Appendix 1: The Qur’an as GOD’s Speech (8)

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Addendum: Text-Based and Miscellaneous Arguments

Over one thousand years after this issue first appeared in the Muslim community, the majority of modern scholars would not hesitate to say that the matter has been settled forever, and that the proof of an uncreated Qur’an is overwhelming. Since the time of Al-Ghazzali the same threadbare arguments have been used again and again to defend what is now considered the orthodox position. Having dealt with those opinions conclusively, I should now turn to examine the purported textual evidence in the Qur’an and hadith literature. Here are a few samples of that from a contemporary website. I have summarized the arguments in italics, which are followed by my rebuttals.

Creation and command are different affairs. Creation, an act, only happens by command, a word. Command precedes creation as in Q36:82:

Therefore command, a word of GOD, is not created, and hence the Qur’an, which is God’s Word, is not created.

– Note that in Q7:54 creation is mentioned before command. If command preceded creation in any sense, either temporal or logical, it would be mentioned first. By the nature of the wording, one could also infer that creation and command belong to Him as equally subordinate to His own Being and pertaining to distinct spheres or phases of reality. Indeed, the implication is that both creation and command are verbal acts; one results in physical existence and the other in directions that govern or direct that existence.

GOD’s creation of Adam (peace be upon him) is mentioned in Q3:59:

The order, explicit in the Arabic text, is clearly creation first and then the command to “Be!”

– The wording in Q7:54 is Truly His are the creation (al-khalq) and command (al-amr). But command does not mean the Qur’an in this instance, nor does the Qur’an mean only command, as it contains much more than only commands.

– As I explained in Chapter 7, command refers to a verbal expression of power or obligation. GOD’s command overrules creation or adds to it a moral element, and hence is logically subsequent. Even if we consider it prior, i.e. superior, by virtue of its ‘higher’ status, nothing in the Qur’an indicates that it is eternal, removed from time.

– In Q36:82 amr probably does not even mean command, but ‘affair’, ‘thing’, or ‘matter’, like shai. In Q19:35, for example, we read:

In this verse, a matter (amr) cannot be ‘command’, because He decrees it by telling it to be, making amr itself the thing created or commanded. The syntax and meaning are equivalent to those in Q36:82 where it reads when He intends [desires] a thing, He tells it “Be!” and so it is. So matter (amr) in Q19:35 is equivalent to thing (shai) in Q36:82, as both are objects of His intention or decree, and thus His command is only that . . . could just as well be translated by His affair is only that . . .

– In short, amr does not precede creation, but is either subsequent to it, as command, or equivalent to it, as affair, matter, or thing. Many verses in the Qur’an use amr with this latter meaning, including Q23:53:

– As I discussed earlier, we say that GOD’s Word is spoken, not created. But it is not eternal.

First the Gracious (Ar-Rahman) is mentioned alone, then the Qur’an, which is taught, not created, followed by the creation of humanity. By this we see how the uncreated logically precedes the created. The Qur’an is God’s Knowledge, and God’s Knowledge is not created.

– In Q9:111, we read:

God taught the Qur’an as He taught other books previous to it. The Qur’an is, therefore, neither prior to creation nor the whole of His Knowledge, but a distinct and highly revered manifestation of His Knowledge, which includes all creation. If the Qur’an is eternal, then so is all creation, for both are constituents of His Knowledge. We do not, however, say that the Qur’an is created, but rather that it is taught, known, and spoken, as are other holy books. It is not the same as GOD’s status as The Knower, which is inseparable from Him, but is rather an instance of it, just as the Prophet (may AL-LAH bless him and grant him peace) was created as an instance of GOD’s Mercy. (Q21:107)

This means that God’s words are endless, and nothing but His attributes can be endless.

– The universe is said to be 13.7 billion years old, and the number of atoms in the universe is thought to be about 10⁸⁰. The words of GOD certainly exceed these limits (for every subatomic particle and every relationship between them could be considered a word), but that does not make them limitless or eternal. Endlessness is not achieved by any quantity, since Q28:88 – Everything is perishing except His Countenance.

If His Names were created, it would be forbidden to glorify them. His Names are His words, and are found in the Qur’an. Therefore, the Qur’an is not created.

– Insofar as GOD is an object, He has Names. GOD-as-Object is necessary, so His Names, by which He is objectified, are also necessary. They represent Him as metonyms, like His Knowledge, Mercy, etcetera, which are inseparable from Him because they are not separate entities, but simply various ways of referring to His Ineffable Unicity. Hence one can glorify His Names, as one can exalt His Power or seek His Pleasure.

– Their being His words as well is irrelevant, for His words, like His books, have beginnings in time. I distinguish between His Names, which are indivisible non-entities coeternal with His Being, and the ‘physical’ words that express these Names in time. Like souls, once produced, these words are lasting, but that does not make them pre-existent or eternal as He is eternal.

– It is the Names’ adherence to GOD that makes them eternal and uncreated, not their appearance in the Qur’an, which contains many more references to created things. The argument above deliberately confuses cause and effect. The cause is their direct representation of Who GOD is. The effect of that is their manifestation in the world, through texts, holy or otherwise, and on the tongues of humans, believers or otherwise. If their appearance in the Qur’an is what makes them uncreated, then pigs, dogs, fornication, and idolatry are also uncreated, for all of these and more are also mentioned in the Qur’an.

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