Is Qur'an the finest piece of literature in Arabic?

Question

It is often claimed that Qur'an is the finest piece of literature in Arabic.

Is this supported by scholarly views ? Essentially, what is superior about the language of Qur'an when compared to the Arabic poems and other Arabic literature ?

Answer 1

this is not an answer , it fits more as a comment, but I don't have the enough privileges to comment anywhere, so forgive me for incompleteness of this answer, especially this is a very long subject that you can keep writing examples about it for days.

first check this English article which you may find it useful far more than my answer. http://www.hamzatzortzis.com/essays-articles/exploring-the-quran/the-inimitable-quran/

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most of the recent Arabs don't have the sense of the linguistic Superiority of qur'an over the normal Arabic, since qur'an after the prophet Muhammad PBUH death has become the main source of the Arabic language rules.

So qur'an for recent Arabs is the "perfect" or "correct" form of the language.

but for the old Arabs at the days of the prophet PBUH the Quran was more the "beautiful" and "little different style" language, than the perfect and correct language for us now.

old Arabs used to appreciate the language and appreciate the poems , for example they used to have poems contests like the Olympics of our now days.

and Quran used to had different way of using the same words and same Arabic letters. some verses have the saj سجع without effecting the meaning, and some verses came in different sentence style and structure, some verses started with connected letters that is unsure what does they mean like 19:1

Kaf, Ha, Ya, 'Ayn, Sad. - كهـيعص

for recent arabs, this is not "beautiful" and "little different style" language , it is just the correct Arabic. they know it was beauty and different from the usual Arabic but they can't "Feel" that difference , because they simply never used the normal Arabic that old Arabs at the time of the prophet PBUH used to use, so the best thing we can make to feel that difference is to see what the old Arabs- specially the disbelievers - said about the language of the Quran, for example this is what happened with "al-waleed ibn el mogera الوليد بن المغيرة"

I will write it in Arabic then try to translate it in English

please any one can translate what Al-waleed said more accurately is more than welcome because what he said is close to poems and I'm not good in English

قال (أبو جهل): فقل فيه قولاً يبلغ قومك أنك كاره له. قال (الوليد): وماذا أقول؟ فو الله ما فيكم رجل أعلم بالشعر مني ولا برجزه ولا بقصيده ولا بأشعار الجن، والله ما يشبه الذي يقول شيئاً من هذا، ووالله إن لقوله الذي يقول حلاوة وإن عليه لطلاوة، وإنه لمثمر أعلاه مغدق أسفله، وإنه ليعلو ولا يعلى عليه، وإنه ليحطم ما تحته...)). abo jahl came to Al-waleed trying to persuade him to say to his people that he didn't like the Quran he listened to from Muhammad PBUH, then Al-waleed said : "what do you want me to say? I swear No one of you is better than me about poems,it's best or it's worse or even the Jenn poems , I swear that what I listened to from Muhammad was not like anything I ever heard it has charm and sweetness, it has fruit at his top and Lavished at it's bottom, it was at the top and nothing can get over it and it smashes everything below it"

the source : https://web.facebook.com/wahat.almesk/posts/279845312128292?_rdr

away from the linguistic side of the Quran , it has it's strong effect on hearts when old Arabs listens to it , even some disbelievers used to put their hands on their ears because they thought prophet Muhammad was saying Majestic words.

it also was telling both the believers and disbelievers about what they feel and describe there feelings exactly even more than themselves like in 33:10

[Remember] when they came at you from above you and from below you, and when eyes shifted [in fear], and hearts reached the throats and you assumed about Allah [various] assumptions.

it also used to tell both the believers and disbelievers about things that will happen in the future that no one ever could imagine it might happen some day , like in 68:13

Cruel, moreover, and an illegitimate pretender.

this verse meant for our same man from the last story "Al-waleed ibn Elmoghera" because he was so rich and had a lot of sons and was one of the most respectful men at that time, but there was a secrete that no one knows it except his mother , that Al-waleed was illegitimate child, and no one ever could imagine that the great respectful Al-waleed is illegitimate.

In short: yes, Quran had something different from the normal old Arabic in it's power and impact on hearts and it is beauty and style of sentence and for some new words to the language. but recent Arabs Can never "Feel" that difference because they never used the old normal Arabic ,yes they aware of that difference and they study it ,but they can't feel it, their impression about the language of Quran that it is the correct Arabic not the beautiful and different Arabic