Thursday 11 December 2014

Produce a Surah like it: Is this even a challenge?

One of the challenges presented by the Quran to prove it's authenticity is to produce to the following, according to Surah Al Baqarah:

"Surah 2:23 And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah , if you should be truthful. 24 But if you do not - and you will never be able to - then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers."

I am aware that there is a website that has sought to answer this challenge called suralikeit.com and I am aware Anis Shorrosh has also attempted this challenge.

David Wood of Answering Muslims has pointed out in the past the subjectivity and absurdity of this challenge when he and Robert Spencer debated controversial Muslim Leaders Anjem Choudary and Omar Bakri which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Que1xs81Wts

Is this challenge from the Quran even a good challenge at all? No, for two reasons

1. It is too subjective, People can argue back and forth as to what makes a good surah and pretty much argue repeatedly and not getting anywhere.
2. It's a cop out, It's nothing more than a trumpcard excuse by the Quran itself to justify it's existence and seems to be a means to dismiss evidence that may refute it.

Imagine if someone asked me to produce a screenplay like Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan or The Dark Knight, if my screenplay happened to be similar in terms of writing quality to these brilliant masterpieces of cinema, would it be the case universally? Would have I made a screenplay like Nicolas Meyer and his co writers or the Nolan Brothers? No, because while there are standards to art, what makes a classic film is subjective to a certain degree. My screenplay could be phenomenal (Which isn't the case with my writing because I am not a great screenwriter) and some of my audience could believe that it comes close to Nicolas Meyer's writing or the Nolan brothers writing, but others who are big fans of the Dark Knight or Wrath of Khan may disagree with those who say this.

Likewise, A Christian or anyone who has read the Quran or to go further assume they have read the Arabic and understand Arabic, they may think they have produced a Surah like the Quran, The Muslim themselves would disagree and pretty much throw the newly made Surah under the bus because they think it is not a Surah that even matches that of the Quran.

Here are the quotes from Sam Shamoun and Osama Abdallah in a debate done a decade ago. (I was 12 at the time and not on Paltalk). Sam Shamoun vs Osama Q&A (is Mohammed a True Prophet Part2) 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9KIP1nlo2Y (Watch from 4:56-5:48 for Shamoun's comments and watch from 6:48-7:28 for Abdallah's comments)

The entire debate can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF7qgivEmRddYGw23Fovj1aoEr7AgtqxG

One can go back an forth on what makes a good Surah like the Quran, but ultimately, the whole argument from the Quran itself is a vacuous argument and to be honest, doesn't say anything to prove the Quran.

Answering Judaism.

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