if god were to speak

8/7/2019 If God Were to Speak

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speak, it would be ill befitting for him to do so in a disorganized way, as though his mind

were scattered and messy. Yet in the Quran we find precisely the opposite

arrangement, as a whole, is not in order of time or subject. Did God intend this? Moreover,

the problem is that even within each surah topics are often jumbled or repeated wholesale.

Narrative texts, liturgical texts, exhortations, and injunctions are all mingled together.2Does

this reflect the wisdom of the deity? Would the final revelation be confused and disorderly?

Muslims believe that all Gods revelations are written on a heavenly tablet (85:22). The

heavenly tablet, we must assume, was written in a coherent, orderly way. Why, then, did

God give it to Mohammad in a disorderly way, in the incorrect order, and why did God allow

it to be collated in the incorrect order? It is more likely that there was no heavenly tablet, or

that the Quran is not a record of what it written on it.

Coherent Disjointed

3. BEAUTIFUL OR TRUTHFUL?

Would you expect this final revelation to be more beautiful or truthful? Surely, a thing canbe beautiful and truthful simultaneously, but which do you think it would prioritize, if there

had to be a choice between the two? Of course, if there where any trade-off between the

two, then truth would have to be prioritized: the clear expression of a thing, rather than the

poetry of a thing. Yet, the main attraction of the Quran, if it is not the consistency, or clarity

of the book, is the poetry. The poetry of the book has lead to the use of several rare words

and unorthodox forms of words. Why is it, then, that God is appears to have chosen beauty,

above clarity and meaning? Rhyming is not miraculous (as demonstrated by the nursery

rhyme) yet it has sometimes lead to the use of obscure words and meanings. This is not

what anyone would expect from a final revelation of God.

Clear meaning Literary beauty

4. CONSISTENT OR INCONSISTENT?

If God where to speak, would he speak consistently, or inconsistently? If a person speaks

inconsistently about himself or some other subject, to any significant extent, we should think

him unstable or possibly a little dishonest. Yet in the Quran God is sometimes spoken about

in the first person, and sometimes in the third; sometimes in the singular and sometimes in

the plural. This is an acknowledged problem amongst Islamic scholars. Sometimes the

speaker (supposedly God) swears an oath by God and sometimes the speaker just swears an

oath (it seems unlikely that God would do either of these things.(75:1-2 3; 90:14)) At othertimes, a sentence in which something is said aboutAllah is sometimes followed by another

in which Allah is the speaker; examples of this are suras 16:815, 27:616 and 31:97. Then again,

not only is God inconsistent about himself, yet there is the problem that, although at some

times God appears to be speaking, yet at other times, it appears that angels are singing

2 Farid Esack, The Quran3 Nay, I swear by the day of resurrection, Nay I swear by the accusing soul (that this scripture is mine.)4 Nay, I swear by this city--5 And Allah hath given you, of that which he hath created [](81) then if they turn away (Oh Muhammad) thy

duty is but plain conveyance (of the message.) (82)

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(19:648; 37:161-1669), or that Mohammad is speaking. Even if we accept that God is dictating

the prophets own words (what he has said or what he must say), or the words of angels, this

is oftentimes not written in the text: we would expect God to say, and the angels said... or,

and Mohammad said..., etc.

One speaker (God) God quotes Mohammad/angels

5. WIDE OR NARROW?

If God were to speak, a revelation to end all revelations, do you think it would be wide or

narrow? Would it be for people of all time, or for only one particular time and place? Would

it be concerned with the minutia of the life of a prophet, and his interactions and the

opposition he faced? FIRST, It seems that Mohammad is the protagonist in Gods final

revelation, and that the revelation all too often revolves around the messenger. The

revelation, by all accounts, is a compilation of Mohammads responses to particular

challenges he and his followers faced at that time. If Mohammad were the authorized voice,

speaking Gods word, this would not be a problem, but because the Quran is supposed to bethe direct recitation of Gods word, it becomes increasingly strange that Mohammad, and his

circumstances, should feature so prominently. For instance I find it strange that God should

interrup his final revelation to make a special dispensation to allow Mohammad to marry

certain people. (For a sample of verses specifically adressing Mohammad and his family

read, 33:2810, 33:5011, 49:212, 58:113, 58:914 and 66:3.15)

Naturally, it is possible that God might use the circumstances of Mohammad to instruct all

people for all time. However, it is also possible, that God could write a revelation for all

people for all time, without any reference to Mohammad. The only difference would be, that

not interrupting the revelation to address Mohammads particular needs, would seem more

6 Is not he best who created the heavens and the earth? [] (61) Say, oh Muhammad: none in the heavens

knoweth the unseen save Allah [...] (65)7 He has created the heavens that supports that ye can see and hath cast into the earth firm hills [] (18) be

modest in thy bearing and subdue thy voice (19) 8 Such is the garden which We would cause the devout among our bondsmen to inherit. (63) we (Angels)

cannot come down saved by the commandment of by Lord. And to you belongs all that is before us. [] (64)9 There is not one of Us but have his known position. (164) Lo! We, even we are they who set the ranks. Lo!

We, even we are they who hymn his praise.(165-6)10O Prophet! Say unto you wives: if you desire the world's life and its adornment, come! I will content you andwill release you with a fair release.11 O Prophet! We made lawful unto you whom thou has paid their dowries [] and those who your right hand

possesses of those whom Allah has given to you as the spoils of war, and the daughters of your uncle on the

father's side, and the daughters of your aunts on the father's side and the daughters of your uncles on your

mother's side and the daughters of your aunts is on the mother's side who have immigrated with thee, and any

believing woman if she gives herself to the prophet and if the prophet desires to ask her in marriage. [] 12 O you who believe! Do not lift up your voices above the voice of the prophet, or shout when speaking to him

as you shout at to each other lest your works be rendered vain []13 Allah has heard the saying of her who disputes with you (Mohammed) concerning her husband, and

complains to Allah. 14 O you who believe! When you conspire together, conspire not together crime and wrongdoing and

disobedience towards the messenger [] 15 When the prophet confided the fact to one of his wives and when she afterwards divulged it and God

apprised him thereof, part thereof and passed over part. []

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consistent with the Quran being the verbatim word of God, dictated from a a heavenly

tablet, addressed to all people for all time, as opposed to a human invention.

All people for all time Mohammad and his followers

SECOND, along the same lines, if God were to write have a final revelation for all mankind, it

is doubtful that he would insist on it always being written in Arabic, as though God speaks

only in Arabic. (After all, this would result in the majority of the worlds pupulation not being

able to understand the Quran, the book that pusports to be the final revelation from God to

man.) The Bible, to date, has been translated into more languages than any other book. It

has been translated (in terms of full and partial translations) into a staggering 2 000

languages thats a third of known languages, and considering that people can speak more

than one language, the Bible is close to being a universally understood book. The Quran is

somewhere just over 100 languages.

All people for all time One language and people

6. SAME-OLD-SAME-OLD OR SOMETHING NEW?

If God were to make a revelation to end all revelations, do you think he would have

something particularly interesting to say, which was not contained in previous revelations?

Imagine it: Gods final words: what wonderful truths would it contain? Disappointingly, the

message of the Quran can be summarized as: God is one God, worship Him, be good, and

dont be wicked. I cannot think of a more complicated way (see previous points) to express a

simpler message. God, in his final revelation, has given the same message as was contained

in the revelation of Moses, although in a more diluted form. Now, there is nothing wrong

with God using the same message again, and, certainly, there is something inconsistentabout God changing the message completely. However, there is a happy medium: I expect,

that if God wrote another revelation, that he might develop his earlier themes or add to

them in some significant sense. However, the Quran is the excact same message as before,

give or take a few traditions. Are we really to believe that God introduced a revelation just to

change a few traditions? This seems unlikely.

Same Message, different traditions Developed message

7. FINAL OR INCOMPLETE?

If God were to speak do you think that his revelation would be complete or incomplete?Would it contain all the essential details, or would it be missing certain important facts?

Considering that the Quran is the finalrevelation, we would expect it to be, well, final; that

is, we would expect it not to require subsequent revelations, to make up for what the, final

revelation left out. However, this is exactly what we find when it comes to the Quran. The

five pillars of Islam are not detailed (in their entirety) in the Quran: the five daily prayers, the

various traditions of prayers, the Muslim confession of faith, the percentage of money given

for almsgiving, the various traditions surrouding the hajj, etc. In addition, many crucial verses

can only be interpreted by things written in the sunna and hadith and without these

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interpretations, these verses would be interrpreted to mean completely different things.

(One example is a troublesome verse which says that all Muslims will go to a fire-filled hell

and only a few pious Muslims will be saved.) Lastly, many Islamic laws are derived from

hadith and sunna records, and if these laws are important, then they should have been

included in the Quran which contains many other laws. Overall, the finalrevelation cannot

exist without the sunna and hadith.

Complete/final Lacking crucial details

CONCLUSION

The Muslim person who ticks all along the left hand side and crosses all along the right is

probably in the wrong religion. On the other hand, the Muslim person, who ticks all the way

along the right and crosses all along the left is probably in denial. However, against some of

these things, especially the points about random letters, and of Gods tendency to speak in a

schizophrenic way about himself, it will be said, God is exercising his sovereignty and

authority, and showing himself to be beyond predicting, and explanation. Thus, there ismethod in the madness, and all these unconventional things serve to show that God is

elevated above certain conventions which seem best to men. However, this objection could

be applied to a great many other supposed revelations besides the Quran with the same

success. I could hand you childs scribble and claim it as a revelation. You might object that it

cannot possibly be a revelation from God. Yet, what if I told you that God wanted to break all

conventions, in order to show his greatness? The objection clearly doesn't hold water (either

that or it holds too much). If it looks like it wasnt written by God, for all the reasons above,

then the most likely explanation is that it was written by men or by fallen angels. Common

sense alone should lead us to reject the Quran as a genuine revelation. If the Quran was

meant to look genuine, then God certainly did a good job of making it look dubious.

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