The Qur’an An Abiding Wonder
The Qur’an —The Prophet’s Miracle
~ 88 ~
improve on. It revised certain metaphors,
rephrasing them in a more eloquent form than had
been heard before. This was how an ancient Arab
poet described the impermanence of the world:
“Even if he enjoys a long period of secure life,
every mother’s son will finally be carried aloft
in a coffin.”
The Qur’an put the same idea in the poignantly
succinct words: ‘Every soul shall taste death’
(3:185). Killing and plundering presented a major
problem in ancient Arabia. Certain phrases had
been coined to express the idea that only killing
could put an end to killing, and these were
considered highly eloquent in pre-Islamic days. ‘To
kill some is to give life to the whole,’ one of them
went. ‘Kill more, so that there should be less
killing,’ and ‘Killing puts an end to killing,’ were
some other examples. The Qur’an expressed the
idea in these words: ‘In retaliation there is life for
you, O men of understanding.’ (2: 179).
In pre-Qur’anic days, poetry held an important
place in Arabic, as in other languages of the world.
Poetical expression of ideas was given pride of
