Muhammad and poetry

2 passages · search this phrase →

Often appears with: the nature and attributes of God · judgment, heaven, and hell · sealed mouths testimony · reversal in creation in old age · resurrection of the dead · human mastery of animals · god’s command “be” · divine control of sight

Usually: argument (2) · confronting death (1) · crisis of belief (1) · censure (1) · reverence (1) · skepticism (1)

The Koran (Al-Qur'an) secondary

G. Margoliouth (George) · 610-632 CE (revelations compiled progressively; book published after the prophet’s death)
Book carefully concocted from various sources, and with much extraneous aid, and published as a divine oracle, then it would seem that the author is at once open to the charge of the grossest imposture, and even of impious blasphemy. The evidence rather shews, that in all he did and wrote, Muhammad was actuated by a sincere desire to deliver his countrymen from the grossness of its debasing idolatries-that he was urged on by an intense desire to proclaim that great truth of the Unity of the Godhead which had taken full possession of his own soul-that the end to be attained justified to his mind the means he adopted in the production of his Suras-that he worked himself up into a belief that he had received a divine call-and that he was carried on by the force of circumstances, and by gradually increasing successes, to believe himself the accredited messenger of Heaven. The earnestness of those convictions which at Mecca sustained him under persecution, and which perhaps led him, at any price as it were, and by any means, not even excluding deceit and falsehood, to endeavour to rescue his countrymen from idolatry,-naturally stiffened at Medina into tyranny and unscrupulous violence. At the same time, he was probably, more or less, throughout his whole career, the victim of a certain amount of self-deception. A cataleptic13 subject from his early youth, born-according to the traditions-of a highly nervous and excitable mother, he would be peculiarly liable to morbid and fantastic hallucinations, and alternations of excitement and depression, which would win for him, in the eyes of his ignorant countrymen, the credit of being inspired. It would be easy for him to persuade himself that he was "the seal of the Prophets," > Book is no other than a warning and a clear Koran, (1/104)

After repeating the translator’s editorial framing, the text moves to Quranic warnings: creation of animals for humans, resurrection of bones, God’s word “Be,” and the assertion that Muhammad is not taught poetry, but brings a clear Koran.

To warn whoever liveth; and, that against the Infidels sentence may be justly given. See they not that we have created for them among the things which our hands have wrought, the animals of which they are masters? And that we have subjected them unto them? And on some they ride, and of others they eat; And they find in them profitable uses and beverages: Yet have they taken other gods beside God that they might b…

Three translations of the Koran (Al-Qur'an) side by side primary

Ali, Abdullah Yusuf; Pickthall, Marmaduke William; Shakir, M. H. · -610 to -632 (revelation); Qur'an as compiled afterward
Chapter 1: > Chapter 36: (7/9)

The passage has the guilty addressed—being sealed shut while hands and feet testify—then emphasizes divine power over sight, motion, and age, and rejects poetry as a mode for Muhammad’s message, calling it a clear Qur’an.

P: Burn therein this day for that ye disbelieved. S: Enter into it this day because you disbelieved. 036.065 Y: That Day shall We set a seal on their mouths. But their hands will speak to us, and their feet bear witness, to all that they did. P: This day We seal up their mouths, and their hands speak out to Us and their feet bear witness as to what they used to earn. S: On that day We will set a seal upon their m…