The Qur’an An Abiding Wonder
The Qur’an: The Book of God
~ 8 ~
“Do they not ponder over the Qur’an? If it had not
come from God, they would have found in it many
contradictions
(ikhtilaf)
” (4:82).
(Professor Arberry has translated the Arabic word
ikhtilaf
as ‘inconsistency’. Other renderings of the
word include contradiction, disparity and
difference.)
Total consistency is an extremely rare quality, one
which is an exclusive attribute of God. It is,
therefore, beyond any human being to compose a
work in which there are no disparities. For a work to
be quite flawless, the composer has to have a
command of such knowledge as encompasses the
past and the future, and extends also to all objects of
creation. There must be no shadow of doubt in his
perception of the essential nature of things.
Furthermore, his knowledge must be based on direct
acquaintance, not on information indirectly received
from others. And there is another unique quality he
must possess: he must be able to see things, not in a
prejudiced light, but as they actually are.
God and God alone can possess all these
extraordinary qualities. For this reason, only His
