DRAFT 0.1
Hamza Tzortzis
hamza.tzortzis@theinimitablequran.com
In the books of Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah and Al-Isabah, Musaylamah
attempted to produce something like the Qur’an. Musaylamah tried to imitate the Qur’an’
s style, rhythm, structure, informativity, genre and literary merit. In response to the Qur’
anic chapter “al-Asr” - chapter 103,
“By al-Asr, Verily man is in loss. Except those who believe and do good deeds, and
recommend one another to the truth, and recommend one another to patience.”
Musaylamah thought for a while then said “Indeed something similar has also been
revealed to me”, he continued,
“O Wabr (a small, furry mammal, hyrax), O Wabr! You are only two ears and a chest,
and the rest of you is digging and burrowing.” (1)
By analysing the above attempt to imitate the Qur’an it can be seen that the
contemporary of Muhammad (pbuh), just extrapolated verses from the Qur’an, retaining
its rhythm but using words that lacked informativity. (2) Furthermore, while providing
structures of assonance, it clearly fails to provide relevant information and fails to match
the linguistic features of the Qur’an.
Draz states,
“An Arab living at a time of high literary standards as he was, he could not maintain his
own style. He went so low as to produce something similar to what children do when they
change the words of songs and poems to give them different meanings. Needless to say,
this is no more than distorting the work of others. A person who seriously wishes to take
up the challenge to produce something similar to the Qur’an should take a particular
idea expressed in the Qur’an, then express it in a different style of equal or greater merit
to that of the Qur’anic text. Anyone who wishes to try this with the ideas of the Qur’an will
only try what is impossible. Experience provides irrefutable proof.” (3)
Al-Baqillani, who systematically analyzed the poetry of Musaylamah (apart from Imru' al-
Qais and others) has been quoted:
“The pieces reported to have been composed by Musaylimah are so ridiculously poor in
style that nobody could seriously compare them with the Qur'an.” (4)
Furthermore Musaylamah’s other attempts are extremely poor in literary merit and fail to
match the literary form of the Qur’an, for example:
"The elephant. What is the elephant? And who shall tell you what is the elephant? He
has a ropy tail and a long trunk. This is a [mere] trifle of our Lord's creations." (5)
The book ‘Arabic Literature to the End of the Ummayyad Period’ summarises
Musaylamah’s attempts to produce something like the Qur’an,
“He followed the kahin style of rhymed prose, and of the pronouncing of oaths. One
such, swearing by mountain goat, the black smooth-skinned wolf and dark night are
suggestive of animals symbolic of the pagan gods.” (6)
As can be seen above, Musaylamah’s utterances were not unique, as they were
in the known form of rhymed prose (saj). Furthermore they did not provide linguistic
and literary devices anywhere close to the Qur’anic text. (7)
References
1) Tafsir Ibn Kathir (abridged), Vol. 10, Darusalam, p. 582; Please also see Al-
Bidayah wan-Nihayah 6:320 and Al-Isabah 3:225
2) Ibid p. 583
3) Muhammad Abdullah Draz. 2001. The Qur’an: An Eternal Challenge. The Islamic
Foundation, p. 69 – 68.
4) Abdul Aleem, I'jaz ul Qur'an, 1933, Islamic Culture, Volume VII, Hyderabad
Deccan, p. 221.
5) A F L Beeston, T M Johnstone, R B Serjeant and G R Smith (Ed.), Arabic
Literature To The End Of The Ummayyad Period, 1983, Cambridge University Press, p.
212
6) Ibid. p. 127 – 128
7) Please see Muhammad Abdullah Draz. “The Qur’an: An Eternal Challenge” and
Hussein Abdul-Raof book “Exploring the Qur’an” for details on the Qur’anic challenge, its
literary and linguistic inimitability.
Hamza Tzortzis
hamza.tzortzis@theinimitablequran.com
In the books of Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wan-Nihayah and Al-Isabah, Musaylamah
attempted to produce something like the Qur’an. Musaylamah tried to imitate the Qur’an’
s style, rhythm, structure, informativity, genre and literary merit. In response to the Qur’
anic chapter “al-Asr” - chapter 103,
“By al-Asr, Verily man is in loss. Except those who believe and do good deeds, and
recommend one another to the truth, and recommend one another to patience.”
Musaylamah thought for a while then said “Indeed something similar has also been
revealed to me”, he continued,
“O Wabr (a small, furry mammal, hyrax), O Wabr! You are only two ears and a chest,
and the rest of you is digging and burrowing.” (1)
By analysing the above attempt to imitate the Qur’an it can be seen that the
contemporary of Muhammad (pbuh), just extrapolated verses from the Qur’an, retaining
its rhythm but using words that lacked informativity. (2) Furthermore, while providing
structures of assonance, it clearly fails to provide relevant information and fails to match
the linguistic features of the Qur’an.
Draz states,
“An Arab living at a time of high literary standards as he was, he could not maintain his
own style. He went so low as to produce something similar to what children do when they
change the words of songs and poems to give them different meanings. Needless to say,
this is no more than distorting the work of others. A person who seriously wishes to take
up the challenge to produce something similar to the Qur’an should take a particular
idea expressed in the Qur’an, then express it in a different style of equal or greater merit
to that of the Qur’anic text. Anyone who wishes to try this with the ideas of the Qur’an will
only try what is impossible. Experience provides irrefutable proof.” (3)
Al-Baqillani, who systematically analyzed the poetry of Musaylamah (apart from Imru' al-
Qais and others) has been quoted:
“The pieces reported to have been composed by Musaylimah are so ridiculously poor in
style that nobody could seriously compare them with the Qur'an.” (4)
Furthermore Musaylamah’s other attempts are extremely poor in literary merit and fail to
match the literary form of the Qur’an, for example:
"The elephant. What is the elephant? And who shall tell you what is the elephant? He
has a ropy tail and a long trunk. This is a [mere] trifle of our Lord's creations." (5)
The book ‘Arabic Literature to the End of the Ummayyad Period’ summarises
Musaylamah’s attempts to produce something like the Qur’an,
“He followed the kahin style of rhymed prose, and of the pronouncing of oaths. One
such, swearing by mountain goat, the black smooth-skinned wolf and dark night are
suggestive of animals symbolic of the pagan gods.” (6)
As can be seen above, Musaylamah’s utterances were not unique, as they were
in the known form of rhymed prose (saj). Furthermore they did not provide linguistic
and literary devices anywhere close to the Qur’anic text. (7)
References
1) Tafsir Ibn Kathir (abridged), Vol. 10, Darusalam, p. 582; Please also see Al-
Bidayah wan-Nihayah 6:320 and Al-Isabah 3:225
2) Ibid p. 583
3) Muhammad Abdullah Draz. 2001. The Qur’an: An Eternal Challenge. The Islamic
Foundation, p. 69 – 68.
4) Abdul Aleem, I'jaz ul Qur'an, 1933, Islamic Culture, Volume VII, Hyderabad
Deccan, p. 221.
5) A F L Beeston, T M Johnstone, R B Serjeant and G R Smith (Ed.), Arabic
Literature To The End Of The Ummayyad Period, 1983, Cambridge University Press, p.
212
6) Ibid. p. 127 – 128
7) Please see Muhammad Abdullah Draz. “The Qur’an: An Eternal Challenge” and
Hussein Abdul-Raof book “Exploring the Qur’an” for details on the Qur’anic challenge, its
literary and linguistic inimitability.
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