to defend
the language and its purity and authenticity as a jihad to be performed for the
sake of God under the banner of the Quran.
11

Among the other books al-Rafii composed are Tarikh db al-Arab,
Hadith al-Qmar, Kitab al-Maskin, and as the poet his national songs like
Aslimi Ya Misr, Nashid al-Istiqll and al-Bahr al-Munfajir; his treatises on the
issues of love and affection like Rasail al-Ahzn, Hiya wa Hua, al-Sahb al-
Ahmar, and Awrq al-Ward; and in criticism apart from Tahta Rayah al-Quran
his writings like Ala al-Safud. His magnum opus, however, is the book titled
Iijaz al-Quran wa al-Balghah al-Nabawiyah.

Al-Rafii, deals in detail with the various schools of the theory of iijaz
and evaluates them addressing with the spirit and enthusiasm of a devout
Muslim who seems antagonist against those who opposed him, and reacts
sharply sometimes applying the method below the standard he maintained in
other writings.
12
He in this book supports wholeheartedly everyone who
strengthens the cause of Islam and the inimitability of the Quran. In the
concluding pages of the book he offers his peculiar opinion about the theory of
iijaz al-Quran. Since the book was considered by the Quranic scholars as the
pioneering one in the field it is advisable to summarise the discussions of the
book in the following :
1. Al-Rafii defines the theory of iijaz as an accumulation of the two things:
(a) inaccessibility of human being to resist the Quranic challenge, and (b)
the continuity of this inaccessibility through the ages.
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2. The author narrates the first person who opposed the Quran was a jew
namely Labeed bin al-Aasam who was followed by Talut, then
propagated by Banan bin Sanan, al-Jad bin Dirham and others in their
periods. He has discussed the mischievous issue of the Quran being the
created entity and how it was strengthened by the Mutazilites who were
greatly influenced by the alien philosophies and ideologies, and how the
theory of iijaz was amalgamated with this non-Islamic theory of khalq al-
Quran.
3. The author elaborated the view of sarfah and the arguments offered by its
supporters. He responded in this context to al-Nazzam, al-Murtuda, Ibn
Hazm, al-Jahiz and others.
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4. Al-Rafii discusses in detail the various stands of iijaz and nullifies all of
them, like the theory of order and arrangement maintained in the Quran
unfamiliar to all the varieties of order incorporated by the Arabs in their

15

prose and poetry in the beginnings, the crossing points and the
punctuation marks; or the theory of the words being safe from all the
faults that might disgrace the words; or the theory that the Quran is
miraculously evacuated of the contradictions and consists of the noble and
refined meanings; or the justification of the iijaz being implied in the
combination of all these things. The author disapproves them as any
satisfying rationale of the iijaz.
15

5. He describes the theory of iijaz as propounded by Abdul Qahir al-Jurjani
in his Dalil al- Iijaz, and refutes the claim that he was the first writer on
the subject. According to al-Rafii, al-Jurjani was preceded in this regard
by Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Yazid al-Wasiti (d. 306 A.H.) and Abu
Isa al-Rummani (d. 382 A.H.).
6. The author also provides an account of the late coming scholars like
Yahya bin Hamzah al-Yamani (d. 749), the writer of al-Tirz fi al-
Balghah and the like. They believe in the eloquence of the words, the
nobility of the meaning and the beauty of the order as the factors to the
inimitability of the Quran, Al-Rafii disapproves all these factors.
7. Al-Rafii says that some slanderous elements against the Quran cite the
sophistries affected by some ulama in response to allegations charged by
the enemies, while the holy Quran is far beyond to these sophistries and
affectations. He says no man of letters in the later period has ever denied
the iijaz.
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8. He also mentions Isa bin Sabih al-Muzdr and the followers of the
Muzdarid school; as well as Al-Husayn bin al-Qasim al-Anani and his
followers known as Husayniah who denied the inimitable position of the
Quran. Al-Rafii declares the claims of these as the madness (junn)
undoubtedly.
17

9. Enumerating the books composed so far in the discipline of iijaz, al-Rafii
mentions al-Jahiz (d. 255 AH) and his book Nazm al-Quran and criticizes
Abu Bakr al-Baqillani for devaluating al-Jahiz. It was slipped from al-
Baqillani that the situation that called al-Jahiz to write a book in the iijaz
in the beginning of the third century was different form the one that
persuaded him to compose his book in the end of the fourth century. Al-
Jahiz, therefore, could not exceed the saying of the elaboration and
eloquence as was conceived in the earliest period because he himself
initiated writing in this discipline and the science of rhetoric was not
constructed so far.
18
Al-Rafii also mentions Iijaz al-Quran by al-Wasiti,
the same title by al-Rummani (d. 382) as well as the same by Abu Bakr al-
Baqillani also. The author applies on al-Baqillani the criticism he himself
had already applied on al-Jahiz. The iijaz of the Quran, to al-Baqillani as
well as to al-Jahiz also, revolves around the word, the elaborating

16
difference between one variety of words and the other, and other technical
issues. He has provided a number of examples from each variety of prose
and poetry to prove his stand. To al-Rafii, these examples proved by al-
Baqillani represented the demerits and not the merits.
19
Al-Baqillani is,
however, successful in elaborating the fundamental issues to which he has
written the book, so much as the scholars have duly considered the book
as being unmatchable in the status, the power of argument, the sound
arrangement and compilation as well as in the eloquence of the
interpretation the book possessed. His book Iijaz al-Quran satisfied his
contemporaries meeting accordingly their understanding and literary taste.
The book, however, can not fully convince on the issue of inimitability of
the Quran each and every generation.
20
Al-Rafii, then, mentions other
writers of the iijaz like al-Khattabi (d. 388), Fakhruddin al-Rzi (d. 606),
Ibn Abi al-Isba (d. 654), al-Zamlakani (d. 727), Abu Zayd al-Balkhi (d.
934), Ibn Suraqua and others.
10. The learned author narrates systematically how the challenging verses
were revealed in the descending order initiating from producing a book
similar to the Quran, and that finally reduced to the challenge of bringing
out a chapter like unto it. The holy Quran finally declared :
And if you are in doubt as to what we have revealed from time to
time to our servant, then produce a Sura like there-unto; and call
your witnesses or helpers (if there are any) besides God, if your
doubts are true. But if you cant and of a surety you can not
then fear the Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones, which is prepared
for those who reject Faith (2: 23-24).
While elaborating this verse al-Rafii says: Reflect in the order and
coherence maintained in the verses you will be surprised. The Quran
excessively expresses the recklessness and excitement of Arabs in order to
prove that their capability to resist the divine challenge was similar to the
capability of a dead body to be active like one who was alive. This was
impossible in the past and would be so in the future also. The Quran,
therefore, challenged: Lan tafalu that is, of a surety you can not. The
Quran pronounced, this was above their power, their strategy, their
assistance and also above the whole world to respond. Then the Quran
declared these Arabs as the fuel; then mixed them with the stones of the
Hell, and finally called them the kafir, the unbeliever. In case they
possessed any power that was to burst out inevitably. But there remained
the ashes only without any fire.
21

11. The author also describes in detail the wrongly claimants of prophethood
and those who tried their worst in vain to resist the Quranic challenge, as
Musaylimah bin Habib (d. 12 AH), Abhalah bin Kab popularly known as

17

al-Aswad al-Ansi (d. 11 AH), Tulayhah bin Khuwaylid al-Asadi (d. 21
AH), Sajh bint al-Harith (d. 55 AH), and al-Nadhr bin al-Harith (d.
2AH). He also narrates those who were accused of resisting the Quranic
challenge like Ibn al-Muqaffa (d. 759), Shams al-Mali Qabus bin
Washamgir (d. 403), Abul Husain Ahmad bin Yahya known as Ibn al-
Rawandi (d. 293 or 301 or 350 differently described), Abu al-Tayyib al-
Mutanabbi (d. 354), Ibn Sina (d. 1037 AD) and Abul Ala al-Maarri (d.
449), defending some of them as well. The author, however, attacks Ibn
al-Rawandi and nullifies all his claims against the inimitability of the
Quran one by one. The author quotes from various books of his like Kitab
al-Farid which he had written for the refutation of the Prophet (SAW); Al-
Taj; Nat al-Hikmah; Kitab al-Zamurradah; Qadhib al-Dhahab, al-
Marjn and Risalah al-Ghufran, and declares him as a man of corrupt
mind and corrupt thinking (fsid al-aql and fsid al-takhayyul).
22

12. To al-Rafii, Arabs failed to resist the Quranic challenge because they felt
from the core of their hearts the inimitable position of the Quran since
they were by their strong nature as well as due to their dominant taste,
acclaimingly, over the techniques of the words and the schools of the
eloquence, influenced by the superiority of the Quranic language over
their literature. And as their knowledge advanced their feeling and belief
in the inimitability of the Quran also increased simultaneously. The whole
world in this regard constitute an individual soul, the author firmly
writes.
23
The Quran declares :
And if all the trees on earth were pens and the Ocean (were
ink), with seven oceans behind it to add to its (supply), yet
would not the words of God be exhausted (in the writing): for
God is Exalted in power, Full of Wisdom (31: 27).
13. Al-Rafii then elaborates his own opinion of the iijaz. He says that the
literary style of an erudite writer is the outcome of the specific nature he
inherits. The style of the Quran being inimitable and inaccessible turns to
the fact that it was not to be ascribed to a human nature. In case it was
incorrect it had necessarily to be familiarized with the Arab literary styles.
Because of this unique feature the Quran was free from all sorts of
contradictions.
Al-Rafii, in his argument to favour the Quranic literary style, turns the
reason into reasonable, and the cause into effect. He, therefore, instead of
arguing that the Quran is a revealed book because it is miraculous and
inimitable, claims it is miraculous because it is revealed by Allah. He
provides the rationale in the favour of the Quran being unique and
unmatched with the styles of Arabs, that the Quran did not offer a human
format entirely.
24


18
14. Apart form its style the Quran is inimitable also because of its rhym and
pure music, says al-Rafii. The Arabs were confronted by a novel variety
of linguistic merit and the music being in the fluency and the complete
harmony of the Quran; in its symmetric consecutive arrangement; and in
its well-balanced structure by each and every accent and syllable as it is
tuned accordingly and is not recited verbally only.
25
He cites in this regard
the case of Umar bin al-Khattab who did embrace Islam only when the
Quran turned all of sudden his severe and harsh personality in a tender-
hearted one. But the more interesting example was, says al-Rafii, that of
the three most eloquent Qurayshite leaders, as cited in the books of
history. According to the narrations, Al-Waleed bin al-Mughirah, Al-
Akhnas bin Qays and Abu Jahl bin Hisham assembled a night to listen
secretly the Quran being recited by the Prophet of God (SAW) in his
house while praying. They continuously listened until the dawn appeared.
When they met each other in their way to return they blamed each other
and said in case the common people had seen them listening the Quran
secretly they would have followed them and embraced Islam. In the
second night, however, they repeated the same and while returning in the
early morning when they again visited each other in their way they took a
pledge not to repeat it. In the light of the day al-Waleed bin al-Mughirah,
however, came to al-Akhnas and asked his opinion about the verses he
heard from Muhammad (SAW). Al-Akhnas said: what do I say? Banu
Abd al-Muttalib claimed the post of hijbah (keeping the door of holy
Kabah) and we accepted it. They asked for the sidnah (serving the holy
Kabah) and we did not raise any objection. They insisted on the siqyah
(provide water to the pilgrims) being rotated within them, and we agreed
with them. Now they say: Amongst us emerged a prophet on whom the
revelation is made. By God! I can never believe in him. Al-Rafii says
that nothing prevented them from the faith except the tribal prejudice. He
also cites the following Quranic verse in this regard :
The Unbelievers say: Listen not to this Quran, but talk at random
in the midst of (its reading), that you may gain the upper hand (41:
16).

The Makkan pagans thought in case they did not listen to the Quran they
might be upper-handed. The favourite trick of those who wish to dishonour
Revelation is, not only not to listen to it themselves, but to talk loudly and
insolently when it is being read, so that even the true listeners may not be able
to perform their devotions. They think that they are drowning the voice of
God: in fact they are piling up misery for themselves in the future. For Gods
voice can never be silenced. Al-Rafii says the word taghlibn (you may gain

19

the upper hand) attracts our attention. This should be reflected in again and
again.
26

On this topic the individual opinion of al-Rafii regarding the inimitable
features of the Quran may be summarized as under :
1. The music and the rhyme the holy Quran implied.
2. The spirit reflecting transparently in the order and arrangement maintained
in the Quran. This while addressing the soul does not constitute the words
with the meanings only; it rather forms an enlightened life, a spiritual
creation. In it lies the sound of natural soul in the construction of the
Arabic language, and the sound of thought or the intellect and this was
abundantly available to the Arabs. The distinction of the Quran lies in a
third sound e.g. the sound of sensitivity in the words and the illustrated
meanings.
27

3. The Quran is free from the words supportive; these are used in the books
of the most eloquent literary men. To al-Rafii, the Quran has used the
words unavoidable to communicate the meaning it intends. No additional
or supportive words are found in the Quran.
4. The Quran comprises of the inimitability both in the inner and outer
dimensions. It consists in its design the fundamental principles of the
sciences and discoveries explored by the human being only in the modern
time. Responding to Ibn Rushd (d. 595) who discussed briefly how the
Quran covered all the logical methods of education both in imagination
(tasawwur) as well as in testification (tasdiq), al-Rafii says that it is not
strange in the logic that the words are expressive and elaborating to all the
levels of understanding as well as they lead the elites to explore the
specialized justification and otherwise interpretation (tawil) and
simultaneously the argumentative nature of these words does not result in
specifying one interpretation and rooting the others out. It is quite possible
the true interpretation would have emerged after a long period in which
the human intellect would have matured. This was demonstrated in the
modern times. A distinguished verse from the Quran reads :
O ye assembly of Jinns and men! If it be you can pass beyond
the zones of the heavens and the earth, pass you! Not without
authority shall you be able to pass! (55: 33)

See the chapter al-Anaam verses 130-134, where the jinns and men are
addressed collectively. That whole passage should be read as a commentary on
this verse. If you think that because you do things in secret, or because some
of your sins do not seem to meet their inevitable punishment, or some of your
good deeds seem to go unnoticed, do not be deceived. Judgement will soon

20
come. You can not possibly escape out of the zones in which your lives have
been cast, without authority from God. Be grateful to God for the chances He
has given you. All that has been promised unto you will come to pass: nor can
you frustrate it in the least bit (6: 134).

According to al-Rafii, the verse quoted above implies in its design the
discovery of flying in the air and that it would be explored by the ins (the
human being). This interpretation could be realized only after the passage of
thirteen centuries. This novel rationale was provided by the inimitable rhetoric
of the Quran.
28
This was interpreted by al-Rafii as strengthening (al-siysah al-
mantiqiyah) the logical argumentation by the method of the rhetoric (tariqah
al-balghah). Apart from the spiritual and synthetic inimitability advocated by
al-Rafii, another trend emerged in the theories of iijaz al-Quran and that was
the trend of psychological inimitability of the Quran (al-iijaz al-nafsi)
founded in the modern times by Shaykh Amin al-Khauli.

Amin al-Khauli
Amin al-Khauli (1313-1385/1895-1966), a member of al-Majma al-
Lughawi in Egypt, got his education in Azhar and was graduated therefrom in
Islamic judiciary. He was appointed after sometime the teacher in the Old
Egyptian University and held some other offices therein. In 1953 he was
attached with the Ministry of Education and worked there till 1955. He
represented his country in a number of seminars and academic delegations
abroad. He died in Cairo. Among his contributions are al-Balghah al-
Arabiyah, Fann al-Qawl, Malik bin Anas (three volumes), Al-Mujaddidun fi
al-Islam, Al-Azhar fi al-Qarn al-Ishrin, al-Adab al-Misri, al-Jundiyah fi al-
Islam, Min Huda al-Rasul, Mushkilat Hayatina al-Lughawiyah and Kunnash fi
al-Falsafah. In the initial stage of his career when he was appointed to look
after the religious affairs in the Egyptian embassy at Rome, he created
controversy over some sensitive issues and was then transferred to Berlin.
There too he provocated a number of elements and was therefore called back
by the Egyptian government. Being a creative writer he was criticized from
some corners.

Amin al-Khauli revived the issue of iijaz in the modern time by his
thorough discussions on the subject. He touched the issue and its whereabouts
methodologically in his three discussions: (i) the Arabic Rhetoric and the
Impact of Philosophy on it, (ii) Tafsir: Milestones in its life and its
Methodology Today and (iii) The Arabic Rhetoric and the Psychology
published first in the Majallah kulliyah al-Aadb, vol. IV, part 2, December,
1936. All these articles were included later on in the book titled Manhij

21

Tajdid, edited and published by one of his distinguished students Dr. Shukri
Muhammad Abbad.

According to the preface written by Dr. Abbad, Shaykh Amin al-Khauli
was the champion of both the traditionalism and the modernism in the
language, rhetoric and literary issues, as well as in the thoughts and the
methodology he applied. Both the modernization and the traditionalism had
penetrated his nature and thought interactively as the realism and idealism
interacted. He was, therefore, titled a (manhaji) methodological teacher and
scholar.
29

In his discussion on the Arabic Rhetoric and the Impact of Philosophy on
it, a lecture he delivered in the evening of March 19, 1931 in the premises of
the Royal Geographical Society, Amin al-Khauli elaborates how the Arabic
rhetoric was a medium to access the inimitable position of the Quran according
to the classical scholars like al-Baqillani, al Jurjani, al-Razi, al-Alawi, al-
Sakkaki and others. This noble purpose of Arabic rhetoric was explored in the
very beginning by Amr bin Ubaid Abu Uthman al-Basari (d. 144/761) the chief
of Mutazilites in his age, for instance, who regarded the rhetoric an
instrument to establish the arguments of God in the minds of the scholastic
scholars so that they welcome them without any delay. Abu Hilal al-Askari
(d. after 1005 AD), the author of Kitab al-Sanatayn likely elaborated the
significance of teaching the rhetoric in the same perspective, since the
negligence of this discipline would have culminated in the absence of the
knowledge of the theory of iijaz al-Quran argumentatively and scientifically.
Recognising the inimitable position of the Quran blindly, to al-Askari, was not
desirable nor does it suit to a man of knowledge and understanding.
30
The
learned scholar also quotes Amir Yahya bin Hamzah al-Alawi (d. 745/1344),
the author of Al-Tirz al-Mutadhammin li Asrr al-Balghah wa Uloom
Haqiq al- Iijaz, who has specified the motive of studying the rhetoric as the
recognition of iijaz only. Al-Alawi defines the balaghah as a discipline of
knowledge by which we possibly may know the issues of iijaz because there
is a consensus on behalf of the researchers that there is no way to be informed
of the realities of iijaz and to draw its rules out of eloquence and expression
except by identifying this science of rhetoric and strengthening its
foundation.
31

Al-Khauli also explains that due to keeping in mind the noble purpose of
studying the science of Arabic rhetoric, most of the scholars in the varying
stages named their books with the title of iijaz like Dalil al- Iijaz by al-
Jurjani, Nihyah al-Iijaz fi Diryah al- Iijaz by Fakhruddin al-Razi and Kitab

22
al-Tirz by al-Alawi. To the learned author, the theory of iijaz left its
tremendous impact on the shaping and orientating the compositions in the
discipline of the rhetoric which can not be grasped without turning to the
various schools of scholasticism dealing with the theory of iijaz.
32

Critic of Rationalisation
Al-Khauli mentions the theory of rationalizing the iijaz al-Quran that
prevailed the books composed by the scholastic theologians as well as by the
rhetoricists like al-Alawi and others. To al-Khauli, this very exclusive
approach to the theory of iijaz faded the literary spirit and turned the Arabic
rhetoric to the dry measures with no soul, no technique and no taste.
33
The
author declared this rationalizing approach as an optimistic opinion (rai fil)
and a fictitious stand (madhhab dhaif), and that this school was nullified by
Imam Yusuf bin Abu Bakr al-Khawarizmi popularly known as al-Sakkaki
(1160-1228 AD), who was entitled by al-Khauli as a champion of the
classical rhetoric and a rider in the forefront. Al-Sakkaki says :
You must know the issue of iijaz is surprisingly interesting. It
may be realized but can not be described as the case is with the
measurement in the poetry or the salt in the food. The tool of
identifying the iijaz in the Quran, to me, is only the literary taste;
and the method to acquire this taste is implied in the long service
of both these disciplines (e.g. the rhetoric and the eloquence).

Al-Sakkki, then evaluates all the four rationalizing stands of the scholars
disapproving them one by one, and finally says :
These were the four sayings; the fifth one is the stand taken by
those who possess the literary taste, and that signifies that the
dimension of inimitability of the Quran concerns the nature of
rhetoric and eloquence. You will find no access to this fifth stand
except after a long service and experience with these two
disciplines when Allah bestows his grace and grants his wisdom to
whom He wishes.
34

Basing his interpretation of the theory of iijaz on the arguments offered
by al-Sakkaki, Al-Khauli elaborates the way to access the iijaz in his emphasis
on the construction of the literary taste technically and on the consecutive
practice of and experience with the rhetoric according to the requirements and
principles of true technical training. This iijaz comprehendible by the taste,
however, can not be explored by the definitions, deliberations and notes over
the metaphors and the like, raised by Saduddin Masud bin Umar al-Taftazani
(1312-1389 AD). This method can not create any literary taste, and can not

23

establish the rhetorical purpose, neither this can fulfil the religious need of
realizing the inimitability of the Quran, and thus being confined to this method
would be treated a technical mistake and moreover a religious negligence if
we are allowed to say this, says al-Khauli.
35

Al-Khaulis discussions on The Tafsir : The Milestones in its Life and its
Methodology Today criticizes the trend of sciencism in the interpretation of
the Quran. This trend explores the scientific discoveries, the technological
advancements as well as the philosophical theories in the interpretation of the
Quran. The trend was intensified later on to cover all the sciences of the world
alongwith the religious dogmas and beliefs.

Al-Ghazalis Stand
The inclusive trend in the field of tafsir was originated by Amin al-
Khauli into the writings of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111) especially in
his Ihya Uloom al-Din.
36
Al-Ghazali says: Whatever was found by the
scholastics hard to understand and in which the people differed in the theories
and the ideologies, was available in the Quran explicitly or implicitly. The
Quran implies the fundamentals of all the sciences. Al-Ghazali elaborates this
approach in his other writings.

Al-Ghazali, for example, in his book Jawhir al-Quran, seemingly
written after Ihya Uloom al-Din, establishes the fifth chapter of the book to
explain how all the sciences were derived from the Quran. He has discusses in
the fourth chapter of the book the religious sciences and their divisions and
classifications and the relevant details. He mentions the sciences of the
language as well as the linguistics as necessary to understand the religion.
After describing the medicine, the astrology, the astronomy, the zoology, the
anatomy, the physiology, the palmistry, the study of magic and talismans, al-
Ghazali points out that there are other sciences unknown to us, but the world
may not be evacuated of the people who might have known them. There may
be other sciences possibly and potentially existing which are not yet explored.
Some sciences were discovered by the human beings previously and were
disappeared later on, and there remains no person in the world who might have
claimed to know them. Some sciences are inaccessible to human being and are
attainable to the angels beloved to God only. Al-Ghazali, then, claims that the
preliminaries of all these sciences, whether enumerated by us or not, are not
out of the Quranic jurisdiction and scope; all of them are dipped into a single
ocean from the oceans of the knowledge of God, and that is the ocean of the
Divine Dynamism that has no coast.
37


24
Al-Ghazali has, then, detailed the Divine doings and the various
branches of knowledge necessary to understand them. The divine acts of
rendering a man sick and restoring his health may not be understood without
the knowledge of medical sciences. The divine acts in the universe may not be
grasped without astronomy. Enumerating thus various divine actions and the
knowledge relating to them, al-Ghazali finally says that if the divine actions
explicit in the Quranic verses are counted in detail it will be too descriptive.
All of them may not be pointed out except in their entirety.
38

Shaykh Amin al-Khauli, then, elaborates this inclusive approach to the
interpretation of the Quran and the trend of rationalizing the theory of iijaz as
propounded by other scholars like Fakhruddin al-Razi, Muhammad al-
Iskandarani, Fikri Pasha, Abdur Rahman al-Kawakibi, Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafii,
Tantawi Jawhari and Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqui.

Al-Shtibis Appraoch
Al-Khauli, then, cites Abu Ishaq al-Shtibi (d. 790/1388), the Malikid
jurist and the author of al-Muafaqt, who nullifies any attempt to interprete the
Quran by the rational or scientific method, and disapproves all the
falsifications of sciencism in the tafsir as well as in the theory of iijaz. The
arguments of al-Shtibi are based on the following points :
1. Islamic Shariah is ummi-based one and has incorporated all the interests
and beneficial considerations.
2.
The Arabs possessed a varieties of knowledge, some of which were
testified by the Shariah while others were nullified. How it was
adivisable for the Quran to consist all the sciences of the ancestors as
well as of the future generations.

3.
The holy companions and their immediate followers were more
knowledgeable of the Quran than us but they did never claim of such
things.

Imam al-Shtibi has also quoted the arguments of those scholars who
advocated a scientific and reason-based interpretation of the Quran as in the
following :
1. The Quran explicitly announces :
And we have sent down to you the Book explaining all things.
(16: 89)
Nothing have We omitted from the Book. (6; 38)
2. Fawtih (the beginnings) of the Quranic chapters e.g. the unjointed
letters which ere unfamiliar to Arabs, and the various explanatory sayings
in this regard, and

25

3. whatever was cited from Ali bin Abi Talib in this regard.
The first argument was responded by al-Shtibi saying that the first verse
cited by these scholars basically signified the religious obligations and prayers
(ibdt), while the second verse had meant the Divine Slate (Lawh Mahfooz)
and not the Quran. The second point was refuted by him arguing that the Arabs
were aware of the uses of such letters as they were informed of such uses like
that of jummal by the Jews and the Christians. These fawtih are also
understood in terms of mutashbih (allegorical) verses whose meanings are not
disclosed except to God. Their interpretation in the terms not familiar is
unjustifiable and our ancestors did not allow it.
The third argument was responded by al-Shtibi saying that it was not
permissible to ascrible a concept or meaning to the Quran that is not required
by it. The understanding of the Quran may not depend in any way on the
acquisition of a knowledge not entrusted with by the ordinances of Shariah. In
case any one tries to understand the Quran without the prescribed means would
be misled necessarily.
Appreciating the stand of al-Shatibi, Shaykh Amin al-Khauli adds the
following points :
1. The linguistic dimension in the realms of the words and their gradual
implications. We can not ascribe to the words the meanings and concepts
that were strange at the time of the revelation, and were coined later on.
2. The literary or expressive dimension so as to words are in conformity
with the context and the requirement of the situation. Whether this
scientific interpretation is conformed to the situation of Arabs when the
Quran was revealed during the Prophet period? Was it justified that the
Arabs addressed by the Quran were familiar with these scientific
connotations? Suppose these meanings were available in the Quran but
the words did not carry the meanings at that time, the question arises
whether the Arabs grasped these meanings from the Quran at that time?
And if they understood these meanings why did their scientific
renaissance not emerge with the revelation of the Quran? And in case
they did not understand them how these could be considered as the
divinely intended and designed meanings?
3. The religious dimension as the most valuable point because the Quran is
the book of religion and not a book of science. How the sciences are
derived from the Quran while the books on science are changed with the
passage of time and generation due to advancement of the sciences ?

Amin al-Khauli evaluates this trend and finds its harms and defects
more in abundance than its benefits and merits. He argues that it suffices to
prove the absence of any conflict between the religion of Islam and the science

26
that no explicit text contradicts the scientific truths discovered so far. This
approach, criticizes al-Khauli, however, constitutes a sort of leniency and
indulgence towards the Quran. Understanding the realities of the universe and
its unique phenomena depends on the exercise of the human instincts and
intense emotions and interacts with the apparent visibles in respect of their
exciting the soul and inspiring to the senses their splendours and magnificence
and the peoples being thrilled to them, and not in respect of being the accurate
and exact laws relating to them. And defending the scientific realities complies
in no way the necessary realization of the magnificence of the Power that
manages the universe. Al-Khauli points out that the Quran may possibly
contain the meanings that are seemingly contradictory to the scientific realities
and this does not affect its revelatory position since it is not a book of science
and it is not unavoidable, therefore, to link the Quran ingenuinely to the
science.

Psychological Inimitability
Shaykh Amin al-Khauli advocates the psychological dimension of the
inimitability of the Quran. It was a direct connection of the science of rhetoric
to the discipline of psychology that channelised the theory of the psychological
inimitability of the Quran as well as it stressed the need to interpret the Quran
psychologically keeping in view all the secrets of the motions of human soul in
the fields covered by the religious beliefs and actions of the Quran, its
dogmatic argumentations, its exercise and training to the instincts and hearts
and its transmission of the ancestors and the ancient nations. How marvelously
the Quran dealt with these issues! What psychological realities did the Quran
apply in these passion-oriented meanings and the objectives of inner
consciousness? And how much the considerations of these points were
effective in hightening the words of God and making the propagation of the
religion successful?
39

Al-Khauli describes all the dimensions of iijaz as propounded by the
classical scholars in detail
40
and does not satisfy with them in his psychological
perspective because these do not maintain a sufficing relations with the literary
technique. After realizing the connection between the rhetoric and the
psychology, the scholar accessed a novel saying and an strange opinion in
understanding the theory of iijaz, though this does not constitute a
rationalization of it in its complete meaning.
41

The psychological inimitability of the Quran (al- iijaz al-nafsi), a new
trend developed by the scholar, may not be confused with the classical
interpretations of the Quranic scholars. Various dimensions of the Quranic

27

impact on the human soul like the effectiveness of the verses on the minds and
souls; the sweetness and the deliciousness a man feels while reciting the
Quran; the rhythmical music and refined tuning produced out of well balanced
construction of the letters, words and sentences of the Quran; the psychological
eagerness and extempore urge to read it and feeling no more bored inspite of
the repetation; the reporting that the pious Muslims used to recite the whole
Quran in one night or they used to read the longest chapters of it in their
individual prayers; the quality that the school children may easily memorise it
and others, are not meant by this term al- iijaz al-nafsi, though the scholar
does not negate these dimensions. He, rather, does not rely on them to
elaborate the theory of psychological inimitability of the Quran.

The scholar also does not mean by this term to derive the issues and
ideologies of psychology from the Quran in support of the view that the Quran
elaborates every thing (tibyn li kulli shayin, the Quran, 16: 84). This method,
inspite of not being so useful, if applied, commits an injustice to the
magnificient status and value of the Quran, al-Khauli analyses.

This term al- iijaz al-nafsi implies an interpretation that is entirely based
on the realization of what the Quran has applied amongst the psychological
phenomena, and the spiritual laws around which it has revolved its explanation
argumentatively, satisfyingly, contestingly, provocatively and frighteningly. It
is not advisable, says Amin al-Khauli, to rationalize any sentence of the Quran,
or to quote any word from any verse or any literary style of the Quran to prove
any point concerning the psychology. The entire context, in contrast, in the
perspective of the whole situation being interactive to the soul and to what is
discovered by the science in this regard should be studied alongwith the
comprehension of all its depths. In the psychological paradigm only may be
elaborated rationally the concise words of the Quran and its extravagant
statements; its explicites as well as its implicities; its brief statements as well as
its explanatory one; its repetitives as well as its prolongations; its division and
elaboration and its order and arrangement. All should be dealt with in the light
of the criteria mentioned above systematically and organisedly.
42

The Quranic Repetition
Elaborating the psychological dimension of iijaz, Al-Khauli deals in
detail with the takrr (repetition) a literary style in the Quran and provides its
psychological paradigm. He first explains how the classical scholars of the
Quranic rhetoric and eloquence have narrated its various aspects and literary
beauties avoiding the psychological perspectives. The author cites in this

28
regard al-Jhiz, al-Bqillani, al-Sakkki, al-Alawi and amongst the modern
scholars al-Rafii as well.

Al-Jahiz has quoted a narrative of Ib al-Sammk, a statement from
Torah and a saying of al-Dhuhri to the effect that repetition is regarded as
boring and tiring always, and constitutes a defect in any statement or writing.
Then he says : In brief the repetition has no demarcation nor any concise
definition. This style is to be evaluated as per the value and status of the
listeners and those who attend it amongst the common men as well as the
elites. We have found Allah has narrated repeatedly the stories of Musa, Hood,
Harun, Shoaib, Ibrahim, Lut, Aad and Thamud, as well as has oft-described
the Paradise and the Hell and other things, because it has addressed all the
nations from Arabs and non-Arabs, and most of them usually are stupid and
ignorant, or mentally pre-occupied contestant. The stories and narratives are
not overlooked generally by any group.
43

Al-Bqillni in his book iijaz al-Quran dealing with a varieties of
badi (rhetoric) in the Quran, has discussed takrr as a beautiful style which
was frequently used in the pre-Islamic poetry. He has quoted two couplets
from Jahiliyah literature in this regard. He then claims there are so many
examples in the Quran. In the chapter Inshirah the holy Quran repeatedly
pronounces that whatever difficulties or troubles are encountered by men, God
always provides a solution, a way out, a relief, a way to lead to ease and
happiness, if we only follow His path and show our faith by patience and well-
doing. The Quran declares :
So verily, with every difficulty, there is relief. Verily, with
every difficulty there is relief (94: 5-6)

In the following chapter al-Kfirn, this style of repetition is again used :
Say : O ye that reject Faith! I worship not that which you
worship, nor will you worship that which I worship. And I will
not worship that which you have been wont to worship, nor
will you worship that which I worship. To you be your way
and to be mine (109: 1-6).

According to al-Bqillni, there emerged an additional meaning to the
takrr, since it benefits the meaning of reporting about the (ghayb) unseen.
44

Al-Bqillni deals with the Quranic repetition also amid his discussion
on the novel composition and beautiful arrangement of the Quran. He referring
to the Quranic order, says: For this reason only the Quran repeated the story

29

of the Prophet Musa in the different chapters following the various methods
and the numerous rhyming words with the unified meaning. You should turn to
your intellect in case you do mistake, or become confused or you are trapped in
any misperception.
45
Thus, he finds the rationale of repetition in the order and
arrangement maintained in the Quran.

Al-Sakkki, entitled by al-Khauli as the chief of the rhetoricists
(Shaykh al-balghiyin), discusses the issue of the repetition in the Quran
(takrr) while disapproving the allegations charged against the Quran in his
book Mifth al-Uloom. He says : One of the allegations they charge against
the Quran is that the repetition is a fault, defective and useless and the Quran
consists of this repetition. They give in this regard the examples of the story of
Pharaoh and the like, and the verses oft-repeated like the one that reads: Then
which of the favours of your Lord will you deny? in the 55
th
chapter al-
Rahmn; and the verse that reads: And woe, that Day to the Rejectors of
Truth! in the 77
th
chapter al-Mursalt, and other verses that come under this
category.

Al-Sakkki responds to this objection saying Refreshing a meaning in
various forms and voices, you have taken it as a mere repetition and a defect in
the statement because of your ignorance. He quotes a couplet in this contest
that reads :
If my merits, of which I have been so proud, are considered as
my demerits, tell me how do I excuse!

Al-Sakkki then questions: In case there was no extra benefit besides
the enemies being rebuked, they should have claimed at the time of being
challenged rpeatedly to produce any thing like unto the Quran, that the first
challenge was enough and that should not be repeated again and gain. And the
oft-repeated verse in the chapter al-Rahmn as well as in that of al-Mursalt
was treated as radif that is repeated in the qasidah (a poem) in tandem with
every stanza. According to another school this stands a tarji in a poem in
which it is repeated alongwith a number of stanzas. This repetition may be
taken into account also as a reminder to the lessons.
46

Yahya bin Hamza al-Alawi in his Kitab al-Tirz interacts this style of
takrr elaborately. That may be summarized as below :
i) The takrr in the Quran was used to purify, expand and elevate the
human nature of the Prophet (SAW) as well as to provide a solace and
consolation to him. This was not a mere repetition.

30
ii) The Quran repeated the stories and the historical events for the sake of
extra benefits gained in the verses differently.
iii) When Allah challenged the Arab pagans to produce a book like the
Quran, some might mistakenly think that producing a book like the
Quran was impossible for Allah too. The stories were, therefore, repeated
to affirm that it was not impossible on His behalf and that the
inimitability is established for the human being and not for Allah
Himself.
iv) The takrr occurred in the Quran to confirm and strengthen the warning
and the admonition to the adversaries of the religion as the verse in the
chapter al-Takthur reads: But nay, you soon shall know! (102: 3).
v) In case the style of takrr being a beauty in the Arabic language was not
used in the Quran contradicting the Arabs styles, it was to be treated a
great defect and a strong motive to defame the noble Quran.
47

The rationale provided by al-Alawi interacts mainly the repetition in the
Quranic stories and neglects other usages in the Quran.

Al-Khauli cites Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafii too. Al-Rafii after having
criticized al-Jahiz in this regard says: Takrr constitutes in fact a secret from
the secrets of Hebrew literature, which was used by the Quran in most of its
statements so that the Jews should know that this was a non-human
composition, and should realize one of the meanings of iijaz since they were
familiar with that as the Arab realized its iijaz in the matters of their own. The
most eloquent piece in the classical Hebrew poetry was the one that combined
the following: the nimble interpretation; the refined presentation; the clarity of
the words; the expressive compounds; the elaborate meanings; the repetition of
the statements alongwith all its benefits as the attestation, exaggeration,
clarification, realization and so on; the use of the synonym words; the
comparison between the contrasts and other varieties of wordly beauties which
come under another kind of repetition.
48

The statement provided here by al-Rafii is inefficient to explain the
justification of takrr, says Amin al-Khauli. How this secret of repetition was
accessed by the Jews only? In case the claim was correct it must be thought as
the stange by the then Arabs and the challenging position of the Quran in an
area that was not familiar to the Arabs could not be established.

Criticising all these justifications of the Quranic repetition, Amin al-
Khauli finally provides a psychological paradigm for the rationale of the
repetition style used in the Quran, which is based on a global human

31

psychological consideration to be verified by the witnesses and evidences of
the conditions of human mind and its various trends. In the given situation the
style of repetiion, as the psycholgosits view, constitutes the most effective
method to satisfy; and the best medium to concentrate the thought and the
belief in the human mind slowly and gently without provoking the opponents
by any argumentation or demonstrating any extremism, by maintaining the
order of proof and the seemingly inference, as well as by the evidences and
practical examples as discussed by the scholars of psychology. These may
substitute the invention of the dimensions in rationalizing and justifying the
Quranic repetition and turning it to a point of disputes and conflicts, al-Khauli
concludes.
49

Psychological Interpretation
Amin al-Khauli, then necessitates to interpret the Quran psychologically
though the scholars could not arrive at the psychological method to understand
the iijaz. This Quranic technique of psychological paradigm and this dogmatic
theory constitute the two aspects of the life dependent on the inner-passions.

Al-Khauli, elaborating the role of psychological principles in the
understanding and explanation of the holy Quran, cites few verses from the
chapter al-Shuara and finds the classical commentators arguing by the
theoretical evidences and logical deductions as well as the technical
grammatical expositions; and applying the dry rhetorical methods and the
sophistic ideologies as well. These are the outcome of the dead thinking and
the narrow horizon. The Quran narrates some special characteristics of the
Quran saying :
Verily this is a Revelation from the Lord of the worlds: with
it came down the Spirit of Faith and truth to your heart and
mind that you may admonish in the perspicuous Arabic
tongue (26: 192-195)

Over these verses arose the heavy dispute and the distant principles and
far-fetched foundations from the Quran were traced out. One group argued in
favour of the abstract revelation of the Quran without the words and that the
words of the Quran were uttered by the Prophet (SAW) himself from his own
because the heart may not have received but the meaning only. This approach
leads to deny the words of the Quran as inimitable.

Those who deny the verbal revelation were pressed to claim that the
revelation was made on the heart, in order to prove that the mine of reason and
intellect was the heart or the mind. This was advocated by Fakhruddin al-Razi

32
in his tafsir. He cites the classical scholars as well as the modern one alongwith
their arguments. These issues are intricate and obscure too; no academic
discussion may finalise it and no aspect of various interpretations may be
preferred over others satisfyingly, criticizes Amin al-Khauli. But the majority
of the scholars of ahl al-sunnah support the view elaborated well by Imam al-
Razi who prefers the opinion that the revelation was made alongwith the
words as well as the meanings
50
, and not a single word was incorporated from
his own by the Prophet (SAW).

This position was already clarified in the Quran itself when it declared
explicitly in the chapter al-Najm :
By the star when it goes down, your companion is neither
astray nor being misled, nor does he say (aught) of (his own)
desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him (53: 1-
4).
Your companion as referred to, is the holy Prophet Muhammad
(SAW), who had lived among the Quraysh all his life. The Prophet (SAW) is
defended against three kinds of charges that the Unbelievers had brought: (1)
that he was going astray, either through defect of intelligence or through
carelessness; (2) that he was being misled or deceived by evil spirits; and (3)
that he spoke out of a whim or impulse, or from a selfish desire to impress his
own personality. None of these charges was true. On the contrary he had direct
inspiration from God.

The word yantiqu is significant and dissolves ultimately the controversy
over the condition of revelation. It clearly expresses the revelation was sent
down to the Prphet alongwith each and every word and not with the meaning
only. Moreover it also elaborates the revelatory position of hadith though not
recited. The scholars have, therefore, classified the revelation into matlu (being
recited e.g. the Quran) and ghayr matlu (not being recited, e.g. the hadith) and
have frequently used the two terms of wahy al-Quran and wahy al-hadith to
cannote the same. Then why is Amin al-Khauli surprised to see the rationale of
the revelation with the words as provided by Fakhruddin al-Razi.

Mahmud bin Umar al-Zamakhshari (d. 538/1144), the prominent scholar
of rhetoric and eloquence as well as of Quranic literary styles but the
Mutazilite one in the belief and thought, has comprehended a refined
psychological idea while explaining the debatable conceptions and trends
derived from the verses of al-Shuara under discussion, al-Khauli appreciates
him. This idea clarifies all the doubts and confusions about the nature of the
revelation. Al-Zamakhshari while interpreting the verses (192-195 from the

33

chapter al-Shuara) changes their order slightly and explains the verse No. 195
as a subsequent to the verse No. 193. The verses are thus arranged as with it
came down the spirit of Faith and Truth, in the perspicuous Arabic tongue, to
your heart and mind that you may admonish.

Al-Zamakhshari, then, explains how the revelation in the eloquent Arabic
language was made on the heart of the Prophet (SAW). He says interpreting
the verses in the divine tone: In case the Quran was revealed in non-Arabic
language, it was to be sent down to your ears and not to your heart because you
would have herd the sounds of letters without understanding their meanings.
The author then provides the rationale. Sometimes a person knows a number of
languages. When he speaks the language he had first learnt nourished and
habituated with, his heart automatically accesses the meanings which he has
received by his heart and does not take into account how the words were set. In
case he speaks besides his mother language, his attention is attracted first by
the words then the meanings though he knows that language masterly. This
approves the revelation was sent down alongwith the perspicuous Arabic
language (lisn Arabi mubin).
51

By applying the psychological method in under-standing the situation of
a person who speaks his mother tongue as well as that of who speaks other
than his mother tongue, al-Zamakhshari exposed the uncertainty over the
interpretation and made the issue easier and elaborate even to those who do not
think he has provided the ultimate solution. By this argument, the learned
commentator exposed the weakness and infirmity of those who quote the
above verse to prove their thesis of the revelation with the meaning and not
with the words, comments approvingly Amin al-Khauli.
52
According to al-
Khauli, the verses of the controversial meanings like this are not only required
to be interpreted with the full cognizance of psychology but the entire Quran
should be understood and explained in the given paradigm.

Amin al-Khauli asserts repeatedly his stand of not rationalizing the
theory of iijaz, necessitating no justification at all and having confined its
rationalization within the literary taste and the professional sense of art.
Surprisingly he finds no contradiction in his refutation of rationalizing the
iijaz and in his justification of the psychological dimension of the theory of
iijaz and his emphasis on a psychological interpretation of the Quran, as
criticized by Nuaym al-Himsi in his Tarikh Fikrah Iijaz al-Quran.
53

In the modern times another trend in the theory of inimitability of the
Quran was introduced with the title of nizam al-Quran e.g. the coherence
maintained in the concepts and thoughts as well as in the literary constructions

34
and structures. This was theorized more systematically by Hamiduddin (Abdul
Hamid) al-Farahi (1280-1349/1863-1930) and was further elaborated and
applied in his urdu commentary of the Quran titled Tadabbur-i Quran by Amin
Ahsan Islahi (1904-1997) one of the most accomplished students of Farahi.


35

REFERENCES

1 . Al-Khauli, Amin, Al Tafsir Malim Hayatihi wa Manhajuhu al-Yaum, Cairo,
1315 AH, p. 20.
2. Ibid., p. 2.
3. Ibid., p. 112.
4 . This sciencism by the novel interpretation of the Quran and the hadith was
exhibited by Shaykh Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqui through his lectures on the
laws of God executed in the universe.
5 . Jawhari, Tantawi (al-Hakim al-shaykh), Al-Jawhir fi Tafsir al-Quran al-
Karim, Mustafa al-Babi al-Halbi, Egypt, IInd ed. Shawwal 1350 AH No. 171,
vol. I, pp. 1-2.
6 . Ibid., p. 2.
7 . Ibid., Vol. 3, p. 19.
8 . Ibid., Vol. 25, p. 53.
9 . Abduh, Muhammad, Rislah al-Tawhid, Beirut, p. 96.
10 . Rida, Sayyid Muhammad Rashid in his Preface to, Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafii,
Iijaz al-Quran wa al-Balghat al-Nabawiyah, Egypt, al-Maktabah al-
Tijariyah al-Kubra, 8th ed. 1389/1696, p. 17.
11 . Al-Aryn, Muhammad Saeed, Hayt al-Rafii, Cairo, Matbah al-Istiqamah,
IIIrd ed. 1375/1955, p. 163.
12 . Al-Himsi, Nuaym, Tarikh Fikrah Iijaz al-Quran, Damascus, 1374/1955, p.
123. For the severe criticism in the derogatory style by al-Rafii, see his
interaction to Mutazilites especially to Abu Ishaq Ibrahim al-Nazzam whom he
titles shaytan al-Mutakallimin, the satan amongst the scholastic scholars. Al-
Rafii, Mustafa Sadiq, Iijaz al-Quran wa al-Balghah al-Nabawiyah, op.cit., p.
162. On the same page the author repeats: But al-Nazzam, who excessively
supported the Sarfah theory of Iijaz was amongst the satans of the
scholasticism.
13 . Al-RafiI, Mustafa Sadiq, Iijz al-Quran wa al-Balghat al-Nabawiyah, p.
156.
14 . Ibid., pp. 162-165.
15 . Ibid., pp. 165-167.
16 . Ibid., p. 166.
17 . Ibid., p. 169.
18 . Al-Rafii, for instance, has quoted al-Jahiz from his Kitab al-Hayawn saying: I
have written a book in which I have collected altogether the verses from the
Quran so that you may identify the literary beauties of iijaz (abridgement) and
hadhf (deletion from), and of zid (addition to), fuzul (extra leters), and
istiarah (the metaphor). If you read them you will find their merit in being
concise in the structure and expressive abundantly in the meanings and
connotations by the lesser words. For example describing the wine to be used
by the peoples of Paradise the Quran says :

36

No after-ache will they receive therefrom, nor will they suffer
intoxication (56: 19).
The two words combined altogether the defects of the wine used in this world,
such as satiety, aches, excess, a sense of exhaustion, or loss of senses etc.
Narrating the fruits available in the Paradise, another example of being concise
as well as elaborative in the meaning, the Quran says :
Whose season is not limited, nor supply forbidden (56: 33).
The fruits provided therein will be free, unlimited and inexhaustible. There will
be no prohibition by law or custom or circumstance as to when or how it is to
be consumed. The two phrases combined together all these concepts (Iijaz al-
Quran, p. 170).

19 . Ibid., p. 171.
20 . Ibid., p. 173.
21 . Ibid., p. 192.
22 . Ibid., p. 207.
23 . Ibid., p. 212.
24 . Ibid., p. 232.
25 . Ibid., p. 241.
26 . Ibid., p. 242.
27 . Ibid., pp. 249-250.
28 . Ibid., pp. 299-300.
29 . Al-Khauli, Amin, Manhij Tajdid fi al-Nahw wa al-Balaghah wa Al-Tafsir wa
al-Adab, Dar al-Marifah, Egypt, September, 1961, Preface by Dr. Shukri
Muhammad Abbad, pp. 8-9.
30 . Al-Askari, Abu Hilal, Kitab al-Sanatayn: Al-Nazm wa al-Nathr, Tabah al-
Astanah, p. 2.
31 . Al-Alwi, Yahya bin Hamzah, Kitab al-Tirz al-Mutadhammin li Asrr al-
Balghah wa Uloom Haqiq al- Iijaz, Cairo, Al-Muqtataf Publications, p. 13.
32 . Al-Khauli, Amin, Manhij Tajdid, pp. 168-169.
33 . Ibid.
34 . Al-Sakkki, Yusuf bin Abu Bakr al-Khawarizmi, Mifth al-Uloom, Tabah al-
Halbi, Cairo, 1318 A.H., pp. 176, 216-217.
35 . Ibid., p. 174.
36 . Al-Ghazali Abu Hamid, Ihya Uloom al-Din, Al-Halbi edition, the fourth
chapter on the Understanding of the Quran and its Interpretation by the
Individual Opinion, vol. 1, pp. 259-2164.
37 . Al Ghazali, Abu Hamid, Jawhir al-Quran, Egypt, Matbah, Kurdistan al-
Ilmiyah, 1229 A.H, pp. 28-29.
38 . Ibid., pp. 31-34.

37

39 . Al-Khauli Amin, Al-Balghah wa Ilm al-Nafs, Majallah Kulliyah al-db,
Fuad IUniversity, vol. 4, Part 2, December, 1939. The discussion was later on
included in Manhij Tajdid, op.cit., p. 315.
40 . Amin al-Khauli quotes these varying dimensions of iijaz from Al-Qurtubi, Al-
Jmi li Akhm al-Quran, Cairo, Dar al-Kutub, vol. I, pp. 72-75.
41 . Al-Khauli, Manhij Tajdid, op.cit., p. 201.
42 . Ibid., p. 203.
43 . Al-Jahiz, Abu Uthman, al-Bayn wa al-Tabyin, al-Sindubi, 1345 A.H., vol. 1, p.
85. In his Kitab al-Hayawn too the author deals with this style differently. He
says: We have seen in the Quran how does it talk of the Arabs and the
Bedonin with the implicities, concise words and by the style of short-cuts and
when it addresses the Jews and the Christians or narrates of them it becomes
elaborative and expresses extravagantly. Al-Sasi edition, vol. 1, p. 46.
44 . Al-Baqillni, Abu Bakr, Iijaz al-Quran, edited by al-sayyid Ahmad al-Saqr,
Egypt, Dar al-Maarif, 1954, p. 51.
45 . Ibid., p. 88.
46 . Al-Sakkaki, Abu Yaqub, Mifth al-Uloom, Egypt, al-Halbi, 13`18 A.H., p.
247.
47 . Al-Alawi, Kitab al-Tirz, op.cit., vol. 3, p. 444.
48 . Al-RafiI, op.cit., pp. 256-257.
49 . Al-Khauli, Manhij Tajdid, op.cit., pp. 205-210.
50 . Al-Razi, Fakhruddin, Al Tafsir al-Kabir, Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, Beirut,
New edition, 1417 A.H./1997 A.D., vol. 8, pp. 530-532.
51 . Al-Zamakhshari, Abul Qasim Mahmood bin Umar, Al-Kashshf, ed. Ab dur
Razzaq al-Mahdi, Dar Ihya al-Turath al-Arabi, Beirut, 1417/1997 Ist edition,
Part III, pp. 339-340.
52 . Al-Khauli, Manhij Tajdid, op.cit., pp. 211-213.
53 . Al-Himsi, Nuaym, op.cit., p. 134.

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Re-defining Iijz al-Quran: A Study of the Modern

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