A Study of the Inimitability of the Quran in Oliver Leaman’s Encyclopedia of the Quran

The compilation of encyclopedias about Qurʾānic sciences and subjects related to it has been one of the approaches undertaken by Orientalists and non-Muslim scholars [of Islam] in contemporary times. The Qurʾān: An Encyclopedia, edited by Oliver Leaman, a professor of philosophy at the University of Kentucky (USA) who specializes in Islamic and medieval Jewish philosophy, is one such example. One of the important subjects addressed by this scholar is that of the inimitability or matchlessness of the Qurʾān. The subject of the miraculous nature of the Qurʾān has been raised in several entries in this encyclopedia, including the entry on the inimitability of the Qurʾān, Qurʾānic studies, the miraculous nature of the Qurʾān, and the Qurʾān and language. However, the main discussion on this subject is presented in the entry on ‘inimitability’ [of the Qurʾān] by Stefan Wild (pp. 295-6). Despite a number of praiseworthy points such as fluency and simplicity etc., the discourse on the Qurʾān’s inimitability in this encyclopedia contains some claims and issues that need further review and study. Some of these include: the history of the oral and written discussions on the inimitability [of the Qurʾān]; the challenge of the Qurʾān and [specifically] the claim that it challenges anyone to bring a single verse like the Qurʾān; belief in the inimitability of the Qurʾān and its comparison to the belief of the People of the Book in the inimitability of the Bible; the attacks and doubts raised by some Orientalists and the answers to these in defense of the inimitability of the Qurʾān, and the discussions on this issue in the last century.