I'jaz

In Islam, i'jaz or inimitability of the Qur'an is the doctrine which holds that the Qur'an has a miraculous quality, both in content and in form, that no human speech can match. According to this doctrine the Qur'an is a miracle and its inimitability is the proof granted to Muhammad in authentication of his prophetic status. It serves the dual purpose of, A: proving the authenticiy of its divineness as being a source from the creator and B: proving the genuineness of Muhammad's prophethood to whom it was revealed as he was one bringing the message. The concept of miraculousness of the Qur'an was understood as soon as it was revealed by Muhammed to the Arabs beginning on 22 December 609 CE, when Muhammad was 40 years of age. According to Sophia Vasalou, a contemporary scholar in theology, the reports about the Arabs' bewildered reception of the Qur'an is crucial in the argument. "The Arabs, upon hearing it, were lost for words in trying to classify it: 'is it poetry?' 'is it magic?' 'is it soothsaying?' they could not find a literary form to which the Qur'an corresponded" Vasalou adds. The Arabic term used to describe the inimitability of the Qur'an is iʿjaz (اعجاز).