Evidence · Case 10 · Islam
The doctrine of i’jaz and the Qur’an’s challenge
One exhibit from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
I’jaz is the doctrine that the Qur’an cannot be matched in content or form. The Qur’an itself issues the challenge, telling doubters to produce a chapter like it. Muslims hold that the challenge has never been met, and treat that as evidence the book is from God.
Sources
Objections & responses
- Muslim apologetics today offers many evidences besides i’jaz: preservation of the text, fulfilled prophecy, alleged scientific foreknowledge, the life of Muhammad, the rapid success of Islam. Isn’t calling i’jaz the central evidence narrow?
Fair. I’jaz is the classical and Qur’anic argument, the one the Qur’an itself issues as a challenge, and that is why it is treated as central here. Modern Muslim apologetics is broader, and the other lines deserve their own hearing. One note on them: the scientific-miracle claims are controversial among Muslim scholars themselves, and the preservation argument is one Christians can freely grant, since excellent preservation shows what Muslims say it shows about transmission, not about origin.