Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 88 of 111

Al-Isra 17:88

قُل لَّئِنِ ٱجْتَمَعَتِ ٱلْإِنسُ وَٱلْجِنُّ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يَأْتُوا۟ بِمِثْلِ هَـٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانِ لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِۦ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا

“Say, "If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’ān, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every human and every jinn, working back to back, could not produce the like of this Qur'an; the challenge still stands open.

A reflection

The biggest scrum ever packed down

On a wet Saturday at a rugby ground, eight forwards bind for a scrum. Shoulders locked, backs flat, sixteen legs driving as one. Each man pushes, and each man's back is braced by the man behind him. Alone, none of them could move the other pack an inch. Together they shift it a yard.

That is the picture in the last word of this ayah. Ẓahīr comes from ẓahr, the back. The lexicons explain that a helper is called ẓahīr as though he set his back against yours. Riding camels were simply called ẓahr, backs, because they carried the load.

Now look at the size of the pack this ayah assembles. Al-insu wa al-jinnu: humankind and the jinn, all of them. Not a committee, not a school of poets. Everyone. Wa law kāna baʿḍuhum li-baʿḍin ẓahīran: even if some were backing others. One commentator spells it out. It makes no difference whether each tries alone, or all of them pool their thoughts and insights into one effort. They will not bring its like.

Human pride has a collective form, and it is the hardest kind to see. One person's vanity is easy to mock. But humanity together feels unstoppable. Give us enough minds, enough time and enough tools, and there is nothing we cannot build. Some of that confidence is earned. This ayah draws one line through it. There is one thing the whole pack, pushing as one, cannot shift.

Someone may say: is that not arrogant, a book boasting that it cannot be matched? Notice who speaks. The ayah begins with qul, say. The Prophet ﷺ is not praising his own work. He is told to announce that it is not his. A man who says 'my writing is unmatched' is vain. A man who says 'this is not mine, and no one can match it' is a witness.

The scrum on the wet pitch will pack down again next week. This challenge has stood far longer, and every pack that has leaned on it has left it where it was.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.