Sayyid Murtada and the Process of the Evolution of the Theory of Sarfah
God has challenged those who doubt about the verses concerning the prophet's honesty in his claim for being a prophet and has asked them to match up if they think these verses are a human thing and bring only one single surah matched with one of the Qur'an's chapters. Naturally after this challenging call, the ones in doubt tried to come back with a reply; however, the years passed and the new generations came and went without being able to provide a match even for a small surah of the Qur’an. Thus, incapacity of the claimants was revealed in the face of the Quran and the question remaining to be answer is why the man does not have any chance for rivalry with the Qur’an. This question has been followed by two answers: in the first response, the Qur’an is considered as an extraordinary work beyond the man’s capability, so that no one can bring a similar work through the ordinary means. The second answer, unlike the first one, considers the man capable of rivalry with the Quran; while God prevents him from having the opportunity to do so. In the Islamic theology, the second answer is referred to as the “theory of Sarfah”. This theory, despite going through an interesting and memorable history has been just interpreted as one of the miraculous aspects of the Qur'an, and unfortunately the course of its history has been ignored and unlike the issue itself, the process of its development has remained less studied. Therefore in this article, the theological and interpretation texts remained from the second to the fifth centuries have been studied so that the formation of this theory by the Mo’tazilah system, its development by Sayyid Murtada ‘Alam ol-Huda and its fall as a result of Sheikh Tusi’s refutation are clarified and Sayyid Murtada’s role in the historical process of this theory is analyzed. The results of the study imply Sayyid Murtada’s effort in providing a scholarly exposition of the theory of sarfa, replying to the objections of opponents and delineating a logical relationship between the interpretational and theological aspects of this theory.
Keywords: Sarfah, miracle of the Qur’an, system, meticulous, Sayyid Murtada
* Associate professor, University of Qur'an and Hadith
