Sayyid Murtada and the Criticism of “the Theory of Sarfah”
Despite the emphasis by all the Muslim scholars on the internal and innate nature of the miracle of the Qur’an, Sayyid Murtada and some of the Mo’tazilies believe that the miracle of the Qur’an is of the Sarfah nature; i.e. it refers to the external interference of God in order to prohibit the confrontation of the opponents from enmity against the Qur’an. They provide three reasons for their claim: deprivation from power, deprivation from motivation and deprivation from sciences.
After clarifying different approaches toward “the theory of Sarfah”, the author of this article has evaluated two grounds for the approval of the Sarfah theory: restriction of the miracle of the Qur’an to its exterior features; and ignorance of the boundaries of Tahaddi (challenge). Then, the reasons of the advocates of the theory have been studied. Finally, the author takes side with the opponents of the Sarfah theory and supports their reasons –the most important of which is that the Qur’anic verses concerning Tahaddi (challenge) imply that the challenge is innate; and the theory of Sarfah results in meaninglessness of Tahaddi (challenge).
The author believes that the Qur’an enjoys such an exalted structure and content that nobody can challenge it. Consideration of such a unique magnitude results in rejection of the theory of Sarfah.
Keywords: the miracle of the Qur’an, Sayyid Murtada, Sarfah, Tahaddi (challenge), miracle aspects, structural and content miracle.
*. Associate Professor, Iran University of Science and Technology. Dr.alinasiri@gmail.com
