The Fifteenth Word

Satan’s second, insignificant objection

While I was reciting:

Not a word he utters, but by him is an observer ready. And the stupor of death comes in truth; that is what you were trying to escape. And the Trumpet is blown; that is the Day of the Threat. And every soul comes, along with it a driver and a witness. “You were heedless of this. Now We have removed from you your covering, and so your sight today is piercing.” And his comrade (the witness) says: “This is (his record of deeds) that I keep ready with me.” (The sentence is pronounced): “Cast, you two, into Hell every rebel ingrate.” (50:18-24)

Satan said: “You find the Qur’an’s eloquence primarily in its fluent style and intelligible expression. Yet, where is the fluency and coherence in these verses? There are great gaps, for they jump from the throes of death to the world’s destruction, from the blowing of the Trumpet to the end of the Reckoning and therefrom to throwing the sinful into Hell. There are many other examples of this in the Qur’an.”

I made the following points in reply:

A most fundamental element of the Qur’an’s miraculousness is its eloquence and precision. It contains so many instances of this that observant critics have been filled with wonder and admiration. For example, eloquent people have prostrated before: And it was said: “O earth, swallow up your water, o sky, cease (your rain)!” And the water was made to subside. And the commandment was fulfilled, and the Ark settled in al-Judi, and it was said: “Away with the people of the evildoers” (11:44), which tells of the Flood’s might so precisely and miraculously within a few short sentences.

In: Thamud denied in their arrogant rebellion, when the most wretched of them rushed forward; then the Messenger of God said to them: “The She-Camel of God; observe her turn in drinking.” But they denied him, and hamstrung her, so their Lord doomed them for their sin, and leveled them. He fears not the issue thereof (91:11-15), the Qur’an recounts precisely and clearly the people of Thamud’s story and fate in a most comprehensible way.

In: And Dhu’n-Nun, when he departed in anger and was convinced that We would never straiten him: then he called out in the layers of darkness: “There is no deity but You. All-Glorified are You. Surely I have been one of the wrongdoers” (21:87), much remains unsaid between We would never straiten him and he called out in the layers of darkness. Those few words retell the chief points of Prophet Yunus’ (Jonah) story in a way that neither diminishes comprehensibility nor mars eloquence. What is not stated directly is left to the person’s understanding.

Also in Sura Yusuf, seven or eight sentences are omitted between so send me forth (end of verse 45) and Yusuf (Joseph), O you truthful one (beginning of verse 46). This neither affects comprehensibility nor mars the Qur’an’s eloquence.

The Qur’an contains many more instances of miraculous precision. The precise description given in the verses in question from Sura Qaf make them even more beautiful and miraculous. Pointing to the unbelievers’ future, which is so long that a day of it is equal to

50,000 earthly years, they draw attention to the fearful events that will befall them. They bring before our minds the whole span of those upheavals like a flash of lightening, thereby compressing that extremely long time into one page or one single picture so that we can ponder it. Referring the unmentioned events to the imagining faculty of the listener or reader, they achieve a sublime fluency. When the Qur’an is recited, give ear to it and pay heed, that you may be shown mercy (7:204).

I asked Satan if he had more objections. He replied: “I don’t oppose those truths. But many foolish people follow me. Many devils in human form assist me. Many philosophers are just as conceited as Pharaoh. I teach them things that contribute to their pride and selfishness. They will pre vent the publication of your Words, and so I’ll never yield to you.”

All-Glorified are to You. We have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Surely You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Bediuzzaman Said Nursi