The most significant objections of the leaders of polytheism were directed towards the oneness of Allah The Exalted, belief in the Last Day, the prophethood of Muhammad and the Noble Quran, which The Lord of the Worlds had revealed to him:
Fourth: Their attitude towards the Noble Quran
The polytheists did not believe that the Noble Quran was revealed by Allah The Almighty. Rather, they considered it a type of poetry recited by poets, even though any comparison between the Quran and the Arabs' poetry indicates that they are vastly different. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And We did not give him [Prophet Muhammad] knowledge of poetry, nor is it befitting for him. It is not but a message and a clear Quran, to warn whoever is alive and establish the word against the disbelievers.} [Quran 36: 69-70]
How could the Quran be poetry when it criticizes the poets who lead people astray and lie? Allah The Exalted Says (what means): {And the poets - [only] the deviators follow them; Do you not see that in every valley they roam, And that they say what they do not do?} [Quran 26: 224-226]
It is the words of Allah The Almighty that He revealed to His Messenger and it is quite unlike the words of poets or soothsayers. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {[That] indeed, the Quran is the word of a noble Messenger. And it is not the word of a poet; little do you believe. Nor the word of a soothsayer; little do you remember. [It is] a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds.} [Quran 69: 40-43]
The poets, before all others, realized that the Noble Quran was not poetry. However, their excessive denial and stubbornness made them say that Muhammad was learning the Quran from a non-Arab man who was a slave of some families of the Quraysh. He was a seller who would sell his goods at Mount As-Safa. The Messenger of Allah may have sat and talked to that man, but the man was a non-Arab who knew just a little of the Arabic language by means of which he would address people about necessary matters only. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And We certainly know that they say, “It is only a human being who teaches the Prophet.” The tongue of the one they refer to is foreign, and this Quran is [in] a clear Arabic language.} [Quran 16: 103]
How could the person who brought the Quran with its eloquence, purity of language, and perfect and comprehensive meanings, learn from a non-Arabic man? This could not be believed by any sane person.
They also objected to the way the Quran was revealed. They requested that it should be revealed all at once, even though revealing it in segments was more likely to keep the believers' hearts steadfast and make it easy to be understood, memorized and followed. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And those who disbelieve say, “Why was the Quran not revealed to him all at once?” Thus [it is] that We may strengthen thereby your heart. And We have spaced it distinctly.} [Quran 25: 32]
When the polytheists objected to the Quran as well as to the person upon whom it was revealed with such objections, Allah The Almighty challenged them to bring something like it and declared that the humans and the Jinn altogether are incapable of doing so even in a joint attempt. Allah The Exalted Says (what means): {Say, “If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants.”} [Quran 17: 88]
They are even incapable of bringing the like of ten chapters like it. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {Or do they say, “He invented it”? Say, “Then bring ten chapters like it that have been invented and call upon [for assistance] whomever you can besides Allah, if you should be truthful.” And if they do not respond to you - then know that the Quran was revealed with the knowledge of Allah and that there is no deity except Him. Then, would you [not] be Muslims?} [Quran 11: 13-14]
In fact, they were incapable of bringing the like of only one chapter of it. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {And it was not [possible] for this Quran to be produced by other than Allah, but [it is] a confirmation of what was before it and a detailed explanation of the [former] Scripture, about which there is no doubt, from the Lord of the Worlds. Or do they say [about the Prophet], “He invented it?” Say, “Then bring forth a chapter like it and call upon [for assistance] whomever you can besides Allah, if you should be truthful.”} [Quran 10: 37-38]
Their incapability, despite the fact that eloquence was one of their characteristics and their poetry and Mu‘allaqaat (collection of seven pre-Islamic Arabic odes, each considered to be its author’s best piece) reached the highest degree of eloquence, stands as evidence that the Quran is the Word of Allah The Almighty who has no like, either in His Essence, Attributes, Deeds or Sayings, and His Words are unlike the words of creatures.
The most significant objections of the polytheists – I