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 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, إِقْرَأْ (“Read!”). As he was illiterate, he said, مَا أَنَا بِقَارِئْ (“I
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 embrace of Gabriel, he said, مَاذَا أَقْرَأُ؟ (“What shall I read?”). Then Gabriel said,
اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ
رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ. خَلَقَ الْإِنْسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ. اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ.
الَّذِي عَلَّمَ
بِالْقَلَمِ . عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ. (العلق :1-5)
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 (أَشْعِيَاء) was 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 تادرس (Teodores?) 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 was left without commentary, which made him shake his
head without any comment.
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, عَلَّمَ (“to give knowledge”, to teach) mentioned twice, whereas يَعْلَم (“he
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. اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الْأَكْرَمُ. 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
عَلَق which contains three
letters:ع , ل and 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).
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)
15. The
two phases of human life, before his birth and his death (17. ‘alūq = pregnant woman, and 18. ‘alūq = death)
These various
meanings of the three letters ل ,
ع and ق cover 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 is also لِلتَّبْعِيْض meaning “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-Rummānī (d. 384/994),
al-Khaṭṭābī (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 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. مَا لاَ يُدْرَكُ كُلُّهُ لاَ يُتْرَكُ كُلُّه "
What
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 لِمَاذَا أَسْلَمَ
صَدِيْقِيْ (“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 visitلمَسات بيانية للدكتورفاضل صالح السامرائي in the internet, YouYube 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:
المكتبة الشاملة
د. إبراهيم خليل. لِمَاذَا
أَسْلَمَ صَدِيْقِيْ وَ رَأْيُ اْلفَاتِيْكَان فِيْ تَحَدِّيَاتِ اْلقُرْآن. القاهرة: مكتبة
التراث العلمي, 1993
Holy Bible:
New International Version.
Alkitab,
Lembaga Alkitab Indonesia, Jakarta, 1984
http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%25D9%2581%25D8%25A7%25D8%25B6%25D9%2584_%25D8%25A7%25D9%2584%25D8%...
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