(23–24) “And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down to Our servant, then produce a surah like it and call upon your witnesses besides Allah, if you are truthful. But if you do not—and you never will—then guard yourselves against the Fire whose fuel is people and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.”
This is a rational proof of the truthfulness of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and of the soundness of what he brought. The meaning is: “If you”—you who obstinately oppose the Messenger, reject his call, and accuse him of lying—“are in doubt” and uncertainty about what We have sent down to Our servant, wondering whether it is true or not, then here is a fair test that will decide between you and him. He is a human being like you, neither the most eloquent nor the most learned among you (1). You have known him ever since he grew up in your midst; he neither writes nor reads. Yet he brought you a Book which he stated was from Allah, while you claimed that he had composed and fabricated it. If matters are as you say, then produce a surah like it and seek the help of any supporters and witnesses you can muster. This should be easy for you, especially since you are masters of eloquence and oratory and harbor intense hostility toward the Messenger. If you produce a surah like it, then matters are as you claim. But if you fail to produce a surah like it and prove utterly incapable of doing so—and you will never produce one like it—then this challenge (2) has been made only out of fairness and as an accommodation to your position. This is therefore a tremendous sign and a clear [manifest] proof of his truthfulness and the truth of what he brought. You must therefore follow him and guard yourselves against the Fire, whose heat [and severity] have reached such extremes that people and stones are its fuel. It is unlike the fire of this world, which is kindled ⦗46⦘ only with wood. This Fire has been prepared and made ready for those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers. So beware of disbelieving in His Messenger after it has become clear to you that he is the Messenger of Allah.
This verse and others like it are called the “verses of challenge.” They establish the inability of created beings to produce anything like this Quran. Allah, Exalted is He, said: “Say: If mankind and jinn were to gather together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce its like, even if they supported one another.”
How could the speech of a creature made from dust be like the speech of the Lord of all lords? How could one who is deficient and needy in every respect produce speech like that of the Perfect One, who possesses absolute perfection and boundless self-sufficiency in every respect? This lies neither within the realm of possibility nor within human ability. Anyone possessing even the slightest literary discernment and knowledge of [the varieties of] speech will perceive the immense difference when comparing this mighty Quran with the words of the eloquent.
His words, “And if you are in doubt,” through the end of the passage, provide evidence that the person for whom guidance out of misguidance may be hoped is [the person who is] doubtful and perplexed, unable to distinguish truth from error. If the truth is made clear to such a person, he may well be granted divine success (3), provided that he is sincere in seeking the truth.
As for the obstinate person who recognizes the truth but abandons it, there is no prospect of his returning, for he abandoned the truth after it had become clear to him; he did not abandon it out of ignorance. Nothing can be done for such a person.
Likewise, the doubter who is not sincere (4) in seeking the truth, but instead turns away and makes no earnest effort to seek it, will generally not be granted success.
Describing the Messenger as Allah’s servant in this momentous context shows that his greatest attribute, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is his perfect fulfillment of servitude to Allah—a degree in which no one among the first or the last can equal him.
Allah likewise described him as His servant in the context of the Night Journey, saying: “Glory be to Him who took His servant by night,” and in the context of revelation, saying: “Blessed is He who sent down the Criterion upon His servant.”
His words, “prepared for the disbelievers,” and similar verses support the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jamā‘ah that Paradise and Hell have already been created, contrary to the Mu‘tazilites. They also establish that those who affirm Allah’s oneness, even if they commit some major sins, will not remain in Hell forever. He said, “prepared for the disbelievers.” If [sinful monotheists] were to remain there forever, it would not have been prepared for the disbelievers alone. This is contrary to the Kharijites and Mu‘tazilites.
These verses also indicate that punishment becomes deserved through its causes, namely disbelief and the various kinds of sins.