Home > Arguments for the Qur'an's excellence
"The Qur'an throws down a challenge to all: produce a surah like it if you doubt its divine origin. It says, ‘Or do they say, "He invented it"? Say, "Then bring a surah like it and call upon whomever you can besides Allah, if you should be truthful"' (Surah Yunus, 10:38). No one—poet, scholar, or critic—has ever matched its eloquence, structure, and depth in Arabic, despite 1,400 years of trying. This proves it's from Allah, not man.
Jesus (peace be upon him) brought the Injeel as Allah's word—‘We gave him the Injeel, in which was guidance and light' (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:46)—but the Bible today, altered and human-made, can't claim such a test. The Qur'an stands firm: ‘The Messiah, son of Mary, was no more than a messenger' (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5:75). Its unmatched challenge confirms it as Allah's final revelation, restoring the truth Jesus preached—worship Allah alone—while no other text dares the same."
A writer added 3 words to the Qur'an (). This shows that man's ability matches that of Allah's words. Showing either a human source or that Allah's ability to speak is extremely limited. Contrast this with Psalm 119.
Surah 108 is nothing special by anyone's definitions of literary excellence. I think any sentence can surpass the quality of it. Note: while the Quran's literary quality is non-existent, to partake in the challenge is to implicitly accept its validity. However, the challenge is not valid — from a philosophical standpoint, it's a trainwreck. Only a simpleton or evil trickster god / devil could come up with it, certainly not a true God. Therefore, if we question the Quran's literary quality, we allow ourselves to be dragged into a pointless, dirty debate on what qualifies as quality literature, which has neither a clear answer, nor any point to it.
Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:23
"And if you are in doubt about what we have sent down upon our servant then produce a chapter like it ..." (Surah 2:23)
This challenge ironically disproves the legitimacy of the Quran, because it rests on a logical fallacy. Since there is no unbiased judge who could determine whether a piece of writing surpasses the quality of the Quran, the challenge is meaningless. One could produce any number of surah's that surpass the quranic ones in every way, but muslims could still simply deny it, because there is no objective standard by which the quality can be ascertained. Why would God use such a terrible and obviously flawed method to show its legitimacy, rather than a properly objective method? It reveals the dubious nature of the Quran; only a charlatan would employ a subjective method that he can freely manipulate to serve his interests.
In fact, we could devise a method to test this challenge objectively, in a proper double-blind study. We could devise a number of beautifully written, invented surah's, and present them randomly to Arabic-speaking people, such that neither the tester nor the subject is aware of which surah's are real, and which are invented. Would muslims truly be willing to perform such an experiment, if the best Arabic-speaking authors in the world would be allowed to submit their works?