The Qur’ān and its Disbelievers
The Descent of the Qur’an
The Qurʾān uses two augmented verbal forms of the trilateral root n-z-l to refer to its own descent, in both spatial and temporal senses: form II nazzala, and its verbal noun tanzīl; and form IV anzala, and its verbal noun inzāl. Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004) writes that n-z-l “refers to the descent of something (hubūṭ) or its falling down (wuqūʿuh), [as in the phrases] ‘he dismounted his horse’ (nazala ʿan dābbatih nuzūlan) and ‘the rain fell from the sky’ (nazala l-maṭar min al-samāʾ)” (Maqāyīs). It is also used to indicate arrival at a destination, a halt during a journey, and generally to denote a descent from a higher to a lower plane (Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān). Both verbal forms used by the Qurʾān for its own descent are transitive in the sense of sending something from above to below.
The Qur’ān and its Disbelievers
According to the majority Muslim opinion, the first revelation of the Qurʾān occurred when the Prophet, upon him blessings and peace, was in retreat at the cave of Ḥirāʾ, some fifteen kilometers from the Kaʿba, the ancient House of God rebuilt by the Prophets Ibrāhīm and his son Ismaʿīl, upon them peace, approximately twenty-five hundred years prior to this event; the last verses of the Qurʾān were revealed in 632, a few days before the death of the Prophet in Madina, the oasis town to which he had migrated in 622.
During the twenty-three year period of the descent of the Qurʾān and ever since then, it has drawn two fundamental responses from humanity: (i) belief in its Divine authorship, which simultaneously entails belief in the veracity of the Messenger to whom it was revealed, and (ii) disbelief in its Divine authorship and consequently denial of the Prophethood of Muḥammad, upon him blessings and peace.
This article explores, in brief, a variety of responses of those who felt compelled to refute the Qurʾān. Dividing these responses into three broad categories based on their methodological distinctions, it examines certain facets of the (i) polemical works on the Qurʾān; (ii) works by the Orientalists; and (iii) the contemporary academic discourse on the Qurʾān. It also points out inherent links between these three categories and provides historical background to their emergence.
Keywords: The Qurʾān and its disbelievers; Jewish and Christian responses to the Qurʾān; Polemical works on the Qurʾān; Orientalism; neo-Orientalism; the Qurʾān and Orientalism; teaching of Islam in the Academy; academic discourse on the Qurʾān.