11 the acceptance of the qur’an’s challenge (2)

1

11. THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE QUR’AN’S CHALLENGE (2) Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl said further to Dr. So-and-so that besides the challenge of the Qur’an to produce a short surah (chapter) similar to it, and that they cannot even create a fly, there is another challenge.

It is the deep meanings of the Qur’an.

It is true that through translation Muslims will understand the meanings of the Qur’an dealing various issues in all human affairs. All these, Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl maintains, are directed to achieve one objective, namely, belief in Allah the One Who has nothing like Him. Moreover, the Qur’an deals with the basic issue which is preparedness for the Day of Reckoning. Those who read the Qur’an with pure heart wishing to follow the truth will believe definitely, that it is the word of Allah. Although they are deprived from tasting its miraculous rhetorical style and its eloquence because they do not know Arabic, they still can still feel the beauty of the sound by reading it. We know that the majority of the Muslims do not know Arabic, but they understand the Qur’an through translation and explanation.

It is true that the translation of the Qur’an cannot contain, include the whole meanings of its words. Before entering into this topic, Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl related to his friend, Dr. So-and-so, about the first revelation sent to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Before it, he had gone to one of the caves of the mountains in Makkah called “the Cave Ḥirā’”, where he stayed alone one month every year for several years contemplating and wondering how his people had become so ignorant that they worshiped stones and idols.

Suddenly, angel Gabriel (Jibrīl) appeared to him as an Arab holding a book. He handed him the book and said strongly and firmly, ‫“( إِ ْق َرْ​ْأ‬Read!”). As he was illiterate, he said, ْ ْ‫ارئ‬ ِ ‫“( َما ْأَ َنا‬I ِ ‫ْب َق‬ cannot read”). Gabriel embraced him severely, then he released him and asked him to read for the second time, and the Prophet repeated that he could not read. The angel Gabriel embraced him again severely, and then released him. The Angel Gabriel asked him again to read. Fearing that his ribs would be broken from the severe

2

embrace of Gabriel, he said, ‫“( َما َذا ْأَ ْق َْرأُ؟‬What shall I read?”). Then Gabriel said, ْ.‫كْ ْاْلَ ْك َر ُْم‬ َْ ‫ْا ْق َرْ​ْأْ َو َر ُّب‬.ْ‫انْمِنْ​ْ​ْ َعلَق‬ َْ ‫اْل ْن َس‬ َْ َ‫ْ َخل‬.‫ق‬ َْ َ‫كْالَّذِيْ َخل‬ َْ ‫ا ْق َرْ​ْأْ ِباسْ ِْمْ َر ِّب‬ ِ ْ ْ‫ق‬ ْ )5-1:ْ‫ْ(العلق‬.‫انْ َماْلَ ْ​ْمْ َيعْ لَ ْ​ْم‬ َْ ‫اْل ْن َس‬ ِ ْ ْ‫ْ َعلَّ َْم‬.ْ‫الَّذِيْ َعلَّ َْمْ ِب ْال َقلَ ِْم‬ Read! In the name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists). He has created man from a lot (a piece of coagulated blood). Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous.

Who has taught (the writing) by the pen. He has taught man that which he knew not (Q. 96:1-5).

When Dr. So-and-so, wondered that he had never heard such a story, Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl told him that such a story was also mentioned in the Bible. He was referring to Isaiah 29:11 in Arabic translation of the Bible, whereas in English and Indonesian Bible it is verse 12, as follows: Or, if you give the scroll [the book, in Indonesian Bible] to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” he will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

(Holy Bible, New International Version) Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl said further that since all earlier Prophets could read and write, and none of them was illiterate, then this vision of Prophet Isaiah (‫ )أَ ْش ِع َياء‬was applicable solely to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w, the last Prophet and Messenger.

Dr. So-and-so was so amazed, that he said: “This is very strange, as what I know is that all prophets can read and write.”

Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl told his friend Dr. So-and-so, that this was his own interpretation, he could not find any commentary on this verse from the commentary of Book Isaiah he had bought collected by Archpriest ْ ‫( تادرس‬Teodores?) Ya’qub from Malta who said he had collected this interpretation from excellent and selected interpretation of the fathers of early Church. There was no commentary of the verse 11, as if it was not there. Dr. So-and-so saw himself the commentary before and after this verse, but the verse and was left without commentary, which made him shake his head without any comment.

3

Then the author, Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl, proceeded to the first revelation from heaven to the earth, revealed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. containing greeting and honour to knowledge as mentioned above. The pen was mentioned once, the command to read was mentioned twice, whereas knowledge is mentioned three times, namely, ‫“( َعلَّ َْم‬to give knowledge”, to teach) mentioned twice, whereas ْ ‫“( َيعْ لَم‬he knows”) mentioned once. This is a kind of announcement that this illiterate Arab man to whom the whole Qur’an will be revealed, will become a teacher of the whole human kind with Allah’s permission and generosity. ‫ك ْ ْاْلَ ْك َر ُْم‬ َْ ‫ ْا ْق َرْ​ْأ ْ َو َر ُّب‬. Read!

And your Lord is the Most Generous.

The author, Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl, explains further that there is one of the miracles of the Qur’an in its first revelation, which is the word ْ ‫علَْق‬ َْ which contains three letters:ْ‫ ع‬, ْ‫ ل‬andْ‫ ْق‬. He said that one day he was asked to write a lecture in English on Islam’s concern with knowledge, so that many foreigners would attend the opening of one of big foreign libraries in Cairo. It would be natural if he cited some Qur’anic verses as well as some sayings of the Prophet exhorting people to seek knowledge. By consulting the English translation of the word ‘alaq he got “blood clot”, and in French un caillot de sang which gives the same meaning. When he consulted the dictionary Lisān al-‘Arab, vol. 110, pp. 261-270 by Ibn Manẓūr he found the word ‘alaq with its derivatives 31 (thirty-one) meanings, explained in ten pages.

These meanings represent the nature and characters of human beings in the process of his life to his death, as follows: 1. The stages of the creation, and the growth of fetus, inside the womb, like a clinging leech (11. ‘ulūq = male sperm; 23. ‘ilaqah = red leech that lives in water and sucks blood (like fetus in the womb) 2. Basic necessity to sustain life, such as water, milk, food, blood (7. ‘alāq, ‘ulūq = food; 9. ‘ulūq = milk; 10. ‘alīq = liquid, such as water).

4

3. Attachment to something, like the attachment of the mountain with the earth, of a fetus with the womb. When man grows up he attaches himself to his land and property (1. ‘aliqa fī = to be attached) 4. Love of possessing, selfishness, and love of controlling things, and unwilling to lose them; it is love of this world (2. ‘aliqa = love of possessing; 4. ‘aliqa min = he loved; ‘alaq = ardent love).

5. Aggressiveness and hostility, such as fighting and waging war (19. ‘ilāqah = argument, dispute; mi‘lāq = --of a man or his tongue-- who likes to argue; 28. ‘allāqī = a man who likes to argue).

6. Attachment to custom and tradition (6. ‘allāqiyyah = (of a man) who attaches himself to custom and tradition) 7. Love of wealth and keeping it (‘ilq = precious thing which one wants to keep) 8. Learning and taking from others and sometimes without appreciation (16. ‘ulayq = twining and creeping plant, a plant that lives on another plant, such as arboreal parasitic plant) 9. Quickness, rashness, and absurdity in dealing with people (28. ‘allāqī = a man who likes to argue).

10. Love and passion as well as their opposite, aversion and hatred (4. ‘alaq = ardent love). 24. ‘ilāqah = mutual aversion and hatred) 11. Intensity of controversy, the use of strong rhetoric and love of debating (19. ‘ilāqah = argument; 29. mu‘allāq = a person who possesses eloquence in speaking).

12. Love of boasting, superiority and trouble with titles (27. ‘ilāqī = titles, as well a person who likes titles, and boasts for his noble descent and wealth) 13. Business life among people, goods (25. ‘alā’iq = goods, commodities) 14. Valuable and expensive part of man which is his soul (26. ‘ilq = precious thing, object of value, wealth, expensive dress, or the very valuable part of everything, including human soul)

5

15. The two phases of human life, before his birth and his death (17. ‘alūq = pregnant woman, and 18. ‘alūq = death) A word that has many meanings is also found in other languages. The word “second”, for example, has many different meanings: (1) next after the first in place, time, order, importance, etc., such as: “the second son” who was born after the first son, “a second class hotel” is less expensive than the first class; “a second class citizen”, i.e., inferior; “a second pair of shoes”, means an extra, additional; (2) “60 seconds” means one minute; “just a second,” means a moment, a short time; (3) “to second a proposal” means to support it. The word “plane” could be an aeroplane, flat or level surface, or a tool used by the carpenter to make flat or level surface.

These various meanings of the three letters ‫ْع‬,ْ​ْ ‫ ل‬and ‫ ق‬cover the entire human life, before his birth until his death, and their natural behavior and character indicate miraculous nature of the Qur’an which can be studied in many branches of knowledge, such as, anatomy and embryo, sociology, psychology and human behavior, as well as eloquence. Moreover, apart from the meaning that all human being are created from (min) ‘alaq, the word min isْ also ‫ لِل َّت ْب ِعيْض‬meaning “some”, so that the verse min ‘alaq also means that some of the human beings are created with the nature included in the word ‘alaq, such as, love of boasting, trouble making, love and hatred, which every human being has his share in them.

The author, Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl says that earlier Qur’an scholar in the miraculous nature of the Qur’an, al-Rummānīْ (d. 384/994), alKhaṭṭābī (d. 388/998), and al-Jurjānī (d. 471/1078) said in their writings that the Qur’an, in spite of its miraculous brevity in the number of its words, even of its letters, the meanings of every word keep growing and increasing, so that every word gives enormous meanings. For this reason, how far is this still from simply translating ‘alaq with “blood clot”. Hopefully, this would make us scrutinize the way to solve the problem of the limitation of non-Arabic languages in

6

the contents of the meanings of the translated words of the Qur’an.

But the author keeps repeating the warning, that not achieving all does not mean abandoning all. ‫ك ْ ُكلُّه‬ ُ ‫ك ْ ُكلُّهُْالَ ْ ُي ْت َر‬ ُ ‫"ْ َماْالَ ْي ُْد َر‬What cannot be wholly achieved, should not be wholly abandoned.”

What happened, then, to Dr. So-and-so after this discussion?

Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalī learned later, that his friend did not sleep that night, occupying himself with finding and studying the meanings of the word ‘alaq in the encyclopedic dictionary, Lisān al-‘Arab (“The Language of the Arabs”) by Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311) also known as Ibn Mukarram. The one published in Beirut in 1955-1956 consists of 15 big volumes. It is one of many indispensable books for understanding the meanings of the Qur’an.

Several weeks later Dr. So-and-so sent a new letter which he considered the last one to leading personalities among the scholars on the globe to whom he had sent letters before, stating what he had done to them, namely, requesting them to compose a chapter consisting 15 words, and what they had done to him, namely, complete silence. He also stated that the letters sent by his aunt had not received any reply. Then he asked them to debate, discuss, and study the meanings of the word ‘alaq in Lisān al-‘Arab. Finally, he urgently requested them, implored them either to compose one chapter containing fifteen words as the last request, or even give him one Arabic word which contains the meanings of the word ‘alaq, or even half of its meanings. He also stated that he was on the point of making the most serious decision in his life, and their reply would help him in eliminating many doubts that filled his mind and feeling.

As for his letter to the Vatican, the University of Liège in Belgium, and the International Christian Broadcasting, he simply asked them to give him an Arabic word similar to the word ‘alaq which has many meanings as that of ‘alaq, or even half of its meanings. This does not need any honest, neutral and just jury to judge. He reiterated his request to compose a chapter, any chapter.

What is the outcome or the ending of Dr. So-and-so’s undertaking? Based on the title of Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl’s book ْ ‫لِ َما َذا ْأَسْ لَ َْم‬

7

ْ​ْ‫ص ِد ْيقِي‬ َ (“Why My Friend Became Muslim…”), he converted to Islam, but the author did not want to say anything about it, for the following reasons: a. It is a personal issue, and a serious personal experience b. The objective of this research does not go into a personal issue, but a research which concerns the people of the world. c. If the whole human beings became pious, their piety would not increase Allah’s kingdom, or if they rebelled, their rebellion would not decrease it either, for He does not need any of His creatures. d. He himself asked the author, Dr. Ibrāhīm Khalīl, not to reveal his undertaking and its end until he became emotionally settled, and in due course.

If you are interested in the amazing style and eloquence of the Qur’an, you can visitْ ‫ ل َْمسات ْبيانية ْللدكتورفاضل ْصالح ْالسامرائي‬in the internet, YouYubeْ presented in TV program at al-Shāriqah (UA Emirate) by Dr. Muḥammad Khālid. Dr. Fāḍil al-Sāmarrā’ī was born in al-Sāmarrā’ in Iraq in 1933, and had been a professor of Arabic in the subject of grammar and rhetorical inimitability (wondrous nature) of the Qur’an at al-Shāriqah University since 1999. (CIVIC, 21 February, 2014) :‫المراجع‬ ْ ‫المكتبةْالشاملة‬ ْ‫ْ​ْمكتبة‬:‫ْالقاهرة‬.‫تْ ْالقُرْ آن‬ ِْ ‫يْ ْال َفا ِت ْي َكانْفِيْ​ْ​ْ َت َح ِّد َيا‬ ُْ ‫ص ِد ْيقِيْ​ْ​ْ َْوْ َر ْأ‬ َ ْ‫ْلِ َما َذاْأَسْ لَ َْم‬.‫ْإبراهيمْخليل‬.‫د‬ ْ 1993ْ,‫التراثْالعلمي‬ Holy Bible: New International Version.ْ Alkitab, Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia, Jakarta, 1984 http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%25D9%2581%25D8%25A7%25D8%25B ...6%25D9%2584_%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D8% ْ