It was primarily in the field of balaagha that the Qur’aan amazed its listener. As it is said, the best of speech in arabic is: ما قل و دل – that which is concise and leads to meaning. The Qur’aan often came with short and to-the-point verses that had deep and profound meaning, astonishing whoever heard it. Sometimes, the Qur’aan would come with a word known to the Arabs, but Allaah `azza wa jall would use it in a way unknown to them so that it not only made perfect sense but it brought out such profound meanings that had never occured to them! It would expand over all of the above categories in its miraculous nature.

One incident of this is below:

When a bedouin heard the verse of Allaah `azza wa jall, فلما استيأسوا منه خلصوا نجيا – “So, when they despaired of him, they held a conference in private” [12:80], he could do nothing but climb down from his camel and prostrate on the ground. He was not a believer and he did not know that such a thing as sujood al-tilawah existed.

The people became amazed at him and said, ‘What’s wrong with you?!’ He said, ‘By Allah, this can never be from the speech of a mere mortal! For the sentence is present in the speech of the Arabs (in the form: استيأس وخلص والنجوى والنجيء – ‘he despaired, departed and then held a secret counsel), but never in the speech of the Arabs neither in poetry or prose, does it come in this meaning [فلما استيأسوا منه خلصوا نجيا] – in just 3 words, a very long and deep meaning is alluded to. It alludes to the fact that they (the brothers of Yusuf – AS) argued with the King, who is Yusuf himself, unknown to them – until they became tired and agreed to exit to a far place to then take counsel (over their affair).

All these different meanings that express different stages came in this short and concise set of words. For this reason, the bedouin couldn’t do anything except to get down from the back of his camel and prostrate saying: ‘By Allah! This can never be from the speech of a mere mortal!’

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Taken from the orginal: الغاية العظمى لإرسال الرسل هو توحيد الألوهية