Opinions of Famous Non-Muslims
Speaking about the Quran, Goethe says, "It soon attracts, astounds, and in
the end enforces our reverence... Its style, in accordance with its contents
and aim is stern, grand - ever and always,
truly sublime -
So, this book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence."
[Goethe - quoted in T. P. Huges "Dictionary of Islam", p. 526]
"The Koran (Quran) admittedly occupies an important position among the great
religious books of the world. Though it is the youngest of the epoch making
works belonging to this class of literature, it yields to hardly any in the
wonderful effect which it has produced on large masses of men. It has created
an all but new phase of human thought and a fresh type of character. It first
transformed a number of heterogeneous desert tribes of the Arabian Peninsula
into a nation of heroes, and then proceeded to create the vast politico-religious
organizations of Muslims world wide which are one of the great forces with
which Europe and the East have to reckon with today."[G. Maragliouth in his Introduction to J. M. Rodwells - 'The Koran", New York - 'Everyman's Library, 1977, p VI]
"A work, then, which calls forth so powerful and seemingly incompatible emotions
even in the distant reader - distant as to time, and still more so as mental
development - a work which not only conquers the repugnance which he may begin
its perusal, but changes this adverse feeling into astonishment and admiration,
such a work must be a wonderful production...indeed and a problem of the highest interest to every thoughtful observer of the destinies of mankind."
[Dr Steingass quoted in T. P. Hughes - "Dictionary of Islam", pp 256-257]
"It is impossible that Muhammad (peace be upon him) authored the Quran. How
could a man, from being illiterate, become the most important author, in terms
of literary merits, in the whole of Arabic literature?How could he then pronounce truths of a scientific nature that no other human-being could possibly have developed at that time, an all this without once making the slightest error in his pronouncement on the subject?"
[Dr. Maurice Bucaille - author of "The Bible, the Quran and Science" 1978, p. 125]
"Here, therefore, its merits as a literary production should perhaps not be
measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic taste, but
by the effects which it produced in Muhammad's contemporaries and fellow countrymen.If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic elements into one compact and well organized body, animated by ideas far beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out of savage tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history"
[Dr. Steingass, quoted in Hughes' Dictionary of Islam p. 528]
"In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of my predecessors,
and to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly
the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pain to study the
intricate and richly varied rhythms which - apart from the message itself
- constitute the Koran's undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary
masterpieces of mankind..This very characteristic feature - 'that inimitable symphony', as the believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, 'the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy' has been almost totally ignored by previous translators; it is therefore not surprising that what they have wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in comparison with the splendidly decorated original.."
[Arthur J. Arberry - "The Koran Interpreted", London: Oxford University Press . 1964, p. x.]
"A totally objective examination of it [the Quran] in the light of modern
knowledge leads us to recognize the agreement between the two, as has been
already noted on repeated occasions. It makes us deem it quite unthinkable
for a man of Muhammad's time to have been the author of such statements, on
account of the state of knowledge in his day. Such considerations are part of what gives the Qur'anic Revelation its unique place, and forces the impartial scientist to admit his inability to provide and explanation which calls solely upon materialistic reasoning."
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