with the strength of all the nails and the firmness of many proofs becomes necessary in order to raise it from the ground and fasten it once more to the throne, and so be saved from the darkness of unbelief and reach the lights of belief. But because it is extremely difficult to do this, due to your wiles, many people are losing their faith at this time by imagining themselves to be making unbiased judgements.”
The Devil turned and said: “The Qur’an resembles man’s word. It is similar to the way men converse. That means it is man’s word. If it were God’s Word, it would be appropriate to Him and altogether out of the ordinary. Just as His art does not resemble man’s art, so His Word should not resemble man’s word.”
I replied: “It may be understood as follows: apart from his miracles and special attributes, the Prophet Muhammad (UWBP) was a human being in all his actions, conduct, and behaviour. He submitted to and complied with the divine laws and commands manifested in creation. He too suffered from the cold, experienced pain, and so on. His deeds and attributes were not all made out of the ordinary so that he could be the leader of his community through his actions, its guide through his conduct, and instruct it through all his behaviour. If he had been out of the ordinary in all his conduct, he could not have been the leader in every respect, the complete guide for everyone, the “Mercy to All the Worlds” through all his attributes.
“In just the same way, the All-Wise Qur’an is the leader of the aware and the conscious, the guide of jinn and men, the teacher of those aspiring to perfection, and instructor of those seeking reality. It has necessarily, therefore, to be in a form similar to human conversation and style. For men and jinn take their supplications from it and learn their prayers from it; they express their concerns in its language, and learn from it the rules of social behaviour, and so on. Everyone has recourse to it. If it had been in similar form to the divine speech that the Prophet Moses (Peace be upon him) heard on Mount Sinai, human beings could not have borne listening to it and hearing it, nor made it a point of reference and recourse. Moses (Peace be upon him), one of the five greatest prophets, could only endure to hear a few words. He said: “‘Is Your speech thus?’ God replied: ‘I have the power of all tongues.’”1
Next, the Devil said: “Many people speak of matters similar to those in the Qur’an in the name of religion. Isn’t it possible, therefore, that a human being did such a thing and made up the Qur’an in the name of religion?”
Suyuti, al-Durar al-Manthur, iii, 536.