Why is the Surah challenge not met?

[Angrboda]

I've answered this once before, so I'm not going to repeat my prior response, even to answer prior concerns. (Mystic Knight asked essentially the same question last year.)


Answering the "sura challenge" is akin to trying to get a Creotard to see reason. The Muslims who make this challenge can be depended upon to engage in all sorts of special pleading, goal post moving, and all sorts of other illicit moves in order to avoid ponying up the prize. Here's a simpler response. Does the Quran use reasonably proper Arabic? Yes it does. Therefore it is possible, no matter how improbable you want to believe it to be, that a mortal wrote it, completely devoid of divine guidance. Therefore, its inimitability proves absolutely nothing. Now if you point this out to a devout "inimitable surah" peddling Muslim, they'll simply ignore you, or start talking about "too improbable" (at this point, grab your hat and run, as they've begun to appeal to pseudoscience). It's a forgone conclusion, just as a Creationist isn't going to write up his results plainly stating his Creationist beliefs were wrong, the "inimitable sura" Muslim will never admit to defeat. Because the Muslim believes the Quran possesses these supernatural properties, not only in the absence of evidence, but in Dawkins' phrase, even in the teeth of contrary evidence. Their position isn't based on reason or evidence, and they therefore can't be argued out of it on the basis of reason and evidence. (See for example, other claims about the Quran's miraculous properties with respect to scientific accuracy and prophecy. Same shit, different day.)


(ETA: Challenge the Muslim to demonstrate that Muhammed himself couldn't write a sura like it, without the divine guidance. Or, ask them to prove that all the suras were written with heavenly assistance(*). See what they say. Pick a specific, dull sura and ask them to show why that sura is special.)


(*) This point shows some circularity. Assume the suras were written by divine guidance, therefore any other sura could not resemble those suras, therefore they are inimitable, thus proving they were divinely inspired.