The Descent of the Messiah — Page 60
THE DESCENT OF THE MESSIAH edly challenge the entire world? It is strange that sometimes, in certain sentences, the reve- lation of God does not seem to follow the man-made rules of grammar. However, these can be solved with just a little delib- eration. In the same way, some ignorant people have objected to the Holy Quran on the basis of their own artificial grammar, but all such criticism is absurd. The vast knowledge of language belongs to God and no one else. Just as language changes from place to place, so does it undergo change with time. If we look at the modern Arabic idioms used in Egypt, Mecca, Medina, Syr- ia, etc. they seem to reverse all the rules of grammar and syntax, even though it is possible that such idioms may have been used in the past. Thus, the revelation of God is not, in any way, bound to conform to present or past idioms. This is why the Holy Quran has certain peculiarities. Besides, the people of this country are not well-versed in the rules of Arabic grammar and syntax. The point is that until one has a complete command of the Arabic language, has studied all the poetry from the time of Jāhiliyyah, has perused the vast array of ancient Arabic lexicons that define the usage of Arabic words and idioms, and has attained the ultimate extent of knowledge, it is difficult to understand Arabic idioms or have satisfactory knowledge of its grammar and syntax. An ignorant person may object that a certain conjunction or arrangement is not correct, but then we find a similar conjunction or arrangement in some verse from the time of Jahiliyyah. The maximum reach of the people who are considered scholars in this country is the Arabic lexicon, but even the research of the lexicon has been much de- bated and has been found to err in many places. These simpletons who call themselves scholars and Maulawis do not even know the names of the ancient authentic books, nor do they have any interest in research or an inclination towards the Arabic tongue. 60