The origins and early development of the theory of I jāz al-Qur ān

The oldest works of Muslim scholars in the fields of kalām, ḥadīth and tafsīr during the 2nd and 3rd centuries AH rarely offer an explicit basis for regarding the Qur’ān as an inimitable miracle of the Prophet. However, the issue appears fully fledged in the works of scholars such as al-Bāqillānī, Qāḍī ‘Abd al-Jabbār and al-Sharīf al-Murtaḍā. This silence in the early Islamic centuries, when considered side by side with the profusion of other Qur’ānic discussions in the same period, raises the question of when and under what conditions the early Muslim scholars began to deal with the subject of i‘jāz al-Qur’ān. The essay identifies two factors that gave impetus to the emergence and development of theories about the Qur’ān’s inimitability: first, Christian-Muslim polemics about the signs of Muhammad’s prophecy, and second, the literary and theological endeavors of the Mu‘tazilīs of Baghdad and Basra.After initiating discussion and speculation about the nature of the Qur’ān’s inimitability, some Mu‘tazilī theologians extended the scope of the topic during the 4th century, until it assumed the form of a bona fide Qur’ānic issue in tafāsīr. From the beginning of the 5th century until the present, speculation about the i‘jāz and its nature became a common feature of theological and exegetic works for all Islamic sects.