Is the Holy Quran Muhammad’s invention ?

From www.55a.net
By DR :Abd Al-Raheem Al-Shreef
h.D. of the science of Qur’an and its interpretation
Translated by May Saleh
Revised By Magdy Abd Al-Shafy
Many critics of Islam throughout their continuous searching to find a human source to the Holy Qur'an, their imagination conducted them to the idea that the Holy Qur'an is prophet Muhammad's invention for three purposes:
1. To facilitate his domination over his followers.
2. To frighten the hypocrites, the unbelievers and those who disobey his orders.
3. To permit his pleasures.
To answer this fallacy we say:
The allegation that the Holy Qur’an is out of prophet Muhammad’s passions and imaginations is the weakest one of their suspicions. Are million of Arabs’ mothers unable to give birth to one like him (prophet Muhammad PBUH)? Were all his life circumistances qualified him to be in peace of mind, happy and sitting on his sofa .. holding a piece of peaper and pen and writing some verses of the Holy Qur’an?! What a single human can do, certainly a group of human can do too. So, Why they did not do that?
Also, there are many replies concerning this allegation ;these are:[1]
1. The style of the Holy Qur’an is different from that of the Noble Hadeeth, certainly a person , irrespective of his qualifications , can impossibly produce sentences with different style at the same time. Allah’s Messenger is a human being ,who could be angry, happy, sad and so on .. but you can see the difference clearly between the prophetic Noble Hadeeth , that he said and what he told us that it is a Holy Qur’an.
If the Qur’an and the Hadeeth have the same source, it will be very difficult to differentiat between their styles and their composition .
And why Muhammad did not claim that his Hadeeth is a Qur’anic verses in spite of the fact that it is also inspired by Allah. [2]
We cannot say that prophet Muhammad had two different styles, a very ornamented and decorated one which is for the Holy Qur’an and an inferior one for the Noble Hadeeth. Meanwhile most of the Holy Qur’an was brought down to prophet Muhammad unexpectedly, he is hates speech decoration more than any one , and we must not forget that we are talking about the golden age of Arabic when the Arabs’ instinct and sense were free from any kind of grammatical mistakes.
1-Show us a person who has a talent of speech and then write down his style characteristics. Then ask him to change his style into another one and write its characteristics too. Ask him to write a third one ... so he will never be able to abandon his first style; because style is something innate in any person on expressing the meaning. As long as a person has a special way in expressing the meaning, his performance would have inescapable characteristic.. [3]
2. When you observe the prophet’s biography (Seerah) you can notice his great fear of Almighty Allah, and his devoutness. Therefore, it is impossible for him to leave lying and cheating on people, then to lie and cheat on Allah.
3. What does an ordinary person want by pretending prophethood, if he is a liar? No more than some honor and money. While Quraish offered to Allah’s Messenger the most extreme things that any Arabic imagination could wish at that time, (money, honor, women…) but he left all of these and slept on a straw mat which affected his honorable body by leaving some lines on it, and he was exposed to many assassination attempts. He fought the polytheists.. although he could live in glory and bliss, if he gave up the calling for Islam.
4. The different Qur’anic miracles whether (illustrative, scientific, invisible or legislative) were behind the reach of any human being .
5. The Holy Qur’an does not contain any important events concerning Prophet Muhammad’s life or any names of his lovers or his closest persons such as ( his parents, his children, the earlier muslims, his wives..etc) even his name was not mentioned more than four times in the Holy Qur’an.
6. There are many verses of blame against Prophet Muhammad in the Holy Qur’an.
7. Prophet Muhammad underwent many problems and cases which demanded an immediate answer such as the slander incident concerning his wife “A'ishah may Allah be pleased with her” and the three who did not join the Tabuk expedition… also, his wife Khadejah “may Allah be pleased with her”, his uncle Abu Taleb and his son Abraham died without any indication concerning their death in the Holy Qur’an to console him
Moreover, the Holy Qur’an does not refer to his marriage to the believers’ mother Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) whereas, his marriage to the believers’ mother Zienb (may Allah be pleased with her) is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an for its relation to a special Islamic legislation.
8. He did not obligate his followers to his personal opinons like: the story of fertilizing the palm tree[4], and his frequent cosultation to his followers on many occasions confirm that.
9. The Holy Qur’an stated that if it had been the prophet Muhammd’s invention, he would not have written any hard word according to his pleasure. As Almighty Allah says : (And you were not expecting that the Book (this Qur’an) would be sent down to you, but it is a mercy from your Lord.)[28:86]. of course, it is a hard word as Allah says :( Verily, We shall send down to you a weighty Word (i.e. obligations, laws) [73:5].


Even, if the matter was in his hand , he would send down words complying with their requirements, but this is inappropriate. Almighty Allah says: (And if you do not bring them a miracle (according to their (i.e. Quraish-pagans') proposal), they say: "Why have you not brought it?" Say: "I but follow what is revealed to me from my Lord. This (the Qur'ân) is nothing but evidences from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe).[7:202]. Verily, Prophet Muhammad did not response to their demands in order to make them follow the evidence and the guidance, as a mercy for people who believe and to be sure that he is not the source of this revelation.
Glory to Allah who converts their fallacies evidence against them!

10. Another evidence is that the Holy Qur’an was sent down separated in 23 years and was arranged in a very wonderful and accurate style without any flaw, contradiction or any change in its rhetoric. All of these could never have been produced by an ordinary human being known with his natural deficiency.

11. This suspicion indicates that there are a hiden knowledge inside Prophet Muhammad’s mind, so from where did he obtain this former knowledg ? I have discussed above the invalidity of the suspicion that its source is either human or Jinn.
11. The Holy Qur’an enjoins many hard worships and prohibits a lot of pleasures that any human being eager to, while Quraish did not find any difficulty in doing it . It is incredible that Prophet Muhammad’s desire forced him to pray most of the night and to fast many days of the month connecting the day with the night without breaking fast … or to forbbid himself from drinking alcohol, usury, wearing gold and silk, accepting charity and to inherit his children (which is spechial for him because he is a prophet).
12. Prophet Muhammad could frighten his followers – if we assume he invented the Holy Qur’an for this purpose – but .. is there any human being all over the world would intimidate himself from the agony of hell, or facing many risks by living in a place full of enemies (where the hiden enemies more than the apparent ones) and without any bodyguards? –In fact this what prophet Mohummed did .
See what Almighty Allah says: (O Messenger (Muhammad (peace be upon him))! Proclaim (the Message) which has been sent down to you from your Lord. And if you do not, then you have not conveyed His Message. Allâh will protect you from mankind. Verily, Allâh guides not the people who disbelieve).[5:67]

This self sincerity led to another sincerity with others.. as Almighty Allah says : (And when Our Clear Verses are recited unto them, those who hope not for their meeting with Us, say: "Bring us a Qur'ân other than this, or change it." Say (O Muhammad (peace be upon him)) "It is not for me to change it[5] on my own accord; I only follow that which is revealed unto me. Verily, I fear the torment of the Great Day (i.e. the Day of Resurrection) if I were to disobey my Lord(15) Say (O Muhammad (peace be upon him)) "If Allâh had so willed, I should not have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you. Verily, I have stayed amongst you a life time before this. Have you then no sense?(16) So who does more wrong than he who forges a lie against Allâh or denies His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.)? Surely, the Mujrimûn (criminals, sinners, disbelievers and polytheists) will never be successful!(17)). [10: 15:17]
Certainly, our Prohet Muhammad is honest, for the content of the Holy Qur’an does not belong to any creature (mankind or jinn), rather it is confirmed by Almighty Allah , God say in this regard what means : (And thus We have sent to you (O Muhammad (peace be upon him)) Ruh (a Revelation, and a Mercy) of Our Command. You knew not what is the Book, nor what is Faith? But We have made it (this Qur'ân) a light wherewith We guide whosoever of Our slaves We will. And verily, you (O Muhammad (peace be upon him)) are indeed guiding (mankind) to the Straight Path (i.e. Allâh's religion of Islâmic Monotheism). [42:52]
Any spirit longing to find the truth, would believe in that and would be confident by the lowest thought and searching.. but the passions, the lack of discernment and the deception of some unfair researchers could blind it, Almighty Allah says : (Those who disbelieve say: "This (the Qur'ân) is nothing but a lie that he (Muhammad (peace be upon him)) has invented, and others have helped him at it. In fact they have produced an unjust wrong (thing) and a lie(4) And they say: "Tales of the ancients, which he has written down, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon(5) Say: "It (this Qur'ân) has been sent down by Him (Allâh) (the Real Lord of the heavens and earth) Who knows the secret of the heavens and the earth. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful(6).) [25:4:6]

Besides the envy which is mentioned in the following chapter : (Many of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) wish that if they could turn you away as disbelievers after you have believed, out of envy from their ownselves, even, after the truth (that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is Allâh's Messenger) has become manifest unto them. But forgive and overlook, till Allâh brings His Command. Verily, Allâh is Able to do all things).[2:109]
[1] Qur’anic issues in the British encyclopedia, Dr. Fadel Hasan Abbas, p208. And an introduction to a study of the Holy Qur’an, Muhammad Abu Shahbh, p 98. And Manahel Al-Arfan, Al-Zarqani, 1/62.
[2] Al-Bukhari narrated in pilgrimmage (Al-hajj) chapter (1789): "A man came to the Prophet while he was at Ji'rana. The man was wearing a cloak which had traces of Khaluq or Sufra (a kind of perfume). The man asked (the Prophet ), 'What do you order me to perform in my 'Umra?' So, Allah inspired the Prophet divinely and he was screened by a place of cloth. I wished to see the Prophet being divinely inspired. 'Umar said to me, 'Come! Will you be pleased to look at the Prophet while Allah is inspiring him?' I replied in the affirmative. 'Umar lifted one corner of the cloth and I looked at the Prophet who was snoring. (The sub-narrator thought that he said: The snoring was like that of a camel). When that state was over, the Prophet asked, "Where is the questioner who asked about 'Umra? Put off your cloak and wash away the traces of Khaluq from your body and clean the Sufra (yellow color) and perform in your Umra what you perform in your Hajj (i.e. the Tawaf round the Ka'ba and the Sa'i between Safa and Marwa). "
Islam opponents’ suspisions and fabrications and anulled them, Muhammad Metwali Al-Shaarawi, p 38.
Muslim narrated in virtues chapter (2363) : “The Prophet passed by a group of people who were fertilizing the palm trees and said: it is better if you do not fertilize these palm trees. The narrater said: bad dates (shaess) grew. Then the Prophet passed them again and said: what is the matter with your palm trees? They said : because you said earlier “it is better if you do not fertilize these palm trees” and we did so. The Prohet said: ‘you know more than me about your present life”.
Shaess means the date with soft kernel or without kernel at all .
[5] Al-Zamakhshari talked in his book ‘Al- Kshaf” about the reason behind Quraish unbelievers’requirements : “the unbelievers’suggestion of replacement and changing is out of greed and to test him. That because if he makes any replacement: Allah will either perish him and they will escape or to not perish him and they will make fun of him and this replacement will be an evidence against him and a correction for his fabrication”.

Many critics of Islam throughout their continuous searching to find a human source to the Holy Qur'an, their imagination conducted them to the idea that the Holy Qur'an is prophet Muhammad's invention for three purposes:
1. To facilitate his domination over his followers.
2. To frighten the hypocrites, the unbelievers and those who disobey his orders.
3. To permit his pleasures.
To answer this fallacy we say:
The allegation that the Holy Qur’an is out of prophet Muhammad’s passions and imaginations is the weakest one of their suspicions. Are million of Arabs’ mothers unable to give birth to one like him (prophet Muhammad PBUH)? Were all his life circumistances qualified him to be in peace of mind, happy and sitting on his sofa .. holding a piece of peaper and pen and writing some verses of the Holy Qur’an?! What a single human can do, certainly a group of human can do too. So, Why they did not do that?
Also, there are many replies concerning this allegation ;these are:[1]
1. The style of the Holy Qur’an is different from that of the Noble Hadeeth, certainly a person , irrespective of his qualifications , can impossibly produce sentences with different style at the same time. Allah’s Messenger is a human being ,who could be angry, happy, sad and so on .. but you can see the difference clearly between the prophetic Noble Hadeeth , that he said and what he told us that it is a Holy Qur’an.
If the Qur’an and the Hadeeth have the same source, it will be very difficult to differentiat between their styles and their composition .
And why Muhammad did not claim that his Hadeeth is a Qur’anic verses in spite of the fact that it is also inspired by Allah. [2]
We cannot say that prophet Muhammad had two different styles, a very ornamented and decorated one which is for the Holy Qur’an and an inferior one for the Noble Hadeeth. Meanwhile most of the Holy Qur’an was brought down to prophet Muhammad unexpectedly, he is hates speech decoration more than any one , and we must not forget that we are talking about the golden age of Arabic when the Arabs’ instinct and sense were free from any kind of grammatical mistakes.
1-Show us a person who has a talent of speech and then write down his style characteristics. Then ask him to change his style into another one and write its characteristics too. Ask him to write a third one ... so he will never be able to abandon his first style; because style is something innate in any person on expressing the meaning. As long as a person has a special way in expressing the meaning, his performance would have inescapable characteristic.. [3]
2. When you observe the prophet’s biography (Seerah) you can notice his great fear of Almighty Allah, and his devoutness. Therefore, it is impossible for him to leave lying and cheating on people, then to lie and cheat on Allah.
3. What does an ordinary person want by pretending prophethood, if he is a liar? No more than some honor and money. While Quraish offered to Allah’s Messenger the most extreme things that any Arabic imagination could wish at that time, (money, honor, women…) but he left all of these and slept on a straw mat which affected his honorable body by leaving some lines on it, and he was exposed to many assassination attempts. He fought the polytheists.. although he could live in glory and bliss, if he gave up the calling for Islam.
4. The different Qur’anic miracles whether (illustrative, scientific, invisible or legislative) were behind the reach of any human being .
5. The Holy Qur’an does not contain any important events concerning Prophet Muhammad’s life or any names of his lovers or his closest persons such as ( his parents, his children, the earlier muslims, his wives..etc) even his name was not mentioned more than four times in the Holy Qur’an.
6. There are many verses of blame against Prophet Muhammad in the Holy Qur’an.
7. Prophet Muhammad underwent many problems and cases which demanded an immediate answer such as the slander incident concerning his wife “A'ishah may Allah be pleased with her” and the three who did not join the Tabuk expedition… also, his wife Khadejah “may Allah be pleased with her”, his uncle Abu Taleb and his son Abraham died without any indication concerning their death in the Holy Qur’an to console him
Moreover, the Holy Qur’an does not refer to his marriage to the believers’ mother Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) whereas, his marriage to the believers’ mother Zienb (may Allah be pleased with her) is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an for its relation to a special Islamic legislation.
8. He did not obligate his followers to his personal opinons like: the story of fertilizing the palm tree[4], and his frequent cosultation to his followers on many occasions confirm that.
9. The Holy Qur’an stated that if it had been the prophet Muhammd’s invention, he would not have written any hard word according to his pleasure. As Almighty Allah says : (And you were not expecting that the Book (this Qur’an) would be sent down to you, but it is a mercy from your Lord.)[28:86]. of course, it is a hard word as Allah says :( Verily, We shall send down to you a weighty Word (i.e. obligations, laws) [73:5].


Even, if the matter was in his hand , he would send down words complying with their requirements, but this is inappropriate. Almighty Allah says: (And if you do not bring them a miracle (according to their (i.e. Quraish-pagans') proposal), they say: "Why have you not brought it?" Say: "I but follow what is revealed to me from my Lord. This (the Qur'ân) is nothing but evidences from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe).[7:202]. Verily, Prophet Muhammad did not response to their demands in order to make them follow the evidence and the guidance, as a mercy for people who believe and to be sure that he is not the source of this revelation.
Glory to Allah who converts their fallacies evidence against them!

10. Another evidence is that the Holy Qur’an was sent down separated in 23 years and was arranged in a very wonderful and accurate style without any flaw, contradiction or any change in its rhetoric. All of these could never have been produced by an ordinary human being known with his natural deficiency.

11. This suspicion indicates that there are a hiden knowledge inside Prophet Muhammad’s mind, so from where did he obtain this former knowledg ? I have discussed above the invalidity of the suspicion that its source is either human or Jinn.
11. The Holy Qur’an enjoins many hard worships and prohibits a lot of pleasures that any human being eager to, while Quraish did not find any difficulty in doing it . It is incredible that Prophet Muhammad’s desire forced him to pray most of the night and to fast many days of the month connecting the day with the night without breaking fast … or to forbbid himself from drinking alcohol, usury, wearing gold and silk, accepting charity and to inherit his children (which is spechial for him because he is a prophet).
12. Prophet Muhammad could frighten his followers – if we assume he invented the Holy Qur’an for this purpose – but .. is there any human being all over the world would intimidate himself from the agony of hell, or facing many risks by living in a place full of enemies (where the hiden enemies more than the apparent ones) and without any bodyguards? –In fact this what prophet Mohummed did .
See what Almighty Allah says: (O Messenger (Muhammad (peace be upon him))! Proclaim (the Message) which has been sent down to you from your Lord. And if you do not, then you have not conveyed His Message. Allâh will protect you from mankind. Verily, Allâh guides not the people who disbelieve).[5:67]

This self sincerity led to another sincerity with others.. as Almighty Allah says : (And when Our Clear Verses are recited unto them, those who hope not for their meeting with Us, say: "Bring us a Qur'ân other than this, or change it." Say (O Muhammad (peace be upon him)) "It is not for me to change it[5] on my own accord; I only follow that which is revealed unto me. Verily, I fear the torment of the Great Day (i.e. the Day of Resurrection) if I were to disobey my Lord(15) Say (O Muhammad (peace be upon him)) "If Allâh had so willed, I should not have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you. Verily, I have stayed amongst you a life time before this. Have you then no sense?(16) So who does more wrong than he who forges a lie against Allâh or denies His Ayât (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.)? Surely, the Mujrimûn (criminals, sinners, disbelievers and polytheists) will never be successful!(17)). [10: 15:17]
Certainly, our Prohet Muhammad is honest, for the content of the Holy Qur’an does not belong to any creature (mankind or jinn), rather it is confirmed by Almighty Allah , God say in this regard what means : (And thus We have sent to you (O Muhammad (peace be upon him)) Ruh (a Revelation, and a Mercy) of Our Command. You knew not what is the Book, nor what is Faith? But We have made it (this Qur'ân) a light wherewith We guide whosoever of Our slaves We will. And verily, you (O Muhammad (peace be upon him)) are indeed guiding (mankind) to the Straight Path (i.e. Allâh's religion of Islâmic Monotheism). [42:52]
Any spirit longing to find the truth, would believe in that and would be confident by the lowest thought and searching.. but the passions, the lack of discernment and the deception of some unfair researchers could blind it, Almighty Allah says : (Those who disbelieve say: "This (the Qur'ân) is nothing but a lie that he (Muhammad (peace be upon him)) has invented, and others have helped him at it. In fact they have produced an unjust wrong (thing) and a lie(4) And they say: "Tales of the ancients, which he has written down, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon(5) Say: "It (this Qur'ân) has been sent down by Him (Allâh) (the Real Lord of the heavens and earth) Who knows the secret of the heavens and the earth. Truly, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful(6).) [25:4:6]

Besides the envy which is mentioned in the following chapter : (Many of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) wish that if they could turn you away as disbelievers after you have believed, out of envy from their ownselves, even, after the truth (that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is Allâh's Messenger) has become manifest unto them. But forgive and overlook, till Allâh brings His Command. Verily, Allâh is Able to do all things).[2:109]
[1] Qur’anic issues in the British encyclopedia, Dr. Fadel Hasan Abbas, p208. And an introduction to a study of the Holy Qur’an, Muhammad Abu Shahbh, p 98. And Manahel Al-Arfan, Al-Zarqani, 1/62.
[2] Al-Bukhari narrated in pilgrimmage (Al-hajj) chapter (1789): "A man came to the Prophet while he was at Ji'rana. The man was wearing a cloak which had traces of Khaluq or Sufra (a kind of perfume). The man asked (the Prophet ), 'What do you order me to perform in my 'Umra?' So, Allah inspired the Prophet divinely and he was screened by a place of cloth. I wished to see the Prophet being divinely inspired. 'Umar said to me, 'Come! Will you be pleased to look at the Prophet while Allah is inspiring him?' I replied in the affirmative. 'Umar lifted one corner of the cloth and I looked at the Prophet who was snoring. (The sub-narrator thought that he said: The snoring was like that of a camel). When that state was over, the Prophet asked, "Where is the questioner who asked about 'Umra? Put off your cloak and wash away the traces of Khaluq from your body and clean the Sufra (yellow color) and perform in your Umra what you perform in your Hajj (i.e. the Tawaf round the Ka'ba and the Sa'i between Safa and Marwa). "
Islam opponents’ suspisions and fabrications and anulled them, Muhammad Metwali Al-Shaarawi, p 38.
Muslim narrated in virtues chapter (2363) : “The Prophet passed by a group of people who were fertilizing the palm trees and said: it is better if you do not fertilize these palm trees. The narrater said: bad dates (shaess) grew. Then the Prophet passed them again and said: what is the matter with your palm trees? They said : because you said earlier “it is better if you do not fertilize these palm trees” and we did so. The Prohet said: ‘you know more than me about your present life”.
Shaess means the date with soft kernel or without kernel at all .
[5] Al-Zamakhshari talked in his book ‘Al- Kshaf” about the reason behind Quraish unbelievers’requirements : “the unbelievers’suggestion of replacement and changing is out of greed and to test him. That because if he makes any replacement: Allah will either perish him and they will escape or to not perish him and they will make fun of him and this replacement will be an evidence against him and a correction for his fabrication”.