Answering the Apostate, Malik's Odyssey, on Saying Qur'aan Was Whispered by the Devil

Friday 13-Jun-2025, 2:46AM / 34


The eloquence of the Qur'aan will continue to astound your likes, O Malik. 

Did you say the Qur'aan was whispered by the devil? May Allaah cut off that your tongue sooner or later if you don't repent. 

You had got some forbears in this phase you are passing through. See the excerpts below:

Three prominent chiefs of Quraysh—Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, Abu Jahl (Amr ibn Hisham), and al-Akhnas ibn Shurayq—each separately and secretly went out during the night to eavesdrop on the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as he recited the Qur'an in his home during night prayer.

Each of these men wanted to hear the Prophet's recitation, but out of pride and social pressure, none of them wanted the others to know. Unbeknownst to each other at first, they all crept out in the dark of the night and found a spot near the Prophet’s house to listen quietly.

But by the early hours of the morning, as they tried to sneak away, they unexpectedly bumped into one another and were shocked to see that all three had done the same thing. They reproached one another:

"What are you doing here?"

"You! What are you doing here?"

Ashamed, they made a pact: "Never come back here again!"

Yet the very next night, the irresistible beauty of the Qur'an drew them out once again—each thinking the others would keep their word. And again, at dawn, they ran into one another.

This happened three nights in a row.

After the third night, they scolded one another more seriously and took an oath not to return again.

After this, al-Akhnas ibn Shurayq visited Abu Sufyan in private and asked him:

"O Abu Sufyan, what do you think of what Muhammad recites?"

Abu Sufyan replied:

"By Allah, I heard things I know the meanings of, and they are beautiful. And I also heard things I did not understand."

Al-Akhnas then went to Abu Jahl, the harshest of them, and asked the same.

Abu Jahl confessed:

"What can I say? We and the clan of Banu Abd Manaf [the Prophet’s clan] have always competed—if they gave food to people, we did too. If they fought bravely, we fought too. Now they say, ‘We have a Prophet from among us who receives revelation from heaven!’
By Allah, we will never believe in him!"

The story is well documented in Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Tafsir at-Tabari, Seerah Ibn Hisham, Dala'il an-Nubuwwah of al-Bayhaqi, etc.

So those people knew the Qur'an could only have come from Allah, Who establishes Himself on the Magnificent Throne in the Heavens.

Yet some of these people would call him a liar—but whenever it dawned on them that Muhammad was a person who had never told a lie in his life, and that he would not choose to tell a lie about Allah, they would quickly shift to saying he was bewitched.

Malik, those are the phases you are passing through.

You don’t know whether to call him a liar or a magician.

Allah responds to you all:

40. Indeed, it (i.e., the Qur’an) is the word of a noble Messenger.
41. And it is not the word of a poet—little is it that you believe.
42. Nor the word of a soothsayer—little is it that you take heed.
43. [It is] a revelation from the Lord of the worlds.
(Qur’an 69:40–43)

He also said:

“Likewise, no Messenger came to those before them but they said: ‘A magician or a madman.’”
(Qur’an 51:52)

He also said:

“And they wonder that a warner has come to them from among themselves. And the disbelievers say: ‘This is a magician and a liar.’”
(Qur’an 38:4)

Waleed ibn al-Mugheerah was answered here:

11. Leave Me alone with the one I created alone,
12. And to whom I granted abundant wealth,
13. And sons present by his side,
14. And I spread everything for him smoothly,
15. Yet he desires that I should give more.
16. No! Indeed, he has been stubborn toward Our signs.
17. I will burden him with a steep ascent (a torment).
18. Indeed, he thought and calculated—
19. So may he be destroyed for how he calculated!
20. Again, may he be destroyed for how he calculated!
21. Then he looked—
22. Then he frowned and scowled—
23. Then he turned back and was arrogant—
24. And said: "This is nothing but magic from the past!"
25. "This is nothing but the word of a human being!"
26. I will cast him into Saqar (Hellfire).
(Surah al-Muddaththir 74:11–26)

According to Ibn Kathir and others, this passage refers specifically to al-Waleed ibn al-Mugheerah. He once heard the Prophet ﷺ recite the Qur'an and was deeply moved. The Quraysh leaders became worried and asked him to give a public statement to undermine the Qur’an.

So he thought hard, trying to come up with a plausible accusation—and finally said:

"This is nothing but magic that is passed down. It is nothing but the word of man."

Malik, can you see the self-contradictions of one of your forefathers in kufr?

Allah said about people like you:

"And those who disbelieve will remain in doubt about it until the Hour comes suddenly upon them, or there comes to them the punishment of a barren Day."
(Qur’an 22:55)

Yet Allah still gives people like you the opportunity to repent.

That I have stood on your neck is an opportunity for you to retrace your step—lest you say no one told you.

Allah the Mighty said:

"Do they not see that they are tried every year once or twice, yet they neither repent nor do they take heed?"
(Qur’an 9:126)

May Allah heal your heart from the diseases of delusions.

So we say to your slander:

كَذَبْتَ – وَاللَّهِ – يَا بَائِسَ البَيَانِ،
إِذْ جَعَلْتَ الْوَحْيَ وَسْوَسَةَ الْجَانِّ!

جَاءَ بِالْحَقِّ جِبْرِيلُ فِي لَيْلِ الدُّجَى،
بِأَمْرِ رَبِّ الْعَرْشِ، ذِي السُّلْطَانِ!

You have lied—by Allah—O wretched in speech,
When you called Divine Revelation the whisper of demons!

Jibreel came with the truth in the darkness of night,
By the command of the Lord of the Throne, the Almighty in power!

Read more about refutations against him here