A nice quote here from Ali Dashti, a scholar of Islam:
"The Qur'an contains sentences which are incomplete and not fully intelligible without the aid of commentaries; foreign words, unfamiliar Arabic words, and words used with other than the normal meaning; adjectives and verbs inflected without observance of the concords of gender and number; illogically and ungrammatically applied pronouns which sometimes have no referent; and predicates which in rhymed passages are often remote from the subjects. These and other such aberrations in the language have given scope to critics who deny the Qur'an's eloquence. The problem also occupied the minds of devout Moslems. It forced the commentators to search for explanations and was probably one of the causes of disagreement over readings"
Twenty Three Years: A study of the Prophetic Career of Muhammad
pp. 48, 49
London 1985
4 comments:
Hmmm. Sounds just like the Hebrew Bible.
Quite possibly, but the difference is that Hebrew Bible does not make the claim to be a verbatim and un-mediated revelation directly from God. That is a big difference.
Oh yeah, and the Hebrew Bible does actually have characters with some depth, you see their personalities developing through the years. That is not the case with the Quran.
And another difference is: that in the Koran the Prophet can't do no wrong. If he does, God changes the rules to favor him.
In the Hebrew Bible prophets often do go astray...and then pay the consequences. God is immutable.
Grammar problems don't change that.
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