Al-Baqillānī speaks on the challenge to imitate the Qur’an not only a challenege for humans but also to the jinn, who the Arabs believed could compose poetry and speech. His main points are:
The Qur’an itself declares the incapacity of both mankind and jinn: He quotes Allah’s words: “Say: If mankind and jinn gathered together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like of it…” (al-Isrāʾ 17:88). This shows the challenge is universal, not limited to humans.
- The Arabs themselves claimed to have poetry from the jinn
They narrated verses said to come from encounters with jinn, preserved them in collections, and treated them as real. Al-Baqillānī quotes several poems (e.g. by Taʾabbata Sharran, Dhu al-Rumma) describing supposed encounters with ghouls or speech of jinn. He also says these verses never surpassed human eloquence, often fell short, and were ordinary in style.
The Qur’an records that the jinn heard it and recognised its greatness, in al-Ahqāf 46:29: “And when We directed to you a group of the jinn listening to the Qur’an…” Their reaction shows they recognised it as beyond anything they themselves could produce.
Therefore, the incapacity of the jinn is like that of humans, since their speech never matched the Qur’an, and Allah confirmed their incapacity, they too are included in the challenge.
This incapacity is proven more strongly than the argument from the philosophers that human incapacity alone is enough, because Allah Himself has testified to both.
The Qur’an’s inimitability is universal. Neither humans nor jinn can match its naẓm (composition) and balāgha (eloquence).
This detailed proof strengthens the doctrine of iʿjāz: the Qur’an is unique in all creation, beyond the capacity of any speaker, human or jinn.
Translation: The composition (nadhm) of the Quran has reached a level in balaghah (eloquence) that goes beyond the habit of the speech of the jinn, just as it goes beyond the habit of the speech of humans. They are unable to bring anything like it, just as we are unable, and they fall short of it just as we fall short. Allah the Exalted said:
“قُل لَّئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الْإِنسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلَى أَن يَأْتُوا بِمِثْلِ هَذَا الْقُرْآنِ لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا”
“Say: If mankind and jinn gathered together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like of it, even if they backed one another.” (al-Isra 17:88)
If it is said: This is only a claim from you, for we have no way to know that the jinn are incapable of bringing something like it.
It may even be possible that they are able to bring something like it while we are not, just as they are able to do subtle things and hidden matters which we cannot do, and we have no access to their subtleties. If that is the case, then there is no way to know the truth of what you claim.
It is answered: We can know that through the report of Allah the Exalted. And it can also be said that this speech comes in accordance with what the Arabs themselves believed about speaking with the jinn, what they narrated of poetry from them, and what they transmitted of their words. We know that this was preserved among them and transmitted from them.
The amount that they transmitted of it, we have examined, and in eloquence it does not surpass the eloquence of humans, and perhaps it even falls short of it.
It is not impossible that people could hear their speech and that dialogues occurred between them in the time of the prophets, peace be upon them, for that was a time when extraordinary things could occur. To this day, people believe in communication with spirits, and they have preserved and recorded poems in their diwans (collections).
Ta’abbata Sharran said:
“وأدهم قد بيت جلبابه
كما اجتابت الكاعب الخيملا
إلى أن حدا الصبح أثناءه
ومزق جلبابه الآليلا
على شيم نار تنورتها
فبت لها مديرا مقبلا
فأصبحت والغول لي جارة
فيا جارتا أنت ما أهولا
وطالبتها بضعها فالتوت
بوجه تهول واستغولا”
“And a dark beast that lay in wait, cloaked in its garment,
like a maiden drawing her robe around herself.
Until the morning came driving its parts forward,
tearing its dark cloak to pieces.
At the gleam of a fire I had seen from afar,
so I came to it, circling it, advancing closer.
I found the ghoul as my neighbour there,
so I said, O neighbour, how dreadful you are.
I sought her body, but she twisted away,
with a face that terrified, changing in form.”
(ash-Shim: looking at a fire. In Hamasiya of Ibn al-Shajari: “on the light of the fire.” Tanawwartuha: I saw it. al-Bid‘: the private part. Tahawwulat: she became terrifying, from hawl, meaning dreadful in appearance. Istaghwalat: she changed forms)
And he said:
“فن سال أين نوت جارتي
وكنت إذا ما هممت اعتزمت
فإن لها باللوى منزلا
وأخر إذا قلت أن أفعلا”
“So I asked, where has my neighbour gone?
Whenever I resolved to act, I was determined.
Indeed she has a dwelling in al-Liwa,
yet I would delay when I said I would act.”
And another poet said:
“عشوا ناري فقلت منون أنتم
فقالوا الجن قلت عموا ظلاما
فقلت إلى الطعام فقال منهم
زعيم يحسد الإنس الطعاما”
“They approached my fire at night and I said, who are you?
They said, we are the jinn. I said, be blinded in darkness.
I said, come to food, but among them a leader said,
he envies mankind for their food.”
(The meaning of ‘Ashaw nari’ is that they saw it from afar at night and came to it seeking its light. In Nawadir Abi Zayd: “They came to my fire.”)
And they mention that Imru’ al-Qays had a poem with a jinn companion, with poems exchanged between them, but we disliked to quote them here due to their length. Ubayd ibn Ayyub said:
“لصاحب قفر خائف متقفر
أرنت بلحن بعد لحن وأوقدت
حوالي نيرانا تلوح وتزهر”
“For a man wandering in a desert, fearful and solitary,
she made sounds with tune after tune,
and she kindled around him fires that blazed and shone.”
(Arannat: she made sounds. Tazhar: to shine.)
Dhu al-Rumma said:
“قد أعسف النازح المجهول معيفه
في ظل أخضر يدعو هامه البوم
للجن بالليل في حافاتها زجل
كما تناوح يوم الريح عيسوم
دوية ودجى ليل كأنهما
يم تراطن في حافاته الروم”
“The far traveller, wandering without guide,
in a dark shade where owls call.
For the jinn at night in its edges is clamour,
like the rustling of an ʿaysum plant in a day of wind.
A wilderness and darkness of night, as though
foreign tongues like those of the Romans murmur at its edges.”
(A‘saf: to travel without guidance. an-Nazih: far away. al-Akhḍar here means black, referring to the night. al-Hamah: the owl. Zajal: loud sound. ʿAysum: a kind of plant that rustles in the wind. Ratanah: foreign speech.)
And he also said:
“وكم عرست بعد السرى من معرس
به من كلام الجن أصوات سامر”
“How many times I rested at night in a resting place,
where the voices of the jinn were heard in nightly talk.”
(al-Taʿris: resting at the end of the night. Samar: those who talk at night.)
And he said:
“ورمل عزيف الجن في عقباته
هزيز كتضراب المغنين بالطبل”
“And the sand where the sound of the jinn echoes in its ridges,
like the beating of singers upon the drum.”
(ʿAzif al-jinn: the sound heard among the sands. ʿUqadat ar-raml: sand ridges. Huzuz: a sound like that of millstones or similar.)
Since the people believed in the speech of the jinn and their conversations, and they narrated from them, and the amount narrated did not exceed the eloquence of the Arabs, it is established that their incapacity regarding the Quran is like the incapacity of humans.
This is clarified by what is in the Quran, that Allah the Exalted related about the jinn, what they discussed among themselves concerning the Quran:
“وَإِذْ صَرَفْنَا إِلَيْكَ نَفَرًا مِّنَ الْجِنِّ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقُرْآنَ فَلَمَّا حَضَرُوهُ قَالُوا أَنصِتُوا فَلَمَّا قُضِيَ وَلَّوْا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِم مُّنذِرِينَ”
“And when We directed to you a group of the jinn listening to the Quran, and when they attended it, they said: Listen attentively. Then when it was finished, they returned to their people as warners.” (al-Ahqaf 46:29)
So when it is established that their speech is described, and it matched what they believed and narrated, then describing the familiar speech of the jinn as falling short of the level of the Quran in eloquence is proven.
These two answers are stronger to me than the answer of some of the mutakallimeen, who said that the incapacity of humans alone to bring the like of the Quran establishes for it the ruling of iʿjaz, and there is no need to consider others.
Do you not see that if we knew by direct observation the incapacity of the jinn, and then someone said to us: Prove that the angels too are incapable of bringing the like of it, we would have no answer except the same way we have explained.
The reason we judged that answer weaker is that it is Allah who related and described the incapacity of both jinn and humans to bring the like of it. Therefore we must know the incapacity of the jinn as we know the incapacity of humans. And if He had described the incapacity of the angels, then we would have to know that also through His way.
If it is said: You have now reached the mention of iʿjaz in detail, while this passage only indicates iʿjaz in general?
It is answered: Just as it indicates the general, it also indicates the detailed. So it is correct that this category be joined with the detailed, just as it is correct that it be joined with the general.
Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān by Al Baqillani Pages 57-62
