Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
Alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ‘ala Sayyidina Rasulillah wa ‘ala aalihi wa sahbihi wa man walah.
We continue our study of Surah Al-An’am, picking up from Ayah 9, where we explore the arguments of the Quraysh against the Prophet ﷺ and Allah’s responses to their objections.
The Arguments of the Quraysh Against the Prophet ﷺ
1️⃣ Argument: “Show Us a Miracle Beyond Words!”
📖 Ayah 9:
“Even if We had sent down a book in writing, and they touched it with their hands, the disbelievers would still say, ‘This is nothing but magic!’”
🔹 The Qur’an was revealed orally, and the Quraysh demanded a physical book to believe in it.
🔹 Allah says that even if He sent down the Qur’an in written form, they would still reject it.
💡 Lesson:
• Disbelievers throughout history have always asked for miraculous signs but still rejected them.
• The true miracle of Islam is the Qur’an itself—a book of intellectual, linguistic, and spiritual miracles.
Historical Context: The Evolution of Paper & Bookbinding
🔹 The word “khirtas” (paper) in this ayah refers to the Egyptian papyrus, which was extremely rare in Arabia.
🔹 Paper, as we know it today, did not exist in Arabia during the Prophet’s time.
🔹 It was the Muslims who first introduced mass paper production after learning from Chinese captives in the Battle of Talas (132 Hijrah).
🔹 This led to the first bookbinding techniques, which allowed knowledge to be preserved and spread efficiently.
💡 Lesson:
• Islamic civilisation embraced knowledge—whether from Chinese, Indians, or Greeks—and used it to advance humanity.
• Muslims never divided knowledge into “Islamic” and “non-Islamic.” If it was beneficial, they adopted it.
