The challenge (tahaddi)
The Quran does not just claim to be divine. It sets a test anyone can attempt. Classical scholars noted that the challenge appears in several forms. It begins with the whole Quran, then ten surahs, then a single surah, while the shortest surah is only three verses long.
Produce speech like it
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ تَقَوَّلَهُۥ ۚ بَل لَّا يُؤْمِنُونَ ٣٣ فَلْيَأْتُوا۟ بِحَدِيثٍۢ مِّثْلِهِۦٓ إِن كَانُوا۟ صَٰدِقِينَ ٣٤
33Or say they: He hath invented it? Nay, but they will not believe! 34Then let them produce speech the like thereof, if they are truthful.
Even with the help of all mankind and jinn
قُل لَّئِنِ ٱجْتَمَعَتِ ٱلْإِنسُ وَٱلْجِنُّ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يَأْتُوا۟ بِمِثْلِ هَٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانِ لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِۦ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍۢ ظَهِيرًۭا ٨٨
Say: Verily, though mankind and the jinn should assemble to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof though they were helpers one of another.
Ten surahs
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ ٱفْتَرَىٰهُ ۖ قُلْ فَأْتُوا۟ بِعَشْرِ سُوَرٍۢ مِّثْلِهِۦ مُفْتَرَيَٰتٍۢ وَٱدْعُوا۟ مَنِ ٱسْتَطَعْتُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ ١٣
Or they say: He hath invented it. Say: Then bring ten surahs, the like thereof, invented, and call on everyone ye can beside Allah, if ye are truthful!
A single surah
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ ٱفْتَرَىٰهُ ۖ قُلْ فَأْتُوا۟ بِسُورَةٍۢ مِّثْلِهِۦ وَٱدْعُوا۟ مَنِ ٱسْتَطَعْتُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ ٣٨
Or say they: He hath invented it? Say: Then bring a surah like unto it, and call (for help) on all ye can besides Allah, if ye are truthful.
وَإِن كُنتُمْ فِى رَيْبٍۢ مِّمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَىٰ عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا۟ بِسُورَةٍۢ مِّن مِّثْلِهِۦ وَٱدْعُوا۟ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ ٢٣ فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُوا۟ وَلَن تَفْعَلُوا۟ فَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱلنَّارَ ٱلَّتِى وَقُودُهَا ٱلنَّاسُ وَٱلْحِجَارَةُ ۖ أُعِدَّتْ لِلْكَٰفِرِينَ ٢٤
23And if ye are in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto Our slave (Muhammad), then produce a surah of the like thereof, and call your witness beside Allah if ye are truthful. 24And if ye do it not - and ye can never do it - then guard yourselves against the Fire prepared for disbelievers, whose fuel is of men and stones.
In Quran 2:24 the challenge comes with a forecast: “and ye can never do it”. The verse was revealed in Madinah, after years of opposition from people with every motive to answer it. The Prophet's ﷺ opponents chose costly wars, boycotts and persecution, but no accepted reply.
Neither poetry nor prose
Seventh-century Arabia was a culture of the spoken word. Poets were celebrated, their verses learned by heart, and the famous long odes known as the Mu'allaqat were held up as the peak of eloquence. Speech was judged by known forms. Poetry (shi'r) had fixed metres and a single end-rhyme. Soothsayers (kahins) used saj', a short rhymed prose.
The Quran's opponents tried to label it as one of these, and the Quran rejected each label:
إِنَّهُۥ لَقَوْلُ رَسُولٍۢ كَرِيمٍۢ ٤٠ وَمَا هُوَ بِقَوْلِ شَاعِرٍۢ ۚ قَلِيلًۭا مَّا تُؤْمِنُونَ ٤١ وَلَا بِقَوْلِ كَاهِنٍۢ ۚ قَلِيلًۭا مَّا تَذَكَّرُونَ ٤٢ تَنزِيلٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ ٤٣
40That it is indeed the speech of an illustrious messenger. 41It is not poet's speech - little is it that ye believe! 42Nor diviner's speech - little is it that ye remember! 43It is a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.
Its verses rhyme and have rhythm, but they follow none of the poetic metres. Its passages vary freely in length. It moves between narrative, law, argument, prayer and description, often changing grammatical person (from “He” to “We” to “you”) to striking effect. Arabic rhetoricians call this device iltifat. The result is a form that the Arabs of the time recognised as new.
The testimony of an opponent
Surah al-Muddaththir describes a man who listened to the Quran, thought carefully about how to discredit it, and in the end could only call it “magic”:
إِنَّهُۥ فَكَّرَ وَقَدَّرَ ١٨ فَقُتِلَ كَيْفَ قَدَّرَ ١٩ ثُمَّ قُتِلَ كَيْفَ قَدَّرَ ٢٠ ثُمَّ نَظَرَ ٢١ ثُمَّ عَبَسَ وَبَسَرَ ٢٢ ثُمَّ أَدْبَرَ وَٱسْتَكْبَرَ ٢٣ فَقَالَ إِنْ هَٰذَآ إِلَّا سِحْرٌۭ يُؤْثَرُ ٢٤ إِنْ هَٰذَآ إِلَّا قَوْلُ ٱلْبَشَرِ ٢٥
18For lo! he did consider; then he planned - 19(Self-)destroyed is he, how he planned! 20Again (self-)destroyed is he, how he planned! - 21Then looked he, 22Then frowned he and showed displeasure. 23Then turned he away in pride 24And said: This is naught else than magic from of old; 25This is naught else than speech of mortal man.
Classical commentators, including Ibn Kathir, identify this man as al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah, a leading figure of Quraysh. Calling the Quran “magic” (sihr) was an admission of its effect on listeners. It was not an argument that the Quran could be matched.
The unlettered Prophet
The Quran describes the Prophet ﷺ as al-nabi al-ummi, “the unlettered Prophet”, and presents this as part of the evidence:
وَمَا كُنتَ تَتْلُوا۟ مِن قَبْلِهِۦ مِن كِتَٰبٍۢ وَلَا تَخُطُّهُۥ بِيَمِينِكَ ۖ إِذًۭا لَّٱرْتَابَ ٱلْمُبْطِلُونَ ٤٨ بَلْ هُوَ ءَايَٰتٌۢ بَيِّنَٰتٌۭ فِى صُدُورِ ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْعِلْمَ ۚ وَمَا يَجْحَدُ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَآ إِلَّا ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ ٤٩
48And thou (O Muhammad) wast not a reader of any scripture before it, nor didst thou write it with thy right hand, for then might those have doubted, who follow falsehood. 49But it is clear revelations in the hearts of those who have been given knowledge, and none deny Our revelations save wrong-doers.
هُوَ ٱلَّذِى بَعَثَ فِى ٱلْأُمِّيِّۦنَ رَسُولًۭا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَإِن كَانُوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ لَفِى ضَلَٰلٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ ٢
He it is Who hath sent among the unlettered ones a messenger of their own, to recite unto them His revelations and to make them grow, and to teach them the Scripture and wisdom, though heretofore they were indeed in error manifest,
When opponents claimed that a foreigner was teaching him, the Quran answered on linguistic grounds. The man they meant spoke a foreign tongue, while the Quran is clear Arabic:
وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّهُمْ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّمَا يُعَلِّمُهُۥ بَشَرٌۭ ۗ لِّسَانُ ٱلَّذِى يُلْحِدُونَ إِلَيْهِ أَعْجَمِىٌّۭ وَهَٰذَا لِسَانٌ عَرَبِىٌّۭ مُّبِينٌ ١٠٣
And We know well that they say: Only a man teacheth him. The speech of him at whom they falsely hint is outlandish, and this is clear Arabic speech.
The Quran also narrates the histories of earlier prophets, and it stresses that neither the Prophet nor his people had known these accounts before (Quran 11:49), and that he was not present at the events it narrates (Quran 12:102).
Nazm: the arrangement of words and meanings
Early Muslim scholars wrote whole treatises on i'jaz al-Qur'an, the Quran's inimitability. Three works are especially well known:
- Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi (d. 388 AH / 998 CE), Bayan I'jaz al-Qur'an. He argued that the Quran joins the most fitting words, in the best arrangement, to the soundest meanings, and that no human composition holds all three together.
- Abu Bakr al-Baqillani (d. 403 AH / 1013 CE), I'jaz al-Qur'an. He compared the Quran with celebrated poetry and prose and argued that its distinct style is the core of the miracle.
- 'Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani (d. 471 or 474 AH / c. 1078–81 CE), Dala'il al-I'jaz. He developed the theory of nazm. On this view, eloquence lies not in single words but in how words are ordered and related through grammar to express meaning.
This tradition shapes how the linguistic miracle is understood today. The miracle is not a matter of rare vocabulary. It is the precision, economy and fit of every word to its place.
Structure and coherence
The Quran was revealed in parts over about 23 years, in response to changing events. It was not arranged in the order of revelation. Despite this, researchers have pointed to tight structural patterns. One example is the study of ring composition, in which sections mirror one another around a centre. Raymond Farrin (Structure and Qur'anic Interpretation, 2014) and others have argued that Surah al-Baqarah, the longest surah with 286 verses, is arranged in this way.
At its arithmetic midpoint, verse 143 of 286, the surah describes the believers as ummatan wasatan, “a middle nation”:
وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَٰكُمْ أُمَّةًۭ وَسَطًۭا لِّتَكُونُوا۟ شُهَدَآءَ عَلَى ٱلنَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ ٱلرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًۭا ۗ وَمَا جَعَلْنَا ٱلْقِبْلَةَ ٱلَّتِى كُنتَ عَلَيْهَآ إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَن يَتَّبِعُ ٱلرَّسُولَ مِمَّن يَنقَلِبُ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ ۚ وَإِن كَانَتْ لَكَبِيرَةً إِلَّا عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ هَدَى ٱللَّهُ ۗ وَمَا كَانَ ٱللَّهُ لِيُضِيعَ إِيمَٰنَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِٱلنَّاسِ لَرَءُوفٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ ١٤٣
Thus We have appointed you a middle nation, that ye may be witnesses against mankind, and that the messenger may be a witness against you. And We appointed the qiblah which ye formerly observed only that We might know him who followeth the messenger, from him who turneth on his heels. In truth it was a hard (test) save for those whom Allah guided. But it was not Allah's purpose that your faith should be in vain, for Allah is Full of Pity, Merciful toward mankind.
Structural analyses are modern scholarly readings and differ in their details. They do not replace classical tafsir. We include them because they bear on a claim the Quran makes about itself: that it is consistent and free of incongruity (Quran 4:82), and a “Scripture consistent” (Quran 39:23).
Made easy to remember
وَلَقَدْ يَسَّرْنَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ لِلذِّكْرِ فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍۢ ١٧
And in truth We have made the Qur'an easy to remember; but is there any that remembereth?
The Quran is probably the most memorised book in the world. Millions of Muslims, including many children and many who do not speak Arabic, have memorised all 114 surahs word for word. Someone who has done so is called a hafiz. This living oral tradition is also a key part of the Quran's preservation (see Preservation).
Its effect on the heart
ٱللَّهُ نَزَّلَ أَحْسَنَ ٱلْحَدِيثِ كِتَٰبًۭا مُّتَشَٰبِهًۭا مَّثَانِىَ تَقْشَعِرُّ مِنْهُ جُلُودُ ٱلَّذِينَ يَخْشَوْنَ رَبَّهُمْ ثُمَّ تَلِينُ جُلُودُهُمْ وَقُلُوبُهُمْ إِلَىٰ ذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُدَى ٱللَّهِ يَهْدِى بِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَمَن يُضْلِلِ ٱللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُۥ مِنْ هَادٍ ٢٣
Allah hath (now) revealed the fairest of statements, a Scripture consistent, (wherein promises of reward are) paired (with threats of punishment), whereat doth creep the flesh of those who fear their Lord, so that their flesh and their hearts soften to Allah's reminder. Such is Allah's guidance, wherewith He guideth whom He will. And him whom Allah sendeth astray, for him there is no guide.
لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍۢ لَّرَأَيْتَهُۥ خَٰشِعًۭا مُّتَصَدِّعًۭا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَتِلْكَ ٱلْأَمْثَٰلُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ٢١
If We had caused this Qur'an to descend upon a mountain, thou (O Muhammad) verily hadst seen it humbled, rent asunder by the fear of Allah. Such similitudes coin We for mankind that haply they may reflect.
The Quran describes itself as revealed in Arabic “that ye may understand” (Quran 12:2). Its full linguistic power is felt in the Arabic. A translation conveys its meanings, but not its form.
Frequently asked questions
What is i'jaz al-Qur'an?
I'jaz al-Qur'an means the inimitability of the Quran: the doctrine that no human being can produce anything like it. It is based on the Quran's own challenge verses (2:23–24, 10:38, 11:13, 17:88, 52:33–34) and was developed by scholars such as al-Khattabi, al-Baqillani and 'Abd al-Qahir al-Jurjani.
Has anyone met the Quran's challenge?
Muslims hold that the challenge has never been met. Imitations have been attempted, for example by the 7th-century claimant Musaylimah, but they were not accepted even by the Arabs of the time, who were expert judges of eloquence. The Quran itself predicts this outcome: “and ye can never do it” (2:24).
Could the Prophet Muhammad read or write?
According to the Quran, no. It calls him “the unlettered Prophet” (al-nabi al-ummi, 7:157) and says he did not read any scripture before it nor write one with his right hand (29:48).
Is the Quran poetry?
No. The Quran rejects being called poetry (69:41). Although it has rhyme and rhythm, it does not follow the metres of Arabic poetry, and it differs from the rhymed prose of pre-Islamic soothsayers (69:42).
Sources & further reading
- al-Khattabi, Bayan I'jaz al-Qur'an; al-Baqillani, I'jaz al-Qur'an; al-Jurjani, Dala'il al-I'jaz (classical works on inimitability).
- Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim, commentary on Surah al-Muddaththir 74:11–25. Link
- Raymond Farrin, Structure and Qur'anic Interpretation: A Study of Symmetry and Coherence in Islam's Holy Text (White Cloud Press, 2014).
All Quran verses: Tanzil Uthmani text, Pickthall translation, cross-checked with Quran.com. See methodology.