Restless Pilgrim

• Qur’an 33:49 states that a waiting period (“Iddah”) is needed if a marriage was consummated. This is to make sure that the woman isn’t pregnant.
• Qur’an 65:4 outlines three different categories of women regarding the Iddah:
  • Pregnant women whose waiting period ends with the delivery of the child
  • Those who don’t have periods any more have a waiting period of 3 months
  • Those who have never menstruated have to wait 3 months
• Ibn Kathir’s commentary (14th Century) confirms who this last group is:
  • “The same for the young, who have not reached the years of menstruation. Their `Iddah is three months like those in menopause.”
• Al-Jalalayn (16th Century) says the same:
  • …and [also for] those who have not yet menstruated, because of their young age, their period shall [also] be three months 
• Sahih al-Bukhari 5133 and Sunan an-Nasa’i 3378 (among others) confirm that Muhammad married Aisha when she was six and consummated the marriage when she was nine when she was still playing with dolls.

The Qur’an speaks about Allah helping the followers of Jesus and keeping them “uppermost”, but this presents a dilemma since, historically, this has to refer to Trinitarian Christians… which is a very strange thing for Allah to support. If it wasn’t Trinitarian Christians, who exactly has remained “uppermost” since the time of Christ?

O believers! Stand up for Allah, as Jesus, son of Mary, asked the disciples, “Who will stand up with me for Allah?” The disciples replied, “We will stand up for Allah.” Then a group from the Children of Israel believed while another disbelieved. We then supported the believers against their enemies, so they prevailed. – 61:14

˹Remember˺ when Allah said, “O Jesus! I will take you and raise you up to Myself. I will deliver you from those who disbelieve, and elevate your followers above the disbelievers until the Day of Judgment. Then to Me you will ˹all˺ return, and I will settle all your disputes. – 3:55

I was recently having a discussion online with a Muslim and he said “The Qur’an even tells you exactly how to disprove it if you’re in doubt of its authenticity, so if no one has disproved it in 1440 years, and you can’t disprove it”. Here he was referring to the Qur’anic challenge to “produce a chapter like it”, as evidence that the Qur’an is of divine origin. 

I have to say, this challenge is bizarre for a number of reasons… 

Firstly, the challenge is rather light on details! Do we have to produce it in Arabic? What does it mean to be “like” the Qur’an? What objective criteria can we use to measure it? How do we know when the test has been fulfilled?

Secondly, entire websites devoted to poetry in the Qur’anic style. Why do these fail the test?

Thirdly, it’s just an odd argument. Even if I couldn’t produce something like the Qur’an, it doesn’t mean it’s divine. I can’t produce a Beethoven Symphony or a Shakespeare sonnet either!  Even if Muhammad was the only person in history to produce something like the Qur’an, I still don’t see why that would demonstrate it’s divine. Alternative explanations would be that Muhammad was uniquely skilled, or you could even suggest that it comes from a nefarious spiritual source.

Personally, I think the poetry of Kahlil Gibran greatly superior to the Qur’an, both in terms of beauty and wisdom. The English is great and I’m sure the original Arabic is as well.