| An-Nisa (The Women): (82) Do they not then reflect upon the Qur'an? . . . . .

When the Almighty recounted the various kinds of deceit and plotting by the hypocrites, and all of that was because they did not believe that he (the Prophet) was truthful in his claim of prophethood, but rather believed him to be a fabricator and inventor, it was only right that God Almighty commanded them to look and reflect upon the proofs indicating the soundness of his prophethood. He said: {Do they not then reflect upon the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much contradiction.} (An-Nisa: 82). Thus, the Almighty used the Qur'an as proof for the soundness of his prophethood. In this verse are several issues:

Issue 1: Reflection (Tadabbur)

• Tadabbur (reflection) and Tadabbur (contemplation) refer to looking at the consequences (awāqib) and outcomes (adbār) of matters.
• From this is the saying: "To what end do you reflect upon the rears of matters whose beginnings have already passed?"
• In eloquent speech, it is said: "If I had faced the beginning of my affair with what I faced its end," meaning, if I had known at the start of my affair what I came to know of its consequence.

Issue 2: The Proof of Prophethood from the Qur'an

The apparent meaning of the verse indicates that the Almighty used the Qur'an as proof for the truthfulness of the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him). If the verse were interpreted otherwise, it would have no connection to what preceded it.

The scholars stated that the Qur'an's indication of Muhammad's truthfulness is based on three aspects:

1. Its eloquence (fasāḥah).
2. Its inclusion of reports about the unseen (al-ghuyūb).
3. Its freedom from contradiction, which is what is mentioned in this verse.

Those who hold this view offered three interpretations for its freedom from contradiction:

1. Interpretation of Abu Bakr al-Aṣamm: The hypocrites secretly conspired regarding many types of deceit and plotting. God Almighty informed the Messenger (peace be upon him) of these situations moment by moment, detailing them. They found nothing but truth in all these reports. It was said to them: If this had not come from God's notification, the truthfulness would not have been consistent, and contradictions and variations would have appeared in Muhammad's speech. Since this did not appear, we know that this is only through God's informing him.
2. Interpretation of the Majority of Theologians: This means that the Qur'an is a great book containing numerous types of knowledge. If it were from other than God, it would inevitably contain contradictory statements, because a long, extensive book cannot be free from such things. Since this is not found in it, we know it is not from other than God.
   • Objection: Is not the verse {Faces, that Day, will be radiant, Looking toward their Lord} (Al-Qiyāmah: 23) contradictory to {Vision perceives Him not} (Al-An'ām: 103)? And are the verses of compulsion contradictory to the verses of free will? And {By your Lord, We will surely question them all} (Al-Hijr: 92) contradictory to {On that Day, no one will be asked about his sin, neither man nor jinn} (Ar-Raḥmān: 39)?
   • Answer: We have explained in this exegesis that there is absolutely no conflict or contradiction between any of these.
3. Interpretation of Abu Muslim al-Iṣfahānī: This means the Qur'an is free from contradiction in the level of eloquence (rutbat al-faṣāḥah). Thus, there is nothing in its entirety that could be considered weak speech; rather, the eloquence remains on one consistent path from beginning to end. It is known that even a person of the utmost eloquence and highest rhetorical skill, when writing a long book containing profound meanings, must inevitably show variation in his speech, such that some parts are strong and solid while others are weak and inferior. Since the Qur'an is not like that, we know it is a miracle from God Almighty. The Judge provided an analogy: one of us cannot write long scrolls without some flaw or deficiency occurring in some of the letters. If we saw long scrolls preserved from such flaw and deficiency, it would be considered miraculous. The same applies here.

Issue 3: Comprehensibility of the Qur'an

The verse indicates that the meaning of the Qur'an is known, contrary to the view of those who maintain that only the Prophet or the infallible Imam knows its meaning. If that were the case, it would not be possible for the hypocrites to grasp it through reflection, nor would it be permissible for God Almighty to command them to do so, nor to use the Qur'an as proof for the soundness of his prophethood, nor to use their inability to produce the like of it as proof against them—just as it is not permissible to use such a thing as proof against the Zanj (a group of non-believers).

Issue 4: Obligation of Inquiry and Refutation of Blind Following (Taqlīd)

The verse indicates the obligation of observation and inference (istidlāl), and it implies the invalidity of blind following (taqlīd). This is because the Almighty commanded the hypocrites to use this proof to establish the soundness of his prophethood. If establishing the truth of prophethood requires inference, then requiring inference for knowing the essence and attributes of God is even more appropriate.

Issue 5: Divine Decree and Human Actions (The Mu'tazilite View)

Abu Ali al-Jubba'i stated that the verse indicates that human actions are not created by God. His reasoning is: God's statement, {If it had been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much contradiction}, implies that the action of a servant cannot be free from variation/contradiction. Variation and difference are the same thing. If the action of a servant cannot be free from variation, and God's action contains no variation (due to His saying: {You do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency} [Al-Mulk: 3]), then this implies that the action of the servant cannot be an action of God.

• The Reply: The meaning of {You do not see in the creation of the Most Merciful any inconsistency} is the negation of inconsistency in the sense that God's creation occurs according to His Will, unlike the actions of others, whose actions do not occur according to their Will at all.

{And when there comes to them a matter concerning security or fear, they spread it about. But if they had referred it to the Messenger and to those in authority among them, those who investigate it among them would have known it. And were it not for the grace of Allah upon you and His mercy, you would have followed Satan, except for a few.} (An-Nisa: 82 continued)