Fourth Flash: The comprehensiveness of the subjects that the Qur'an deals with.

Fourth Flash: This is the extraordinary comprehensiveness of the subjects it puts forward. Together with bringing together the extensive subjects of man and his duties, the universe and the Creator of the universe, the heavens and the earth, this world and the hereafter, the past and the future, and pre-eternity and post-eternity, the Qur’an explains all the essential and important topics from man’s creation from seminal fluid till when he enters the grave; from the correct conduct of eating and sleeping to the matters of Divine Decree and Determining; from the creation of the world in six days, to the duties of the wind blowing, indicated by the oaths of,

     By the [winds] that scatter,¹

and,
     By the [winds] sent forth;²

from His intervention in man’s heart and will, indicated by,
     comes between a man and his heart,³

and,
      But you will not except as Allah wills,⁴
to,
     And the heavens rolled up in His right hand,⁵

that is, to His holding all the heavens within His grip; from the flowers, and grapes, and dates of the earth described in,
     And We produce therein gardens of date-palms and vines,⁶

to the strange truth expressed by,
      When the earth is shaken to its utmost convulsion;⁷

from the state of the skies in,
      Then He directed [His will] towards the skies and they were smoke,⁸

to their being rent with smoke and the stars falling and being scattered in infinite space; from the world’s being opened for test and examination, to its closing; from the grave, the first dwelling of the hereafter, and then from the Intermediate Realm, the resurrection, and the Bridge, to eternal happiness; from the events of the past, and the creation of the body of Adam and the dispute of his two sons, to the Flood, and the drowning of the people of Pharaoh, and the major events of most of the prophets; and from the pre-eternal circumstance alluded to by,

Am I not your Sustainer?⁹

to the post-eternal occurrence expressed by,

Some faces that day will beam in brightness * Looking towards their Sustainer;¹⁰

all these fundamental, important subjects are explained in a way befitting the All-Glorious One Who administers the whole universe as though it was a palace, and opens and closes this world and the hereafter like two rooms, and regulates the earth as if it was a garden and the heavens as though they were a roof adorned with lamps, and beholds the past and the future as though they were two pages present in His sight like a single night and day, and looks on pre-eternity and post-eternity as though they were yesterday and tomorrow, in a form in which the two sides of a chain of events are joined together and touching in present time. Just as a master builder speaks of two houses he has constructed and arranged, and makes out the programme and list and index of the matters involved, so the Qur’an is fitting for the One Who makes the universe and arranges it, and writes out and displays the list and index and -if one may say so- the programme of the matters concerned with it. There is no sign of any artificiality or false display. And just as there is no trace of imitation or hint of any fraud, like speaking on behalf of someone else or supposing itself to be in someone else’s place and speaking, so too with all its seriousness, all its purity, all its sincerity, the Qur’an’s pure, shining, brilliant exposition declares: “I am the word and exposition of the Creator of the world,” just as the light of day declares: “I came from the sun.”

Indeed, apart from the Maker Who adorns this world with antique arts and fills its with delicious bounties and scatters bountifully over the face of the world together with these wonders of His art so many valuable gifts, and setting them in orderly lines spreads them out over the face of the earth, apart from this Bestower of Bounties, who else could the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition be fitting for - the Qur’an which fills the world with this clamour of salutation and acclaim, this resounding praise and thanks, and transforms the earth into a place for the recitation of Allah’s Names, a mosque, and place for gazing on the Divine works of art? Whose speech could it be apart from His? Who can claim ownership of it apart from Him?

Whose word could it be other than His? Whose light could the exposition of the Qur’an be, which solves the talisman of creation and illuminates the world, other than the Pre-Eternal Sun’s? Who has the ability to produce the like of it, and imitate it? In truth, it is impossible for the Artist Who adorns this world with His arts not to speak with man, who appreciates His art. Since He makes and knows, He surely speaks. And since He speaks, it is surely the Qur’an which is appropriate to His speech. How should a Lord of All Dominion Who is not indifferent to the way a flower is ordered remain indifferent to a discourse which brings all His dominion to a clamour of salutation and praise? Would He permit it to be attributed to others and be made as nothing?

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1. Qur’an, 51:1.
2. Qur’an, 77:1.
3. Qur’an, 8:24.
4. Qur’an, 76:30.
5. Qur’an, 39:67.
6. Qur’an, 36:34.
7. Qur’an, 99:1.
8. Qur’an, 41:11.
9. Qur’an, 7:172.
10. Qur’an, 75:22-3.

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Fifth Flash: The comprehensiveness in the Qur'an's style and conciseness.