Mohammad Elshinawy – Proof of Prophethood #28 – Muhammad (SAW) or Shakespeare

			Some critics argue that while the Quran is in fact a literary masterpiece when it comes to the
Arabic language, this does not mean that it is supernatural. They claim that every civilization has
its unequaled works of literature, such as Shakespeare sonnets in English, for example, or Homer's
Iliad in Greek, they claim that the Quran is no different. But what this does is ignore a myriad of
major differences between the Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him and someone like
Shakespeare, for example. So let's compare shall we?
		

			Number one, while the prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him was unlettered, Shakespeare
was school taught and educated both in English and in Latin. And alongside having been a company of
his mentors, he had access to libraries that he used to build his writings on. Number two,
Shakespeare earned a living as a professional playwright, and he would refine his craft with each
new dramatic production. Contrast that with the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him
who worked as a shepherd and then a tradesman. This was an unlettered men who never uttered a single
full couplet of poetry in his entire life. nor could he retract a single word of the Quran after he
		

			uttered it for quality control purposes, after he had spoken it to the vast Muslim and non Muslim
audiences that were listening. Number three sonnets were known and produced for centuries before
Shakespeare. As for the Quran, it had its own unique compositional structure that differed from
every pattern of language known and used by Arabia's master poets. Number four, Shakespeare's
Hallmark style permeates all of his writings in place, whereas the words of the Quran brought by the
Prophet Muhammad even differ from his own personal everyday statements that we know of and have
documented in the Hadith corpus. The contemporaries of the Prophet Muhammad could easily notice
		

			this. But since then, in our modern times, over a dozen stylo metric experiments have been performed
to prove this objectively. Stylometry is the statistical analysis of literary styles to discriminate
between one speaker, author and another. It's been used to distinguish between the authentic and the
untraceable letters of Paul, for instance, in the New Testament, and it's also establishes that
these are two different speakers. He who uttered the Quran initially and the statements of the
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, the human prophet. These experiments showed for
instance, that 62% of the terms or the vocabulary in the Quran do not appear in a multi volume
		

			Hadith collection, like sai Bukhari and that over 80% of the words in Al Bukhari are not used in the
Quran. This caused these researchers to say that it is impossible for Mohamed to be the author of
the Quran. Why? Because it is humanly impossible for a person to self police their use of two sets
of words for a lifetime like this. Number five, Shakespeare sonnets were not uniformly eloquent.
Rather, they had segments of distinct brilliance. In contrast, the Arabs who took great pride in
their NOC or literary critique tradition, where they brutally scrutinized each other's words for sub
optimal word choices, never identified a single passage in the Quran, that could be improved. Number
		

			six, Shakespeare and his peers never considered his work beyond the reach of human effort. It was
but a champion to some at least in an arena of worthy competitors. But there's no consensus among
experts about Shakespeare being the single greatest English playwright ever. In fact, Professor Hugh
Craig, for example, from Newcastle University, ranked Shakespeare as seventh overall in English. In
contrast, the Quran shamed its deniers and challenged them at every turn to produce something that
merely resembled it, a challenge that has yet to be met until this very day. Number seven,
Shakespeare enjoyed the creative liberties of fictional storytelling. While the Quran was not here
		

			for entertainment. It addressed theology, philosophy, history, law, all stiff technical discussions
that usually would not garner mass appeal the core and asserted complex existential truths
		

			and toured the world nuanced morality, but with a remarkable blend of precision and graceful
elegance that kept the readers coming back for more each time. Number eight, unlike what could suit
a London theater stage at some point in the 17th century, the Quran as a religious text had to
appeal to both the young and the old, the pre Modern and Postmodern mind the eastern and western
personality, and both the spiritually and intellectually inclined when analyzing the effect of the
Quran on the vast spectrum of hearts and minds. Across the globe and across generations. No other
text in human history has fascinated such a wide range of people. In America today, for instance, a
		

			Quran recitation competition will be attended by all segments of the Muslim community. On the other
hand, an English play by Shakespeare will find almost no appreciation among the common men, and will
only attract the college educated middle to upper class elite. Number nine, Shakespeare had decades
to decide what to include and what to omit from each of his works. Contrast this with the Prophet
Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. He would convey verses from the Quran in response to
people's unscripted enquiries, for instance, 13 passages in the Quran begin with yes Aluna can they
ask you, oh prophet of God, about X, Y, and Z, so say to them the following. Furthermore, he
		

			sallallahu alayhi wa sallam would receive fresh Quranic revelations, sometimes in the most stressful
conditions. At times, he would be bleeding from an attack sallallahu alayhi wasallam or mourning his
deceased relatives, and yet still speak with new Koran that was pertaining to recent events that had
just taken place. Shooting such spontaneous productions of the Quran reflect a huge disparity in
eloquence between them and those supposedly written under a serene candlelight after the events had
unfolded, and after the emotional turbulence had quieted. Number 10, Shakespeare must have written
his works in a linear fashion, building from the ground up, and free to decide from the onset, how
		

			each drama would begin and how it would end. The Quran, however, was assembled like a jigsaw puzzle
over the span of 23 years. You see the order of the Quran chapters today do not reflect the actual
chronology of the revelation. Rather, these are the later designated locations of each passage, as
were identified for the Prophet Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel peace be upon him. This means that
the Quran did not just exhibit fascinating consistency in its structure, despite the fact that it
was spoken and not written. But add to this. This Quran was designed with interspersed additions,
additions that had various themes and lengths, many of which addressed unpredictable external
		

			events, impromptu. So to any fair judge. Could Shakespeare ever be compared with Muhammad?