17:88 Al-Israa (The Night Journey)

وهذا دليل قاطع، وبرهان ساطع، على صحة ما جاء به الرسول وصدقه، حيث تحدى الله الإنس والجن أن يأتوا بمثله، وأخبر أنهم لا يأتون بمثله، ولو تعاونوا كلهم على ذلك لم يقدروا عليه. ووقع كما أخبر الله، فإن دواعي أعدائه المكذبين به، متوفرة على رد ما جاء به بأي: وجه كان، وهم أهل اللسان والفصاحة، فلو كان عندهم أدنى تأهل وتمكن من ذلك لفعلوه. فعلم بذلك، أنهم أذعنوا غاية الإذعان، طوعًا وكرهًا، وعجزوا عن معارضته. وكيف يقدر المخلوق من تراب، الناقص من جميع الوجوه، الذي ليس له علم ولا قدرة ولا إرادة ولا مشيئة ولا كلام ولا كمال إلا من ربه، أن يعارض كلام رب الأرض والسماوات، المطلع على سائر الخفيات، الذي له الكمال المطلق، والحمد المطلق، والمجد العظيم، الذي لو أن البحر يمده من بعده سبعة أبحر مدادًا، والأشجار كلها أقلام، لنفذ المداد، وفنيت الأقلام، ولم تنفد كلمات الله. فكما أنه ليس أحد من المخلوقين مماثلاً لله في أوصافه فكلامه من أوصافه، التي لا يماثله فيها أحد، فليس كمثله شيء، في ذاته، وأسمائه، وصفاته، وأفعاله تبارك وتعالى. فتبًا لمن اشتبه عليه كلام الخالق بكلام المخلوق، وزعم أن محمدًا صلى الله عليه وسلم افتراه على الله واختلقه من نفسه.

ثم نبه تعالى على شرف هذا القرآن العظيم فأخبر أنه لو اجتمعت الإنس والجن كلهم واتفقوا على أن يأتوا بمثل ما أنزله على رسوله لما أطاقوا ذلك ولما استطاعوه ولو تعاونوا وتساعدوا وتظافروا فإن هذا أمر لا يستطاع وكيف يشبه كلام المخلوقين كلام الخالق الذي لا نظير له ولا مثال له ولا عديل له وقد روى محمد بن إسحاق عن محمد بن أبي محمد عن سعيد بن جبير أو عكرمة عن ابن عباس أن هذه الآية نزلت في نفر من اليهود جاءوا رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقالوا له إنا نأتيك بمثل ما جئتنا به فأنزل الله هذه الآية. وفي هذا نظر لأن هذه السورة مكية وسياقها كله مع قريش واليهود إنما اجتمعوا به في المدينة فالله أعلم.

If Allah willed, He could take away the Qur'an

Allah mentions the blessing and great bounty that He has bestowed upon His servant and Messenger Muhammad by revealing to Him the Noble Qur'an to which falsehood cannot come, from before it or behind it, (it is) sent down by the All-Wise, Worthy of all praise. Ibn Mas`ud said, "A red wind will come to the people, meaning at the end of time, from the direction of Syria, and there will be nothing left in a man's Mushaf (copy of the Qur'an) or in his heart, not even one Ayah." Then Ibn Mas`ud recited:

وَلَئِن شِئْنَا لَنَذْهَبَنَّ بِالَّذِى أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ

(And if We willed, We could surely take away that which We have revealed to you.)

Challenging by the Qur'an

Then Allah points out the great virtue of the Qur'an, and says that even if mankind and the Jinn were all to come together and agree to produce something like that which was revealed to His Messenger , they would never be able to do it, even if they were to cooperate and support and help one another. This is something which is impossible. How could the words of created beings be like the Words of the Creator Who has no equal and peer, for there is none like unto Him

وَلَقَدْ صَرَّفْنَا لِلنَّاسِ

(And indeed We have fully explained to man- kind,) meaning, `We have furnished them with evidence and defini- tive proof, and We have shown them the truth and explained it in detail, yet despite that most of mankind insist on disbelief, i.e., denying and rejecting the truth.'

Say ‘Verily should mankind and jinn come together to produce the like of this Qur’ān the like thereof in terms of clarity and rhetorical excellence they could not produce the like thereof even if they backed one another’ even if one was an assistant of the other. This verse was revealed as a refutation of their statement ‘If we wish we can speak the like of this’ Q. 831.

The subject in verse 88: قُل لَّئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الْإِنسُ وَالْجِنُّ (If all humans and jinns join together...) appears in some other verses of the Holy Qur'an as well. Challenging the humankind, it has been said there: If you do not take the Qur'an to be the word of Allah, rather take it to be a word of man, then, you too are human, why would you not come up with its like? Along with that challenge, it was also said in this verse: Not the human-kind alone, you are welcome to join up with jinns, but you, all combined together, will still be unable to come out with one Surah - even one verse - like that of the Qur'an.

The repetition of this subject at this place may possibly be to show the futility of what the deniers of the message were trying to do. Here they were trying to test the veracity of the mission of a prophet of Allah by asking all sorts of questions, the one about the Ruh being one of them. Being an exercise in futility, why would they go about digging into unnecessary issues only to determine whether or not the prophet sent to them was true? Why they would not look into the Qur’ an as it is? It leaves no room for doubt in the veracity of the Holy Prophet ﷺ as Prophet and Messenger of Allah ﷺ . The reason is simple. When the humans and jinns of the whole world are incapable of producing the least like of it, what doubt could there be in that it is but the Divine Word. And once it is proved so manifestly that the Holy Qur'an is Divine Word, hardly any doubt remains in that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was a true prophet and messenger of Allah ﷺ .