An Example of Qur’anic Eloquence
A renowned Egyptian scholar and exegete, Shaykh Tantawi Jawhari (رحمه الله) writes:
“On June 13, 1932, I met the Egyptian writer, Ustādh Kāmel Gīlānī. He narrated to me a fascinating incident. He said:
‘I was in the company of the American orientalist Finkel. We shared a strong literary connection. One day, he leaned toward me and whispered, “Do you also believe that the Qur’an is a miracle?” He then smirked in a way that suggested he found such a belief baseless—thinking that Muslims merely follow it blindly without any rational foundation.
He seemed quite confident that he had posed an unanswerable question. Observing his demeanor, I too smiled and responded, “To judge the eloquence of the Qur’an, it is only fair that we test whether we can produce speech similar to it. Through this experiment, we will naturally find out whether we are capable of creating such discourse or not!”
I then proposed to Professor Finkel that we attempt to express a Qur’anic concept using our own Arabic words. The concept was:
“Hell is vast and immense.”
He agreed to the idea, and both of us sat down with pen and paper. Together, we composed nearly twenty Arabic sentences, each attempting to convey the same meaning in different ways:
- إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ وَاسِعَةٌ جِدًّا
(Indeed, Hell is extremely vast.) - إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ أَوْسَعُ مِمَّا تَظُنُّونَ
(Hell’s vastness is beyond your imagination.) - إِنَّ سَعَةَ جَهَنَّمَ لَا يُتَصَوَّرُهَا عَقْلُ الْإِنسَانِ
(The human mind cannot comprehend the enormity of Hell.) - إِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَتَسَعُ الدُّنْيَا كُلَّهَا
(Hell is vast enough to encompass the entire world.) - إِنَّ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِذَا دَخَلُوا جَهَنَّمَ لَتَسَعُهُمْ، وَلَا تَضِيقُ بِهِمْ
(If all humans and jinn enter Hell, it will accommodate them without becoming constrained.) - كُلُّ وَصْفٍ فِي سَعَةِ جَهَنَّمَ لَا يَصِلُ إِلَى تَقْرِيبِ شَيْءٍ مِنْ حَقِيقَتِهَا
(Every description of Hell’s vastness falls short of depicting its true reality.) - إِنَّ سَعَةَ جَهَنَّمَ لَتَصْغُرُ أَمَامَهَا سَعَةُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
(In comparison to Hell’s vastness, the expanses of the heavens and the earth seem insignificant.) - كُلُّ مَا خَطَرَ بِبَالِكَ فِي سَعَةِ جَهَنَّمَ فَإِنَّهَا لَأَرْحَبُ مِنْهُ وَأَوْسَعُ
(No matter how vast you imagine Hell to be, it is even greater than that.) - سَتَرَوْنَ مِنْ سَعَةِ جَهَنَّمَ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا لِتَحْتَمِلُوهُ أَوْ تَتَصَوَّرُوهُ
(You will witness the vastness of Hell in a way you could never bear or even imagine.) - مَهْمَا حَاوَلْتَ أَنْ تَتَخَيَّلَ سَعَةَ جَهَنَّمَ فَأَنْتَ مُقَصِّرٌ وَلَنْ تَصِلَ إِلَى شَيْءٍ مِنْ حَقِيقَتِهَا
(No matter how much you try to visualize Hell’s vastness, you will always fall short of grasping its reality.) - إِنَّ الْبَلَاغَةَ الْمُعْجِزَةَ لَتَقْصُرُ وَتَعْجَزُ أَشَدَّ الْعَجْزِ عَنْ وَصْفِ سَعَةِ جَهَنَّمَ
(Even the most miraculous eloquence is utterly incapable of describing Hell’s vastness.) - إِنَّ سَعَةَ جَهَنَّمَ قَدْ تَخَطَّتْ أَحْلَامَ الْحَالِمِينَ وَتَصَوُّرَ الْمُتَصَوِّرِينَ
(The vastness of Hell surpasses the dreams of dreamers and the imagination of thinkers.) - مَتَى أَمْسَكْتَ بِالْقَلَمِ وَتَصَدَّيْتَ لِوَصْفِ سَعَةِ جَهَنَّمَ أَحْسَسْتَ بِقُصُورِكَ وَعَجْزِكَ
(The moment you pick up a pen to describe Hell’s vastness, you will feel your inadequacy and helplessness.) - إِنَّ سَعَةَ جَهَنَّمَ لَا يَصِفُهَا وَصْفٌ وَلَا يَتَخَيَّلُهَا وَهْمٌ وَلَا تَدُورُ بِحُسْبَانٍ
(No words can describe Hell’s vastness, no imagination can capture it, and no intellect can encompass it.) - كُلُّ وَصْفٍ لِسَعَةِ جَهَنَّمَ إِنَّمَا هُوَ فُضُولٌ وَهَذَيَانٌ
(Every attempt to describe Hell’s vastness is nothing but a futile and meaningless endeavor.)
After exhausting all our linguistic abilities and finding no further words to express this concept, I turned to Professor Finkel with a victorious gaze.
“Now, you will witness the eloquence of the Qur’an!”
I then said, “We have put in all our effort and constructed various expressions to convey this meaning. But tell me, did the Qur’an express this concept more eloquently than we did?”
Professor Finkel, still doubtful, asked, “What words did the Qur’an use to express this idea?”
I recited the following verse from Surah Qāf:
يَوْمَ نَقُولُ لِجَهَنَّمَ هَلِ امْتَلَتِ وَتَقُولُ هَلْ مِن مَّزِيدٍ (Qāf: 30)
(On the Day [of Judgment], We will say to Hell: ‘Are you full?’ and it will respond: ‘Is there more?’)
Upon hearing this, his jaw dropped in astonishment. He was left utterly speechless by the unparalleled eloquence of the Qur’an. Finally, he admitted:
“You are right! Absolutely right! I wholeheartedly acknowledge this truth!”
I replied, “Your amazement is not surprising, for you are a man of literature who understands the power of expression and eloquence.”
This orientalist was fluent in English, German, Hebrew, and Arabic and had dedicated his entire life to studying literature.
(Shaykh Tantawi Jawhari, Al-Jawāhir fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm, Egypt, 1351 AH, Vol. 23)
Translated By: Maulana Hashmatullah Maturidi (Research Scholar)