10 the acceptance of the qur'an's challenge (1)

1

10. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE QUR’AN’S CHALLENGE (1) One of the great Muslim scholars in Egypt in the late 20th century was Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl. He was a medical doctor, a physician, but interested in Qur’an and comparative study of religions. Among his writings are: ‫وتكلم الجلد – دراسة عن الجلد في العلم و اليهودية و النصرانية و‬ ‫“( السلم‬And Skin Talked – A Study on Skin in Science, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam”), ‫الزلزال في العلم و التوراة والنجيل و القرآن‬ (“Earthquakes in science, the Torah, the Gospel, and the Qur’an”), and ‫“( الدم في العلم و التوراة والنجيل و القرآن‬Blood in Science, the Torah, the Gospel, and the Qur’an”).

In 1 January, 1993, Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl, published his book entitled ‫(“ لماذا أسلم صديقي و رأي الفاتيكان في تحديات القرآن‬Why My Friend Became Muslim and the View of Vatican on the Challenges of the Qur’an”). It was published at Maktabat al-Turāth al-Islāmī in Cairo, Egypt.

In this book Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl talked about his colleague and friend whom he does not identify, perhaps for being a Christian, who tried to accept the challenge of the Qur’an by producing something similar to it. His friend, whom we call here “Dr. So-andso”, thought that for a long period of time he would be able to defeat the challenge of the Qur’an and kept dreaming day and night that one day he would be able to write a book entitled ‫وانتهت تحديات‬ ‫[“( القرآن‬The] Qur’an Challenge is Overruled and Obsolete”). He even planned to write some chapters in this book, such as ‫القضاء علي أكبر‬ ‫“( األكاذيب الدينية فى التاريخ‬The Extermination on the Greatest Religious Lies in History”), and ‫“( وأخيرا هزمنا القران بالضربة القاضية‬And finally we defeated the Qur’an with fatal blow”). He dreamed that he would be offered by publishers to publish it, and he would become very rich after being translated into living languages. At the same time this book would awaken the Muslims from their negligence or foolishness in believing in the Qur’an as revelation from God. In his dialogue with the author (Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl) Dr. So-andso said that he found that the Qur’an challenges people to produce

2

one chapter similar to it. He found sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ (chapter 12) which consists of 15 words. Since the challenge has been made for 14 centuries without any response, the author told him to extend the time he needed from two to three months.

After three months at the appointed time the author visited Dr. So-and-so. He told him that he had asked the assistance of 174 of his friends, as well as his acquaintance and Christian scholars, but most of them refused to help him, and even advised him to abandon this attempt.

But Dr. So-and-so said that 25 persons among his most faithful friends who were enthusiastic for Christianity had promised to assist him, and the author gave him four month time, instead of three months he had requested, to finish the project. He asked the author what would be his reaction if he succeeded in challenging the Qur’an, but the author reversed the question, asking him what would happen if he failed. He said that in that case it would be impossible to reach mutual understanding, and insisted that he would prevail.

After four months the author met his friend who looked sad and frustrated. He said that all his friends disappointed him and made groundless excuses, such as lack of time, the death of one of his relatives, etc. despite their mastery of Arabic language, and some of them were notable writers in Egyptian magazines and newspapers. The author reminded him, that the same thing had happened when the Qur’an was revealed, and it was the golden era of Arabic language, and he also offered him to abandon the attempt and to admit his failure. He declined, until he studied the Qur’an word by word, and after two more months he would visit him.

After two months Dr. So-and-so visited the author and told him that apparently it would be impossible to produce a chapter similar to that of the Qur’an. But he was optimistic and planned to write an objective book which would turn the world upside down, entitled ‫[“( وانتهت تحديات القرآن‬The] Qur’an Challenge is Overruled and Obsolete”). He said that he had visited many universities in England,

3

Belgium, Netherlands, France, and the United States where some of its professors master Arabic language more than both of them. They gave Ph.D. title to those who study Arabic language. He would ask each of them to compose a chapter like that of the Qur’an. He had the names and address of universities and educational institutions all over the world, including the names, positions and fields of study of their staffs from a guide book he had bought. He showed the author the letter he would sent to two-thousand universities and institutes of learning, as well as Catholic and Protestant Religious Centres which concerned with Arabic language, Comparative studies of Religion and Oriental studies. In this letter he said that he was a physician of 41 years old, claiming to be Catholic, whereas in fact, he was Orthodox, and gave a different name. The date of the letter was 25 November, 1989, almost 25 years ago. He expected to receive over 2000 reply each with a chapter, so that his book would contain at least 2000 chapters.

In his letter in English Dr. So-and-so said that he had a Muslim friend, meaning Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl, the author with whom he had discussion about religion, and expected him to become a Christian.

But he was surprised to find that the Qur’an had challenged the human beings since 1400 years ago until now to produce a chapter similar to that of the Qur’an, and that chapter 112 contains 15 words only. By accepting the challenge of the Qur’an, it would be expected to be an effective means in conducting a scientific debate with Muslims. He admitted that in spite of his mother tongue being Arabic, he was unable to write fifteen words similar to the chapter of the Qur’an, simply because he had never read it and was not interested in reading it. He requested that a chapter containing at least fifteen words with the highest standard of eloquence similar to that of the Qur’an to be sent to him. He would collect these chapters in a book entitled (“[The] Qur’an Challenge is Overruled and Obsolete” and would be evidence to the Muslims that the Qur’an was not revealed from God. He also said that he had asked his friend to give him 3 till 4 months to complete the book.

4

When the author asked Dr. So-and-so why he said he was Catholic while he was Orthodox, and why he did not tell them in his letter that he and his friends had failed to make a chapter consisting of fifteen words, his answer was that it was because the majority of the Christians in the West were Catholic, and he did not mentioned his and his friends’ failure because he did not want to set their enthusiasm back in hating and disregarding Islam and the Qur’an. He also request them not mentioned the addresses in his guide book in order that he might get confidential addresses, to whom he would ask them to do the same, and to ensure his success in writing the book.

One month, forty days… fifty days had passed, and yet, not a single response was received. Therefore, as a second attempt, he sent the same letter to the same addresses, with three additions in the letter: “(1) This circular letter had been sent all-over the world on 25 November 1989; (2) The answer I‘ve received were actually very encouraging; (3) I suppose I’ll receive your reply after some 2-4 weeks in order to accomplish my interesting book and the collection of these replies would be published in ‘an exciting book’”. The letter was written on 20 November, 1990.

The author found that Dr. So-and-so did not say that he and his friends themselves in Egypt had failed in doing what he requested in the letter. He only said that he had not attempted to do so, because he could not read the Qur’an and did not like to read it. He lied about the response of his previous letters, when he said that he had received very encouraging letters, whereas in fact he had not received any response. His purpose was to encourage the addressees to respond with a chapter of their writings, while in fact, he had not received any reply. Eventually, the response came from England, as follows: SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES (SOAS) UNIVERSITY OF LONDON Near and Middle East Department Dr. Owen Wright

5

Head of the Department Dear Dr, I hope you will understand that both the individual members of staff of SOAS, and the School itself, abstain from religious controversy and that in consequence we cannot accede to your request.

Yours sincerely, [Signed] Dr. Owen Wright The second letter was from Vatican with a long letter by Reverent Leo Arnold on 10 May, 1990 on behalf of the dean of the Faculty of Oriental Ancient Studies of Pontificio Istituto Biblico (Papal Biblical Institute) where he taught Arabic; among the contents of this letter are as follows: “… As Christians, of course, we do not accept the Quran as the word of God, even though we may admire it as a masterpiece of Arabic literature. An Egyptian colleague of mine says that the best parts of the Quran remind him of parts of the Bible, but that, of course, does not mean that it is inspired by God, as the Bible is. “… A practical objection to the challenge to produce a sura like the suras of the Quran is: who is going to judge whether any such attempt, if ever made, is successful or not? You would need to have an impartial judge to decide, and would have to be an expert in preIslamic and early Islamic literature. He would also have to be impartial, preferably neither a Christian nor a Moslem. Such a person would be very difficult to find, if not impossible.”

The third letter comes from l’Université de Liège, d’histoire et de littératures orientales (University of Liege, Dept. of History and Oriental Literature) in Belgium, on 16 May, 1990, “…. On the Christian side, the polemic – as far as I know – was not concerned by the form, but of course by the point which is dealt with. To the non-Muslim, the Quran is simply, if I may say so, a human work: Muhammad’s work….[signed] … Aubert Martin.”

6

Dr. So-and-so complained to the author that he had spent thousands of Egyptian pounds in sending 8092 letters, namely, sending 2023 addressees four times, and he received only five letters without any satisfactory reply. He got 88 addresses of 88 countries from a book freely distributed world-wide, entitled “The Scripture: the Words of God or the Words of Man.” He sent to the USA 1043 letters, to Europe 400 letters, to Australia 40 letters, to Asia 182 letters, to Africa 51 letters, and to South America 99 letters. As he did not receive any reply, he sent again and again, until four times, also without getting any satisfactory reply.

The author wanted to share Dr. So-and-so the expense, because he had unintentionally served Islam by quoting in his letters four Qur’anic verses challenging people to produce something similar to it. The Prophet said, )‫“( بلغوا عني ولوآية (رواه أحمد‬Report from me, even with one verse”). The author told him of the other challenge of the Qur’an, namely, to create a fly (as mentioned in the early khutbah), that man will never succeed in creating a fly, and until now we cannot create even a single cell. (CIVIC, 14 February, 2014) According to Orientalists any masterpiece, such as the painting of Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci and that of the Creation of Adam

by Michelangelo in the 16th century, cannot be competed in its excellence. The Qur’an, being Muhammad’s masterpiece, is included in this category, but does not necessarily mean that it is revelation from God. (CIVIC, 14 February, 2014) [TO BE CONTINUED] :‫المراجع‬ ‫المكتبة الشاملة‬ ‫ مكتبة‬:‫ القاهرة‬.‫ لماذا أسلم صديقي و رأي الفاتيكان في تحديات القرآن‬.‫ إبراهيم خليل‬.‫د‬ 1993 ,‫التراث العلمي‬