How the Arabs Hated

the Quran

by Mumin Salih
28 Oct, 2008
Why are you a Muslim?
Muslims in general love to hear this question because it has a simple and readymade answer
in their minds; besides it gives them the opportunity to propagate their religion and talk
proudly about Islam.
A typical Muslims answer would be like this: because Islam is the right religion and the
only one that is accepted by Allah. Having made such a confident start, Muslims wait
impatiently to hear the next question which they predict and to which they also have a
readymade answer: what is the evidence?
The evidence is in the Quran, which is a living language miracle, would be a typical
Muslims answer. That is the moment Muslims usually wait for; to highlight the fact that
Islam is the only religion that has a living miracle. However, the joy comes to an end once
you ask for the evidence that the Quran is a language miracle, because no Muslim can
provide satisfactory evidence.
Only a few Muslim Arabs would take the risk and try to answer that last question; the others
would rather refer you to the experts on the grounds that such issues about the Quran should
be discussed only by the experts. Still they would insist that the Quran is a miracle, because:
1. The early Arabs were stunned when they heard the Quran. (A big lie)
2. The Quran is praised by top Arab writers and poets, past and present. (A Big lie)
3. Allah challenged the Arabs to produce a sura like it but they all failed. (A big lie)

1. The first big lie: The early Arabs were stunned by the Quran
I refuted the first big lie in my previous article when the Arab intellectuals debated
Mohammed, which provided indisputable proof from the Islamic history and the Quran that
the Meccan Arabs believed the Quran was erroneous and full with old myths. They even
believed that Mohammed was mad for producing such a flawed work.

2. The second big lie: The Quran is praised by top Arab writers and poets, past and
present
Let us see what did the top Arab writers and poets think of the Quran.
Freedom of expression in Pre-Islamic Arabia
The linguistic talent was the main cultural expression in pre Islamic Arabia and reached its
peak just before the rise of Islam. Indeed, the Arabs passion to poetry never waned
throughout history, and even today, their craze to this art has no equal. The immediate
influence of Islam on Arabic poetry, in other words on the Arabs main cultural expression,
was dramatic- Islam killed the Arabs passion for poetry. It took over a century to revive the
art of Arabic poetry to recover from the devastating blow of Islam.
Mohammed hated the poets because they attracted the Arabs attention and distracted them
from listening to his Quran. In addition, some poets produced works, called hijaa, which
ridiculed Mohammed.
In pre-Islamic Arabia, poetry had a status in the society similar to todays free press; the
poets were the writers, journalists and chroniclers. Their poems were the testimonies of their
fine culture, traditions and ethos. As far as my knowledge in history goes, that was the only
time when the Arabs really enjoyed the real freedom of expression. It is ironic that Muslims
refer to that era as the era of ignorance or jahylyia! In such a climate of free expression, it
was acceptable for poets to discuss the societys current affairs and express their free
opinions. Poets frequently composed poetry to praise (called madeeh) or condemn (called
hija) public personalities. It was traditional for those people who were the subjects of critical
poetry (hija) to respond in kind by composing equally powerful poetry. The rich and famous
used to employ professional bards to do it for them; otherwise they had to concede defeat.
When Mohammed was the subject of hija he responded by composing some Quranic verses
(Q.26:224) that denounce poetry in general. This was a feeble response that reflected
weakness of Mohammeds intellectual capability. With anger, Mohammed introduced to
Arabia, and through his followers to the whole world, the policy of assassinations to silence
his current critics and intimidate any potential ones. Mohammed brutally murdered Asmaa
Bint Marwan, a female poet, as she was nursing her baby at night. His response to Um
Quirfas poem was even more brutal; he ordered her to be tied to two camels and split her
apart. Mohammed also brutally murdered Ibn Afak and Ibn AlAshraf and many others.
Eventually, Mohammed met a little known poet, called Hassan Ibn Thabit, who was willing
to compose poetry in support of Mohammed. Hassan was not recognized as a credible poet
among the Arabs, even with Mohammeds endorsement. Needless to say, all poetry that did
not honour Mohammed disappeared completely from the annals of Arabian poetry.

The Abbasid era (750-1258 AD)
It may come as s surprise to the reader, and certainly was a surprise to me, to learn that
religious fervour as we know it today was far less prominent in the Islamic societies of the
past. Islams role was mainly highlighted and utilised during conflicts. Pure and true Islam, as
it is applied today by the the Wahhabis and Talibans, was seldom put to full practice after the
death of Mohammed and his companions. Although the Islamic dynasties were generally
oppressive, but there have been periods of relative secularism especially during the Abbasids
rule. These periods were windows of opportunities that allowed writers, poets and scientists,
from all ethnic backgrounds, to excel. We also should keep in mind that some poets and
writers were considered like valuable assets to their societies and people were happy to turn a
blind eye towards some of their excesses.
During the Abbasids rule many great writers and poets started to appear in Syria and Iraq. I
am only going to briefly mention some of the best known names to see what they thought of
the Quran.
Abu Nawas (750-810) was close to the famous Caliph Harun Alrashid, and is well known by
his poetry that celebrated wine and male homosexuality. Obviously the Quran didnt mean
much to this great poet.
Al Mutanabbi (915-965) is largely considered to be the most famous Arab poet of all time.
How are we supposed to believe that this man had admired the Quran, especially that we
know he authored his own Quran and claimed to be a prophet (hence his name). Almutanabbi
apologized later to save his life. As would be expected, none of his Quran reached us.
Abu Al Alaa Al Maarri (973-1057) was a blind Syrian philosopher and poet who is
considered by many as the best Arabs poet. Abu Al Alaa was even more outspoken in his
criticism to Islam and the Quran, his writings leave no doubt that he was too intelligent to
subscribe to an ideology like Islam. Consider. He also authored some verses similar to the
Quran to a group of Arabs. When one of the men commented that the verses didnt have that
familiar resonance of the Quran Abu Al Alaa responded: when you read it days and nights
for years, it will.
Ibn Rushd (1126-1198) philosopher and writer.
Ibn Al Rawandi (An Author and outspoken critic of Islam, rejected Mohammeds claims of
being a prophet)
Ibn Al Mukafaa ( writer and translator, murdered by the Islamists in 755 AD).
Al Razi (865-925, Physician and writer)
All the above great writers, philosophers and scientists were accused of apostasy by the
Islamists of their times. They are the ones meant by Jim Knight, the British minister, who
said recently: teach children what the Muslims did for us. The British minister was both
idiotic and ignorant to understand that those great men did what they did in spite of Islam and
not because of it.
The Twentieth Century
(Note: by the turn of the twentieth century, the Arabs already had enough of the backward
rule of the Ottomans and started to move slowly towards secularism. This was alarming to the
Islamists who formed their Muslim brotherhood movement in 1928 in Egypt to stop the rising
secular trend in that country. However, apostasy has always been a serious offence in the
Middle Eastern societies and Arab in general avoided to be labelled as apostates. Such
secular Arabs worked and published their works under the disguise of reformers. Most of the
published works that criticised Islam were later banned. Because of politeness and security
nearly all the Christian Arab writers avoided to write anything that may appear to be critical
to the Quran.)
Al Zahawi (1863-1936) and Al Rasafi (1875-1945) were the two most famous poets in Iraq
and both were accused of apostasy. AlRasafi is well known to the Arabs by his poetry, but he
also authored a book called Mohammeds personality, in which he presents a very good and
objective analysis of Mohammed. I personally never saw the book in the bookshops and
didnt even know about it until I read it on the internet.
Dr. Taha Hussain (1889-1973) was the most famous Arab writer in the twentieth century
and is considered as the father of Arabic literature. Hussain wrote a book that casts some
doubts about the honesty of the early Muslims and accused them of manipulating history and
poetry to their advantage. The book caused a stormy response by the Islamists and was
banned; Hussain was accused of apostasy and was forced to repent. Naguib Mahfouz (1911-
2006) was the only Noble prize winner in Arabic literature. At the age of eighty, he survived
an assassination attempt by the Islamists who accused him of apostasy. The Arab writers are
generally aware of the consequences of openly criticising Islam so they do not do it, but
judging from their works, none of them seems to be stunned by the Quran. More recently, the
Arabs lost one of their best known poets, Mohamoud Darwish (1941-2008), who was an
Israeli Palestinian atheist.
The above is only a sample of Arab writers and poets whose knowledge of the Arabic
Language and literature is recognized by all. It is ironic that unlike the Muslims from
countries like India, Indonesia or Pakistan these great writers didnt like the language of the
Quran. We mustnt forget that millions of the Arabs are Christians. Some of the good writers
and poets in the Arab world are Christians who obviously are not that impressed by the
Quran. It is striking that the Arab Christians, who speak Arabic as a first language, and have
been in contact with Islam for centuries, do not convert to Islam, which is in sharp contrast to
the European Christians.
Once I read in a Saudi Islamic website a list of the contemporary Arab writers who are
accused of apostasy. I was shocked at the length of the list; it certainly included all the ones I
know and many more. It seems that the only Arab writers who are stunned by the Quran are
the Muslim scholars. Even that may be an exaggeration because rumours once circulated that
Al Akkad (1889-1964) and Al Hakim (1898-1987), both famous writers who wrote
Islamically acceptable books about Mohammed, were in fact atheists. Although this may be
just a rumour but we know that both men were not practicing Muslims anyway, even in
public!

3. The third big lie: The Quranic Challenge
The Quran contains an open challenge (Q.17: 88) from Allah to mankind and to those
invisible Islamic creatures called jinn, to produce a work similar to the Quran. Muslims
believe that it is a miracle that no humans have been able to take the challenge. This claim is
just another big Islamic lie.
The pre-Islamic literature
There is some very bad news for Muslims because the Quran lost its challenge even before
Mohammed started his revelations. Many of the Quranic verses were virtual copies from
works already published by others, like Umaya Ibn Alsalt, Zaid Ibn Nowayfil and Imru Al
Qays and others (ref.1). The chances are that an Arab never heard about such literature
before, which doesnt surprise me; I only knew about it when I started to get used to the
internet a few years ago. That was unfortunate because, had I knew about it earlier, it could
have speeded up my departure from Islam.
There is a striking similarity between that pre Islamic poetry and some of the verses of the
Quran. Muslim scholars deny that the literature was pre Islamic and claim it was composed
after Islam and attributed to those jahylia (pre Islamic) poets.
The Muslim scholars obsession is to deny that the Quran had mimicked others works, mean
while they forget that the literature was similar to the Quran no matter when it was said.
When I first read about that hidden jahilyia poetry I felt there is a very dirty conspiracy from
the Muslim scholars, who mask any anything that could invoke suspicion about the Quran.
There is no explanation why such literature doesnt come for of open discussions.
The Satanic Verses
But there is some more bad news for the Muslims: the Quran documents that it lost the
challenge even before the revelations were completed! The winners this time were the
Muslims main rivals, the Jinn!
The Jinns chief, Iblees, played a practical joke with Mohammed and inserted some of his
verses in sura Al najm (Q.53) then he injected that sura in Mohammeds heart ( which is the
Islamic brain, according to the Quran) Those verses were so original that Mohammed recited
them during his prayers without noticing the difference! It was Allah who spotted those
satanic verses and removed them from the Quran.
Islamic history describes other Qurans
It is impossible for any anti Islamic material to survive the strict Islamic censorship.
However, careful reading of the Islamic history indicates that many other Qurans were
already written before our existing Quran was compiled by Caliph Uthman. According to the
Islamic history, Caliph Uthman ordered all other copies of the Quran, which were kept by
notable Muslims like Ibn Masoud, to be burnt. Those copies were different from Uthmans
Quran, for example surat Al Ahzab was more than double its existing size in other copies.
Muslims believe that Allah guided Uthman and his aides to abandon those verses because
they were not parts of the Quran. This story indicates that the early Arabs authored some
chapters that were indistinguishable from the Quran. In other words the Arabs won the
challenge.
The modern Qurans
Many Muslims believe that writing anything similar to the Quran is a crime punishable by
death, so it is logical not to expect any sane person to attempt it. Needless to say that any
such work would never be published or preserved. However, since the introduction of the
Internet, there is no shortage of people who post new verses from their Qurans on daily basis
(ref.2). Most of those imitations look very similar to the original; some even contain errors to
make them indistinguishable from the real one!
---
References:
1) For the Arabic readers, I compiled the following similarities between pre-Islamic poetry
and the Quran. History and some tafseer books refer to this poetry as does this Islamic site.
:
* .
Q. 72:3:

Q.6:103

:

:


Q.79:31,32
Q.16:15

13

:
: *
: *
Q.78:6,7

:

Q.81:17,18

:
*
*
*

Q.21:81

:
*
Q.20:111
"
:


Q.:105

.
:
*

****
Q.88: 14,15
" . "
2) The following are some of the many Suras posted on the Internet by Arabs.
http://www.ladeenyon.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2040&sid=ab440fdfe95e38d0c4279
05fd12ab2c2
http://www.ladeenyon.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=433&sid=ab440fdfe95e38d0c42790
5fd12ab2c2
http://www.ladeenyon.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=408&sid=ab440fdfe95e38d0c42790
5fd12ab2c2