The Third: Soothsaying and divining matters of the Unseen.
The Fourth: Knowledge of past events and cosmology.
Thus, when the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition appeared, it challenged those with knowledge of these four fields.
Firstly, it made the men of rhetoric and eloquence bow before it; they all listened to it in astonishment.
Secondly, it filled the poets and orators with amazement, that is, those who spoke well and declaimed fine poetry, so that they bit their fingers in astonishment. It nullified the value of their finest poems inscribed in gold, causing them to remove the famous Seven Hanging Poems, their pride and glory, from the walls of the Ka‘ba.
It silenced the soothsayers and sorcerers, who gave news of the Unseen, and made them forget the knowledge they had received. It drove away the jinns, and put an end to soothsaying.
It saved those with knowledge of the past and cosmology from superstition and falsehood, and instructed them in true facts and luminous knowledge.
Thus, these four groups bowed before the Qur’an in perfect wonder and veneration, becoming its students. At no time could any of them attempt to contest it.
I f i t i s a s k e d : How do we know that no one could dispute or contest it?
T h e A n s w e r : If it had been possible to dispute it, for sure someone would have attempted it. For their religion, their possessions, their lives, and their families had been put into peril. If they had disputed it, they would have been saved. If it had been possible, they were bound to contest it. And if they had done so, since those who wished to do this, the unbelievers and dissemblers were many, and truly many, they were sure to have supported such a contest and would have advertised it widely. Just as they