Quran imitations


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 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.

Reasons

The Quran poses a falsification test to those who challenge its authenticity which, over time, was made easier. The first challenge was to produce a similar book in Arabic, then it was reduced to ten chapters. Lastly, the challenge was reduced to only one chapter similar to it. 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, Abul Atahiya, Al-Mutanabbi, and Al-Maʿarri produced imitations of the Qur'an.
A famous case was the blind poet Al-Ma'arri, particularly in his work titled Paragraphs and Periods. Included in his imitation were sections including saj', series of rhyming oaths, messages about the punishment of unbelievers, hortatory and declarative statements, the frequent use of divine epithets, etc.

List of works

Arabic

  • Muʿāraḍat al-Qur'ān attributed to Ibn al-Muqaffa'
  • Diwan al-Mutanabbī
  • al-Fuṣūl wa al-ghāyāt
  • Muʿāraḍat al-Qur'ān attributed to al-Ḥillī
  • Qayyūm al-asmā
  • al-Bayān al-ʿarabī
  • Awlād ḥāritinā
  • Āyat Jīm
  • al-Furqān al-ḥaqq

    Other languages

  • Cent noms de Déu by Ramon Llull ; in Catalan
  • Khayr al-Bayān by Pir Roshan ; multilingual but mainly in Urdu
  • Imitations of the Koran by Alexander Pushkin ; in Russian
  • Al Aaraaf by Edgar Allan Poe ; in English
  • Finnegans Wake by James Joyce ; in English