How can the Qur’an be a miracle for the non-Arabs when it is Arabic and they do not know Arabic?

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

The hadeeth referred to in the question is as follows:

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
“There is not a single Prophet who was not given signs so
that the people would believed in him because of them. What I have been
given is a Revelation that Allah has revealed to me, and I hope that I will
be the one with the most followers on the Day of Resurrection.”

Narrated by al-Bukhaari (1044) and Muslim (152).

Al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said: There
are several possible interpretations of the hadeeth:

It was said that what is meant is that the miracles of the
Prophets have come to an end with the end of their time, and no one
witnessed them except those who were present, but the miracle of the Qur’an
is ongoing and will continue until the Day of Resurrection. It is
extraordinary in its style and eloquence, and in what it foretold of future
events of the unseen, so that no era passed except something appeared that
the Qur’an said would come to pass, which proves the truthfulness of its
claim. This is the strongest of the interpretations of the hadeeth.

It was also said that what is meant is that the miracles of
the past were visible and could be seen with the eyes, such as the she-camel
of Saalih and the staff of Moosa, whereas the miracle of the Qur’an may be
comprehended with the intellect, so the number of those who followed the
Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) because of it
were more numerous, since that which can be seen with the eyes comes to an
end when the looking ends, whereas that which may be comprehended with the
intellect will continue to be understood by those who come after the first
generations.

Fath al-Baari, 9/70

Secondly:

The answer to the question, How can the Qur’an be a miracle
for the unlettered non-Arabs who formed the majority of inhabitants of the
world at that time? is as follows:

it is known that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) was sent among the Arabs, who were distinguished by their great
eloquence and beautiful style in speech, so Allah, may He be exalted, made
the miracle or sign of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) of the same nature of that by which his people were distinguished, so
that the miracle and challenge would be more effective, just as the sign of
Moosa (peace be upon him) was his staff or stick, with which he overcame the
deceit of the sorcerers, and the sign of ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) was the
healing of those who had been born blind and of the lepers, because
knowledge of medicine was widespread at his time.

With regard to the non-Arabs, in the past and at present, and
how the Qur’an may be a miracle for them, and whether they were included in
its challenge, this may be explained from several angles:

-1-

Not all Arabs have great knowledge of the Arabic language and
its style and eloquence, just as not all non-Arabs are ignorant of the
Arabic language. Hence it is known that the miracle and the challenge is
addressed to all those who know Arabic, whether they learned it from birth,
like the Arabs, or they learned it later on, like the non-Arabs. Thus it is
clear that the case of the non-Arabs is like that of Arabs who have no
knowledge of their language.

Abu ‘Abdullah al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

If it is said: “With regard to reviving the dead, turning the
staff into a snake and other, similar miracles, they are very clear and no
one who observes that will have any doubt about it. It will be clear to all
rational people and no doubt will remain; rather they will all reach a
definitive conclusion after seeing that. But this is not the case with
regard to your Prophet’s claim of the miraculous nature of the Qur’an,
because not everyone will be able to understand its miraculous nature;
rather it is only you (Arabs) who can see that, and this applies only to
those Arabs who have a good command of the language, as you claim. As for
those who do not have a good command of the language, or non-Arabs who do
not understand Arabic, they will not understand its miraculous nature. If a
non-Arab is asked to speak a word of Arabic, he will not be able to do so,
so the fact that he is not able to do that, does not prove that what you are
challenging him with is true. Similarly, if an Arab who does not have a good
command of Arabic is asked to speak proper Arabic, he will not be able to do
so; therefore for him the Qur’an is not miraculous.”

The answer to that is:

We will explain, insha Allah, some aspects of its miraculous
nature, of which there are many, some of which can be understood by ordinary
people, town dwellers and desert dwellers alike, and these aspects are as
clear as turning the staff into a snake and raising the dead. If we assume,
for the sake of argument, that it is only miraculous with regard to its
eloquence and style, which is different to the style of the speech of
ordinary people, then we say that the miraculous nature of the Qur’an,
raising the dead and turning the staff into a snake are not going to be
understood equally or at the same time by rational people. Rather the one
who appreciates the miraculous nature of any miracle is the one who knows
how and why that thing is a miracle, as he knows that it is something that
cannot be achieved by human tricks and cannot be reached by discovering some
material with special characteristics.

It may not be far-fetched to say that a specious argument may
be developed in the mind of one who is ignorant of medicine or magic, which
prevents him from seeing the miracle; therefore he may say: Perhaps Moosa
had some extra knowledge of magic that the sorcerers did not know and had
never learned, and by the same token, perhaps ‘Eesa had found some stones
with special qualities or some other material with special qualities by
means of which he was able to achieve what he achieved. Such a specious
argument can only develop in the mind of one who is ignorant of medicine and
magic. As for the one who has any knowledge of medicine or magic, no such
confusion will arise in his mind, because he realises, on the basis of his
knowledge and experience, that the miracle performed by a prophet is
something that cannot be achieved by means of professional tricks or finding
some materials with special characteristics; rather it is a miracle that
happens by the will of the Creator of the universe, by means of which He
intended to give proof of the authenticity of the one who called people to
Him. Thus we conclude that understanding of the miraculous nature of raising
the dead and turning the staff into a snake was first reached by the
sorcerers and magicians, and it may not have been understood by many of the
fools who were ignorant of medicine and magic. The same may be said of the
miraculous nature of the Qur’an, without any differences: understanding of
it came to those who had knowledge of the Arabic language and would see,
based on their knowledge of Arabic, the difference between the Qur’an and
regular Arabic speech. Thus they would conclude that it was not within the
ability of the Arabs to say things in the same style. If the eloquent Arabs
and those who were well versed in Arabic were unable to match it, then
others are more unlikely to be able to do so. As we say, if the doctors are
unable to raise the dead and heal those who were born blind and lepers,
people other than doctors are more unlikely to be able to do so; and if the
sorcerers were unable to turn a stick into a snake, then people other than
sorcerers are more unlikely to be able to do so.

The statement that matching the Qur’an is something that the
Arabs are not able to do, and non-Arabs are not involved in this challenge,
is similar to saying that only doctors are unable to raise the dead, and
people other than doctors are not involved in this challenge, or saying that
only sorcerers are unable to turn a stick into a snake, and people other
than sorcerers are not involved in this challenge. As the challenge in the
other two cases (raising the dead and turning the stick into a snake) is
expected to be undertaken by those who have the relevant skills, the same
applies in the case of the Qur’an. Rather, in the case of the Qur’anic
miracle, it has aspects that we will discuss which everyone can understand,
whether he is a non-Arab or an Arab, a Magian or a Jew or Christian. We will
discuss it below, in sha Allah.

So we may conclude from what we have said that Muhammad
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) brought the Qur’an, challenged
people with it and it is a miracle, and anyone who brings a miracle and
challenges others with it is truthful. Therefore the certain conclusion is
that Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is true.

Al-I‘laam bima fi Deen an-Nasaarah min al-Fasaad
wa’l-Awhaam wa Izhaar Mahaasin al-Islam, p. 326

-2-

Some of the scholars said that the miracle in the Book of
Allah, may He be exalted, is not only in the wording, but also the meanings,
the sequence of meanings and the way in which ideas are presented. So the
miracle and challenge for the Arabs has to do with the style, and for others
it has to do with the fact that no one among the speakers of any other
language is able to come up with something similar to the Qur’an in any
other language.

Al-Jassaas (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

The words of Allah, may He be exalted, (interpretation of the
meaning): “Say: ‘If mankind and
the jinns were together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not
produce the like thereof, even if they helped one another’”
[al-Isra’ 17:88] prove the miraculous nature of
the Qur’an. Some people say that its miracle is in the wording and style on
the one hand, and in the meanings and the sequence in which ideas are
presented, on the other hand. They quote as evidence for that the fact that
in this verse the Qur’an challenges both the Arabs and the non-Arabs, the
jinn and humans. It is well-known that the non-Arabs could not be challenged
on the aspect of the wording and style, therefore the challenge for them
should have to do with the meanings and the sequence in which ideas are
presented.

Some of the scholars insist that its miraculous nature is
limited to its style and eloquence of expression. They say: The miraculous
nature of the Qur’an has many aspects: its beautiful style, its eloquent and
concise wording, the way in which it combines many meanings in few words, in
addition to the fact that it is completely free of any words that sound
ineloquent or any ideas or meanings that are out of place, as well as being
free of any contradictions. All of it, from beginning to end, is consistent,
as described above. The words of people, on the other hand, especially if
they speak at length, cannot be free of cheap words, corrupt meanings and
contradictions. What we have mentioned of the flaws in people’s speech are
present in the speech of people of all languages; it does not apply only to
those who speak Arabic. Thus it is possible that the challenge of the Qur’an
may be applicable to the non-Arabs in that way: challenging them to bring
something that is free of the faults and flaws referred to above, because
saying things in an eloquent manner is not something that is limited only to
Arabic, to the exclusion of other languages, even though the Arabic language
is the most eloquent. We know that the Qur’an is the pinnacle of eloquence,
so it is possible that the challenge to the non-Arabs is by way of
challenging them to produce words at the highest level of eloquence in their
own languages.

Ahkaam al-Qur’an, 5/34, 35

-3-

There are many aspects to the miraculous nature of the Book
of Allah; it is not limited to style and eloquence only. Hence some of the
scholars said that the miraculous nature of the Book of Allah which all
people, not only the Arabs, may understand, and that Allah’s challenge to
produce something like it, is only applicable to these aspects. Hence Allah
issued this challenge to the jinn as well as to mankind, to produce
something like this Qur’an. One of these aspects is that it foretold events
that would happen and foretold the time at which they would happen, for
example.

Abu ‘Abdullah al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

… The third aspect of the miraculous nature of the Qur’an is
what it includes of news of the future before any human even knew anything
about it, and foretelling events before they happened. This is something
that cannot be known except via the truthful ones who are conveying from
Allah, may He be exalted. We will refer to some events just to prove this
point in brief, with no need for a lengthy discussion.

For example, Allah, may He be exalted, said (interpretation
of the meaning):

“Certainly, you
shall enter Al-Masjid al-Haram; if Allah wills, secure, (some) having your
heads shaved, and (some) having your hair cut short, having no fear”

[Al-Fath 48:27].

This verse is one of the clearest miracles of the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). Allah, may He be exalted,
promised him that He would cause him to enter al-Masjid al-Haraam, him and
his people, in safety, and that He would grant them the conquest of Makkah
in the best state. They kept waiting for that until its time came and Allah
fulfilled His promise. Then they entered it as He had promised, and
conquered it as they had been foretold.

Al-I‘laam bima fi Deen an-Nasaarah min al-Fasaad
wa’l-Awhaam wa Izhaar Mahaasin al-Islam, p. 337

There are other opinions too, but what we have quoted above
is sufficient, and it is the strongest view concerning this matter.

To sum up: the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) was an Arab and the Qur’an is Arabic. He was sent to eloquent,
well-spoken Arabs, hence his greatest miracle was the Book of Allah, may He
be exalted. They were unable to match its wording, phrases, style and
eloquence. Thus the rational people among the eloquent and well-spoken
realised that this was not the words of a human being, hence they believed.

As for those Arabs who were not eloquent or well spoken, and
the non-Arabs, what is to be mentioned to them is the meanings and rulings
of the Qur’an, and those aspects of its miraculous nature that they are able
to understand. Thus they may develop conviction based on the knowledge and
understanding that this is not the words of a human being. Hence many of the
non-Arabs became Muslim because of coming across the meaning of a verse. In
such cases, this non-Arab could not understand its eloquence and style, but
its meaning is the reason why he became Muslim. Many such stories have been
passed down by numerous narrators, and in our own time there are many more.
Those people only became Muslim after they learned what there is in these
verses that no human being could have produced, and that at the time of the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) there was no technology
and no scientific discoveries that could enable him to tell people about
these matters. Thus they accepted that this was revelation from heaven, so
they became Muslim. Hence we can see the extent to which the hadeeth the
questioner referred to is applicable to real facts.

And Allah knows best.