Instances of the Rhetorical Inimitability of the Noble Qurʾan

Lolakhon Khamdamova; ORCID: 0009-0002-3937-

doi:10.57033/mijournals-2026-4-0352

Keywords

Noble Qurʾan Qurʾanic studies inimitability of the Qurʾan inimitability of eloquence rhetoric wording and meaning phonetic lightness mastery of word-usage rhetorical exegesis textual analysis

Abstract

This article analyses, from the point of view of the science of Qurʾanic studies, the inimitability of the eloquence and the rhetoric of the Noble Qurʾan, the miraculous force of the effect of each of its words and sentences, and the incapacity of humankind before this speech in respect of style. The study discloses, through precise examples of verses and their exegetical and rhetorical commentaries, the impossibility of replacing the Qurʾanic wordings, the phenomenon of their immediate effect upon the heart as the spirit acts upon the body, and the fact that each word has been chosen as lighter in pronunciation and more beautiful in its phonetic quality than its alternatives. The research possesses an important theoretical and methodological significance within the directions of the sciences of the Qurʾan known as the inimitability of the Qurʾan and rhetorical exegesis. It enriches the classical traditions of exegesis and the rules of rhetoric with contemporary methods of textual analysis and forestalls the danger of a superficial and incorrect interpretation of the original meaning of the verses. Furthermore, in a contemporary age in which the generation of text by artificial intelligence and digital communication have developed, the investigation of the mastery of Qurʾanic word-usage establishes upon a scholarly foundation the absolute superiority of the divine speech over any algorithmic or human text. Ten verses of the Noble Qurʾan are analysed in respect of their rhetorical inimitability.

References

1. al-Bāqillānī. (1997). Iʿjāz al-Qurʾān (al-Sayyid Aḥmad Ṣaqr, Ed.). Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif. 314 p.

2. al-Jurjānī, ʿAbd al-Qāhir. (1992). Dalāʾil al-iʿjāz (M. M. Shākir, Ed.). Cairo: Maṭbaʿat al-Madanī. 684 p.

3. al-Khaṭṭābī. (1976). Bayān iʿjāz al-Qurʾān. In: Thalāth rasāʾil fī iʿjāz al-Qurʾān (M. Khalaf Allāh & M. Zaghlūl Sallām, Eds.). Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif. 72 p.

4. Muhammad Sodiq Muhammad Yusuf. (2025). Tafsiri Hilol. Vols. I–VI. Tashkent: Hilol Nashr.

5. al-Qurṭubī, Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Anṣārī. (1987/1407 AH). al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-Qurʾān. 1st ed. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr. 248 E-ISSN:3070-8370 Vol. 1, (Issue 4/2026)

6. al-Rāzī, Fakhr al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿUmar. (1999/1420 AH). Mafātīḥ al-ghayb (al-Tafsīr al-kabīr). Vols. I–XXXII. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī.

7. al-Rummānī. (1976). al-Nukat fī iʿjāz al-Qurʾān. In: Thalāth rasāʾil fī iʿjāz al-Qurʾān (M. Khalaf Allāh & M. Zaghlūl Sallām, Eds.). Cairo: Dār al-Maʿārif. 232 p.

8. al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn. (1974). al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (M. Abū al-Faḍl Ibrāhīm, Ed.). Vol. IV. Cairo: al-Hayʾa al-Miṣriyya al-ʿĀmma li-l-Kitāb. 1459 p.

9. Gafurova, I. (2020). Role of waqf properties in the history of Turkestan. The Light of Islam, 2020(3), 66–74.

10. Urazova, R., Yusupova, N., Ernazarov, O., Alidjanova, L., Gafurova, I., & Berdiyev, K. (2024). Socio-historical foundations of the monotheism (Ahura Mazda) in Ghats of Avesta. Synesis (ISSN 1984-6754), 16(1), 527–553.

11. Bekmirzaev, I., & Gafurova, I. (2021). The impact of Islam on sociopolitical and spiritual life in Central Asia. The Light of Islam, 2021(1).

12. Gafurova, I. M., & Gulyamova, A. N. (2023). Туркистон ўлкасида ислом обидаларининг ҳолати ва тадқиқи. Islom ziyosi, 6(1), 14–23.

13. Bekmirzaev, I., & Gafurova, I. (2021). Влияние ислама на общественно-политическую и духовную жизнь в Центральной Азии. Islom ziyosi, 4(1), 4–15.

14. al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr. (n.d.). al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (Fawwāz Aḥmad Zamarlī, Ed.). Vol. II. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī.

15. al-Suyūṭī, Jalāl al-Dīn. (2019). al-Itqān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (M. Salīm Hāshim, Ed.). Vols. I–II. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya. 816 p.

16. al-Ṭabarī, Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. Jarīr. (1988/1408 AH). Jāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān. Dār al-Fikr.

17. Tayyara, A. el-R. (2022). The practicability of proverbs in teaching Arabic language and culture. Language Teaching Research, 26(4), 799–819. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168819895253

18. Tergujeff, E., & Kuronen, M. (2023). Teaching classic put to the test: do tongue twisters work for L2 pronunciation? Foreign Language Annals, 56(2), 381–400. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12671

19. al-Zarkashī, Badr al-Dīn. (1957). al-Burhān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān (M. Abū al-Faḍl Ibrāhīm, Ed.). Vol. IV. Cairo: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyya. 1232 p.

20. al-Zarkashī, Badr al-Dīn Muḥammad b. ʿAbd Allāh. (n.d.). al-Burhān fī ʿulūm al-Qurʾān. Vols. III–IV. 249 E-ISSN:3070-8370