Al-Furqan · Makki · ayah 5 of 77

Al-Furqan 25:5

وَقَالُوٓا۟ أَسَـٰطِيرُ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ ٱكْتَتَبَهَا فَهِىَ تُمْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا

“And they say, "Legends of the former peoples which he has written down, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon."”

Saheeh International

Essence

They called the Quran old tales copied out and read to him at dawn and dusk, a charge that unravels once examined.

A reflection

The busker beside the preacher

The commentators name one man behind this line: al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith of Quraysh. One report, passed on by an early biographer, describes what he did.

He had travelled to al-Ḥīra and learned the tales of the Persian kings. Stories of the heroes Rustam and Isfandiyār. Back in Makkah, he watched the Prophet ﷺ sit with people. The Prophet ﷺ would remind them of Allah and tell what befell earlier nations. When he stood up to leave, al-Naḍr would take his seat.

"By God, people of Quraysh, I tell better stories than him," he would say. "Come, I'll give you something better." Then he would tell of Persian kings and warriors. "Muhammad's stories are no better than mine."

Picture a man in a town square on a Saturday, speaking quietly about God to a few listeners. A busker sets up beside him. He turns his amplifier up a notch, then another. Soon nobody can hear the speaker. The busker has not argued with him. He has simply made him impossible to hear.

That is the oldest strategy against the Quran. Not refutation, but competition for attention. Fill the space where it might be heard with something more entertaining.

It has never been easier than now. Every minute of silence can be filled. A clip, a series, a game, a stranger's opinion. None of it needs to deny anything. It only needs to be louder than the ayah you might have heard.

The deniers called the Quran asāṭīr: stories, things written down by the ancients. But its stories were never told for entertainment. They were told so that people would see their own road in someone else's ruins.

So the question is practical. Who is standing next to the Quran in your day with the amplifier turned up? And what would it take to turn it down?

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.