Is the Qur’an a Word of God?1

The following discussion has been taken from the course forum (Revelation of Qur’an) of studying Islam (www.studying-islam.org) one of our sister sites. While Jhangeer Hanif is the moderator of this discussion, Siddiq Bukhary has compiled it for publication in the journal. (Editor)

Question: Why is the Qur’an considered the word of God?

Aijaz47: The Qur’an is the word of Allah because the Prophet (sws) claimed it to be as such.

Jhangeer Hanif: Can a book be accepted as the Book of God simply because the person presenting it has claimed so? This argument leads us to accept the words of Ghulam Ahmad Qadiyani as prophetic revelations.

Aijaz47: Yes! A book can be accepted as a word of God simply because the person claiming so is a messenger of God. In the case of Ghulam Ahmed Qadiyani, one will have to prove it first that he was a messenger of God.

Student1: I agree with Aijaz, the person claiming that the Qur’an is the true words of Allah is not an ordinary man but a Prophet and a Messenger of Allah.

Jhangeer Hanif: A good point indeed. I appreciate that if we believe that Muhammad (sws) is the Prophet of Allah, we will definitely accept/surrender to whatever he says or gives us. But the question is how do we prove that Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah?

Student1: You have raised a good question; how can we prove that Muhammad (sws) is the true Messenger and Prophet of Allah. But my question is that can we only prove the Prophethood of Muhammad (sws) from the Qur’an or are there any other external sources which could be used as evidence to prove the Prophethood of Muhammad (sws).

Aijaz 47: You require me to prove that Muhammad (sws) is a Prophet of God. Will it be okay if I try to prove first that there is no God but God?

Jhangeer Hanif: Why not?

Aijaz47: I have been wondering if we can think of something/anything that does not exist but has a name. I mean if it has a name, it exists?

Thus Allah exists.

Furthermore, if there is no God, whose existence then do the atheists deny?

Thus Allah exists.

Here is my third argument for God.

Allah is the only one who claims to be the Creator of the universe; do we know anyone else making the same claim?

Thus “There is no God but Allah” is proved.

Student1: We do not know any other creator claiming to be Allah but how does this proves the existence of Allah?

As far as atheists are concerned, they deny the existence of Allah because they adhere to the materialistic point of view. According to their understanding and belief, this entire Universe came into existence by chance, and we are the product of chance; but their denial of the existence of God does not prove the existence of God as you claim.

Aijaz47: Kindly clarify whose existence do the atheists deny?

Student1: Atheists deny the existence of God but it does not mean that it proves the existence of God. Take another example: There are Muslim scholars who deny the foundations of the Doctrine of Trinity in the Bible; does it mean that despite their denial, it truly exists and has its roots in the Bible?

Jhangeer Hanif: About the first argument, I would like to share with you that mermaids have a name but they do not exist.

About the second argument, if someone denies the existence of mermaids, they are right in doing so. This does not prove the existence of mermaids. 

About the third argument, we must know that the theory of spontaneous generation of mankind also exists in contrast to the creationist theory.

Student1: I was about to ask this question to brother Aijaz that if an atheist asks him that who created Allah, how would he reply to him and convince him?

The problem is that there are several questions in the minds of atheists about God and religion which prevent them from accepting religion, and you have to answer all their questions satisfactorily in order to convince them about the existence of God.

Jitujaman: I have been reading your comments/discussions with interest, and it is a coincidence that I have recently been debating the very issue with a non-Muslim colleague in the hope of talking some sense into him.

Our discussion commenced on the footing that I believed in God unreservedly and he did not. He was undoubtedly a supporter of Darwinism and the theory of evolution. I then presented him with a book called Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam which discusses the various miracles contained in the Qur’an. He read it with interest and agreed that these were real miracles but thought that the Qur’an was reconcilable with that of Darwin. I disagreed.

I then informed him of Allah’s challenges to mankind to either find an error in the Qur’an or create a chapter like it and asked him if he had heard of anyone meeting the challenge, and he said that he had not.

I then invited him to meet Allah’s challenge, and he said that he would not dare. My comment to him therefore was that you either accept it as you cannot disapprove it or you disprove it so that you can reject it; otherwise, I said that he was not much of a man. He was lost for words.

Following days of lengthy debates, he has now purchased a couple of books, one of which is the Qur’an in English.

He now accepts that the Darwin theory is flawed after having read the book called Evolution Deceit by Harun Yahyah with a view to having further debates.

On the question of whether God exists, his answer has now changed from “no” to “I don’t know” and I am hoping that this will soon change to a “yes”.

In addition, he agreed that if God exists then Islam is indeed the true religion.

My point is that if no one in the last 1400 years has been able to meet the challenges from the Lord and the miracles mentioned in the Qur’an that are now being discovered by the scientists, then it can only be a divine revelation and none other since no human could possibly have known the intrinsic details of how we are created in our mother’s womb, the parting in the sea and the purposes and descriptions of the mountains 1400 years ago.

I think that once a non-believer is presented with the above facts/miracles then if they have any sense they will accept the existence of God as well as the veracity of his Word, that is, the Qur’an. This is how I see that the veracity of the Book of God can be established.  

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1. The discussions published in this section are only intended to act as brain stimulants. They are not intended to lead us to a definite conclusion or cover all aspects of the topic discussed. To allow the mind to stagnate is to die long before physical death overtakes us. The only problem that the entire ummah is plagued with, at the moment, is that they do not think. We need to make a selection: whether we think and advance or we follow others and lag behind.