If, in order to remove countless doubts concerning the Divine disposal of the changes, upheavals and revolutions in the physical world and in the life of the universe, and to break the most obstinate resistance to confirming it; and if, in order to instruct mankind who shouldered the Greatest Trust and the rule of the earth according to Divine laws, in the mightiest and most important aspects of their duties concerning their eternal happiness or doom, the Qur’an drew their attention to those matters not thousands, but millions of times, it would still not be waste of time or words, and they would be read and studied in the Qur’an millions of times without causing any boredom.
The Qur’an seeks to establish belief in afterlife in minds
For example, the verse, Those who believe and do righteous deeds, theirs will be Gardens underneath which rivers flow (al-Buruj, 85.11), teaches the reality and gives the good news that death, which always stands before wretched mankind, is, in fact, something which saves both man himself and his world and all his beloveds from eternal non-existence and causes them to gain magnificent, eternal life. If, then, this verse were repeated billions of times and as much importance attached to it as to the universe, it would not be excessive and devalue it. In teaching countless, invaluable matters of this sort and trying to prove and establish in minds awesome revolutions which will destroy and change the universe as though it were a house, the Qur’an will certainly draw attention to those matters explicitly or allusively and do so thousands of times. Rather than being excessive, since those matters are bounties like bread, air, light, and medicine, which man always needs and which require renewal and refreshment, their reiterations are a grace of the Qur’an.
Unbelief means violation of most of the creatures in the universe
Again, for example, the Qur’an reiterates severely, angrily and emphatically such verses of threat as As for those who do not believe, for them is fire of Hell (al-Fatir, 35.36), and For wrong-doers is painful chastisement (Ibrahim, 14.22). The reason for this is that the unbelief of mankind is such a strong violation of the rights of most of the creatures in the universe that it makes the earth angry and brings the elements to fury, so that they smite the unbelievers with floods. As explicitly stated in the verses When they are flung therein (in Hell) they hear its roaring as it boils up, as if it would burst with rage (al-Mulk, 67.7-8), Hell is so furious with the rebellious unbelievers that it is as if it would burst with rage. If, in the face of such a comprehensive crime and a boundless aggression, and from the perspective of not physical insignificance but the greatness of the unbeliever’s crime of wrongdoing and the awesomeness of his aggression of unbelief, and in order to show the importance of the rights of His subjects and the infinite ugliness in the unbelief and iniquities of deniers, the King of the Universe had repeated in His Decree most angrily and severely that crime and its punishment thousands, millions, or even thousands of millions of times, it would still not be a defect. The fact that millions of people have been reading them every day for fourteen centuries most eagerly and without showing any boredom and lack of need, demonstrates that it is not a defect at all.
Humanity needs always remembering the Oneness of God
Every day, all the time, for everyone, a world disappears and the door of a new world is opened to them. So, by repeating There is no god but God a thousand times out of need and with longing in order to illuminate each of his transient worlds, a man makes each There is no god but God a lamp for each of the changing scenes. Likewise, so as to appreciate through reading the Qur’an, the punishments for those crimes and the severe threats of the Eternal King, which break people’s obduracy, and so as to try and free himself of the rebelliousness of his carnal self and thereby not to darken the changing scenes and ever-recruited worlds, and make ugly their images reflected in the mirror of his life, and turn against him the fleeting scenes which will probably bear witness in his favor in the Hereafter, the Qur’an reiterates its threats in an extremely meaningful way. Even Satan refrains from imagining as out of place the Qur’an’s repetition of its threats so severely and forcefully. It demonstrates that the torments of Hell are pure justice for the deniers who do not heed them.
The Qur’an uses the stories of previous Prophets as an evidence for the Prophethood of Muhammad
As a further example, in repeating many times the stories of the Prophets, upon them be peace, particularly that of Moses, upon him be peace, which contains many instances of wisdom and benefits like the staff of Moses, the Qur’an shows the Prophethood of all the previous Prophets as an evidence of the Messengership of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and means that, from the viewpoint of truth, no one can deny the Messengership of that blessed person unless one denies all the other Prophets. Also, since everyone is not able to recite the whole of the Qur’an at all times, together with the essentials of faith, which are of great importance, it includes those stories in almost all of the long and medium-length suras, thus making them each like a small Qur’an. This is not a superfluity but the requirement of eloquence, and in order to teach that the affair of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, is the most important phenomenon of humankind and the mightiest matter of the universe.
The Qur’an gives the highest position to the person of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and holds Muhammad is the Messenger of God, one of the two pillars of the affirmation of belief, which contains four essentials of faith, equal to the pillar There is no god but God. Therefore, the Messengership of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, is the greatest reality of the universe, and the person of Muhammad is the most noble of creatures, and his universal collective personality and sacred rank, known as the Muhammadan Truth, is the brightest sun of both worlds. One of those thousands of evidences and signs is this:
According to the rule The cause is like the doer, The equal amount of the rewards gained for all Muslims is added to the Prophet Muhammad’s record of good deeds
According to the rule The cause is like the doer, the equal amount of the rewards for the whole of the good deeds which the whole of his community have so far done and will do in the future, is added to his record of good deeds, and since by virtue of illuminating all the realities of the universe with the light he brought, all that is contained by the earth and the heavens including plants, animals, jinn, men, and angels, are indebted to him, he incessantly receives the prayers and blessings of all of the creatures. Furthermore, together with innumerable spirits, millions of righteous ones among his community have been invoking God’s peace and blessings on him for centuries and asking God to give to him their spiritual rewards and the merits of their prayers. He also has in his record of good deeds countless lights from his community members’ recitation of the Qur’an, each of its about three hundred thousand letters brings as many as ten, a hundred or a thousand rewards. Thus, knowing beforehand that the collective personality of that being, the Muhammadan Truth, would be like a blessed, elaborate tree of Paradise in the future, the Knower of the Unseen has attached to him that greatest importance in His Qur’an, and introduced in His Decree obedience to him and being honored with his intercession through following his way, as the most important question for man.
Thus, since the truths reiterated in the Qur’an are all of such great value, anyone with sound nature will testify that in all its repetitions there is a powerful and extensive miracle of meaning, unless he is afflicted with a disease of the heart and malady of the conscience due to the pestilence of materialism, and is included under the rule—a man may deny the light of the sun due to disease of eye; and the mouth may deny the taste of water due to sickness.
To conclude:
Among the gleams of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, the two, namely its reiterations and brief mention of scientific facts and developments, which are wrongly thought to be a cause of defects, have been discussed in the sections of Prophethood and Miracle-working. Also, another gleam of the Qur’an’s miraculousness radiating in its mention of the miracles of the Prophets, has clearly been shown in the same sections. However, I will add here another aspect of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, which is as follows:
The miracles of the Prophets exhibit an aspect of the Qur’an’s miraculousness; with all its miracles the Qur’an is a miracle of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and all the miracles of Muhammad constitute a miracle of the Qur’an.
Just as the miracles of the Prophets exhibit an aspect of the Qur’an’s miraculousness, so too, with all its miracles the Qur’an is a miracle of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and all the miracles of Muhammad constitute a miracle of the Qur’an. They demonstrate the Divine authorship of the Qur’an, through which each word of the Qur’an becomes a miracle, for just as in the case of a seed, each of those words may potentially contain a tree of truths, and like the center of a heart, it may have relations with all parts of a mighty truth. Also, since it depends on All-Encompassing Knowledge and Infinite Will, through its letters, position, meaning, and connotations, and in its entirety, it may be interrelated with countless other things. It is because of this reality that the specialists in the science of letters assert that in each letter of the Qur’an they find as many mysteries as may cover a page, and prove it to those who have expert knowledge in that science.
Consider together all the Lights, Rays, Gleams, Radiances, and Beams from the beginning of this treatise, and see how the claim at the beginning becomes a decisive, undeniable conclusion. That is, from the beginning to the end this treatise proclaims in the highest pitch and decisively the truth of the verse:
Say: ‘If men and jinn banded together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they would never produce its like, not though they backed one another. (17:88)
Glory be to You! We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Surely You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
Our Lord, take us not to task if we forget, or make mistakes. Lord, open my breast, and ease for me my task. Unloose a knot upon my tongue that they may understand my words.
This article has been adapted from Risale- i Nur Collection.