Misplaced Pages

Quran imitations

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Quran
History
Manuscripts
Divisions
Content
Reading
Translations
Exegesis
Characteristics
Related

Quran imitations represent literary attempts to replicate the style, form and content of the Quran. Historically, they emerge in a dialectic with the doctrine of the i'jaz (inimitability) of the Quran, which asserts that the literary and/or semantic nature of the Quran cannot be reproduced by a human. Both Muslims and non-Muslims have written Quran imitations for various reasons, including as literary exercises, means to express one's admiration for the Quran, or attempts to meet the Quran challenge (the Islamic challenge for someone who doubts the Quran to create something that is like it).

Reasons

See also: I'jaz § Qur'anic basis

Quran itself has challenged opponents to produce something like it (the concept is known as al-taḥaddī) and Muslims employ the term muʿāraḍāt ("assaults ") to attempts to contest inimitability of the Quran. Islamic traditions suggest that the first attempts at imitation were blasphemous or aimed at asserting claims of divine revelation. However, historically, not all imitations were meant to contest the Quran's preeminence or supremacy; some were simply literary exercises. There are also instances of authors who intended to admire the Quran by imitating it.

History

Towards the end of Muhammad's life and after his death several men and a woman appeared in various parts of Arabia and claimed to be prophets. Musaylimah, a contemporary of Muhammad, claimed that he received revelations; some of his revelations are recorded. Ibn al-Muqaffa' was a critic of the Qur'an and reportedly made attempts to imitate it. Bashshar ibn Burd (d. 784), Abul Atahiya (d. 828), Al-Mutanabbi (d. 965), and Al-Maʿarri (d. 1058) claimed that their writings surpassed Qur'an in eloquence.

List of works

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (November 2024)

Arabic

Other languages

Citations

  1. ^ Gharaibeh Simonović 2024.
  2. Lawson 2012, p. 25.
  3. ^ Lawson 2012, p. 26.
  4. ^ Sherman 2024.
  5. Pushkin 1972.

References

Category: