Muslims what does this challenge mean?

Question

And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a chapter like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (if there are any) besides Allah if your (doubts) are true. But if ye cannot – and of a surety ye cannot – then fear the Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones – which is prepared for those who reject faith".
[Al-Qur’an 2:23-24]


What does it mean to "produce a chapter". Is it talking about trying to make another holy book? Or to try to rewright the chapter from memory OR..........is the answer simple and thinking too hard about it?

Answer 1

Yes, it is a challenge to the non-Muslims to produce a chapter greater in eloquence and clarity.

The first challenge was to produce the Qur'an (not complete at the time the challenge was revelaed) which the Makkans failed at.

The second challenge was to produce 10 chapters that were similar to the Qur'an and they failed at that too.

The third challenge was to produce a chapter that was similiar. same fate.

The challenge still stands today.

Answer 2

yes it is an open challenge in Qu'ran. when u read the Qu'ran u will know that these verses cannot be written by man, they can only be written by God. and let me tell -- have u ever seen the comparision of prayer the Jewish prayer, 'Our Father' with surah 'AL-Fatihah'? so what does it say -- u will find the same words repeated -- they are the same. but man had made changes and altered the Torah and Bible. it is a challenge to mankind that dare if u can create a verse better than what is found in these Holy Books.

there has been ONLY ONE QU'RAN TILL DATE SINCE PAST 1427 YRS AGO and all muslims have been reading only one Qu'ran. The Holy Qur'an is a collection of 30 chapters 114 sub - chapters which consist of 6205 verses comprising about 78,000 words. NOT ONE VERSE DELETED NOR REJECTED NOR ALTERED. translated in many languages but the message remained the same. that is what describes authentcity.

it is actually speaking about what MAN had done to the Holy Books that were sent before the Qu'ran. be it Torah, Zabur or Injil-Bible -- all these books were altered, parts of it rejected, deletd, added and destroyed. thus the authenticity of all these Holy Books were lost with time.

i think we all know what the church and Archbishop did in the year 100 AD, further in 354AD Constantine again changed the birthdate of Jesus-pbuh. and in the 14th century French Revouliton with the event of rising Protestants, again some changes were made to the rules and commandments of Holy Bible. even today people are using the commandments as per their convenience. they sin, they confess and go out only to sin again.

thus the very own people who should stand up for the Book are destroying it. just think -- when Inshaallah (God Willing) Jesus-pbuh will return -- the first thng he will ask u is -- what have u done with the Bible? he will ask -- who gave man the auhority to change and alter the WORD OF GOD as per their convenience? what answer will u give him?

Answer 3

The Qur'an was revealed when Arabic society was at the height of it's literary period... the people with the most status were those who were most eloquent in poetry.

When the Qur'an was revealed, the Arabs were floored by the shear eloquence of it and many felt that it could not have been written by a man or woman. It could only be from God. Poets were stunned that such words came from an illiterate man. They used to break their heads trying to understand how he spoke such profound, eloquent and beautiful words.

Even the non-Muslims at the time used to sneak up to the house where the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was reciting the Qur'an just so they could listen to it's eloquence. It was a type of high they felt.

So this verse is challenging people to produce a chapter that equated the Qur'an in it's eloquence and beauty.

Answer 4

From time to time, from the Tarwah(Torah), The Injil (Gospel of Jesus) and The Quran. It is basically asking if the unbelievers can truly prove if the verses and chapters of the holy books of God are made up or fabricated, because such words have never been written before.

Answer 5

the chapter means a surah!!!
the ppl of mecca said that the Quran was NOT the word of Allah n that Muhmmad (peace be upon him) was making it up...
then Allah revealed the above verse... n challenged the Kaafir of mecca to write a "surah " like that of Quran.. n they cud not.. since Quran is the word of God....

Answer 6

allah challenge in the qur`an (qur`an is the words of allah revealed to the messanger and written in arabic and is miraclous by its meanings&its grammer and words and its way of verses) any one to make anything like it bec its amiracle

Answer 7

I agree on above answers. There are many non muslims scholors who have admitted this fact. Following are few quotes

"the rhetoric and rhythm of the Arabic of the Qur’an are so characteristic, so powerful, so highly emotive, that any version whatsoever is bound by the nature of things to be but a copy of the glittering splendor of the original”
-Arthur Arberry, The Koran Interpreted p. 24

"the Meccans still demanded of him a miracle, and with remarkable boldness and self confidence Mohammad appealed as a supreme confirmation of his mission to the Koran itself. Like all Arabs they were the connoisseurs of language and rhetoric. Well, then if the Koran were his own composition other men could rival it. Let them produce ten verses like it. If they could not (and it is obvious that they could not), then let themaccept the Koran as an outstanding evident miracle"
- H A R Gibb, Islam - A Historical Survey, 1980, Oxford University Press, p. 28

"The Qur’an is one of the world's classics which cannot be translated without grave loss. It has a rhythm of peculiar beauty and a cadence that charms the ear. Many Christian Arabs speak of its style with warm admiration, and most Arabists acknowledge its excellence. When it is read aloud or recited it has an almost hypnotic effect that makes the listener indifferent to its sometimes strange syntax and its sometimes, to us, repellent content. It is this quality it possesses of silencing criticism by the sweet music of its language that has given birth to the dogma of its inimitability; indeed it may be affirmed that within the literature of the Arabs, wide and fecund as it is both in poetry and in elevated prose, there is nothing to compare with it"
- Alfred Guillaume, Islam, 1990 (Reprinted), Penguin Books, pp. 73-74

I will give below few words of George Sale, a christian missinary and critic, who has studied Arabic and translated Quran to English.

"I will mention but one instance out of several, to show that this book was really admired for the beauty of its composure by those who must be allowed to have been competent judges. A poem of Labîd Ebn Rabîa, one of the greatest wits in Arabia in Mohammed’s time, being fixed up on the gate of the temple of Mecca, an honour allowed to none but the most esteemed performances, none of the other poets durst offer anything of their own in competition with it. But the second chapter of the Korân being fixed up by it soon after, Labîd himself (then an idolater) on reading the first verses only, was struck with admiration, and immediately professed the religion taught thereby, declaring that such words could proceed from an inspired person only.

The style of the Korân is generally beautiful and fluent, especially where it imitates the prophetic manner and scripture phrases. It is concise and often obscure, adorned with bold figures after the eastern taste, enlivened with florid and sententious expressions, and in many places, especially where the majesty and attributes of GOD are described, sublime and magnificent; of which the reader cannot but observe several instances, though he must not imagine the translation comes up to the original, notwithstanding my endeavours to do it justice.

Though it be written in prose, yet the sentences generally conclude in a long continued rhyme, for the sake of which the sense is often interrupted, and unnecessary repetitions too frequently made, which appear still more ridiculous in a translation, where the ornament, such as it is, for whose sake they were made, cannot be perceived. However, the Arabians are so mightily delighted with this jingling, that they employ it in their most elaborate compositions, which they also embellish with frequent passages of, and allusions to, the Korân, so that it is next to impossible to understand them without being well versed in this book.

It is probable the harmony of expression which the Arabians find in the Korân might contribute not a little to make them relish the doctrine therein taught, and give an efficacy to arguments which, had they been nakedly proposed without this rhetorical dress, might not have so easily prevailed. Very extraordinary effects are related of the power of words well chosen and artfully placed, which are no less powerful either to ravish or amaze than music itself; wherefore as much has been ascribed by the best orators to this part of rhetoric as to any other. He must have a very bad ear who is not uncommonly moved with the very cadence of a well-turned sentence; and Mohammed seems not to have been ignorant of the enthusiastic operation of rhetoric on the minds of men; for which reason he has not only employed his utmost skill in these his pretended revelations, to preserve the dignity and sublimity of style, which might seem not unworthy of the majesty of that Being, whom he gave out to be the author of them; and to imitate the prophetic manner of the Old Testament; but he has not neglected even the other arts of oratory; wherein he succeeded so well, and so strangely captivated the minds of his audience, that several of his opponents thought it the effect of witchcraft and enchantment, as he sometimes complains."

We can see that eventhough he claims Quran to be written by Mohammed because of his prejudice he cannot but admire it for its beauty.

Eventhough, Quran is considered umatched in Arabic literature, it contains very few words, that is around 1900 root words and it is easy for non arabs to learn Quran. I myself is a non arab and I completed learning Quran in Arabic in around 2 years of self study. But still I find difficult to understand other Arabic books because they contain too many other words.