The challenge of writing a surah

Why is the stupid challenge of writing a surah like the Qur’an given?

Surah: Light

١. وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا هَدَأَتِ الْقُلُوبُ فِي السَّكِينَةِ. ٢. وَالنُّورِ إِذَا انْبَسَطَ عَلَى طَرِيقِ الْحَائِرِينَ. ٣. إِنَّ الرَّاحَةَ لِمَنْ صَبَرَ، وَالْفَوْزَ لِمَنْ سَعَى بِالْحَقِّ. ٤. وَلَا يَضِلُّ مَنْ جَعَلَ الصِّدْقَ دَلِيلَهُ وَالْعَدْلَ رَفِيقَهُ. ٥. فَاذْكُرُوا الْخَيْرَ يَثْبُتْ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ، وَيَرْتَفِعْ بِهِ قَدَرُكُمْ.

When night descends, the heart settles into deep tranquility.
When light spreads, even the lost find direction.
For the patient, there is peace; for those who walk the path of truth, there is success.
Whoever takes truth as their guide and justice as their companion never goes astray.
Remember goodness—it will strengthen your heart and elevate your worth.

Muslims claim that the Qur’an is a divine book, free from any error. Yet we find in it many things that are irrational, unscientific, deeply opposed to human rights, inhumane, brutal, superstitious, historically distorted, and factually incorrect. Many Islamists will now demand “proof.” It’s impossible to provide all the evidence in one article. And since the Qur’an is claimed to be divine, even a single inconsistency would invalidate the entire book.

Many believers insist: “If you can, write a surah like the Qur’an.” They claim that for 1400 years countless people have tried but failed. The Qur’an itself repeatedly makes this claim—that no one can produce a surah like it. It makes the claim and then declares itself the judge. Could anything be more nonsensical? Do people have nothing better to do than waste time writing something in the style of a book they consider garbage? Should modern humans drag their education and intellect back 1400 years to match the level of a time when the author of the Qur’an didn’t even know where human civilization and technology would reach?

There are 8.29 billion people in the world today. Everyone’s face, signature, and writing style are different. Human diversity is the beauty of humanity. Why should one person’s writing style match another’s? Rabindranath Tagore’s literary style is unique—should anyone else match it? And the poet who wrote about thrusting a spear through God’s throne—can anyone else write exactly like Kazi Nazrul? Or take Mufti Ibrahim, whom some Muslims claim is Sheikh Zubair—can anyone write exactly like Shakespeare? If not, should we conclude Shakespeare was divine? Does that claim make any sense?

Much of Muhammad’s Qur’an follows the poetic style of Arab poets of that era—this is widely discussed among critics. But no one claims it matches them word for word. The Qur’an borrows heavily from the myths, folklore, knowledge, Zionist traditions, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism of that time. So why should anyone today waste time writing something “like the Qur’an”? Who today will swear by figs, olives, Mount Sinai, Mount Tur, or a “secure city” to prove their point? What sensible person would produce such hallucinatory sentences? Maybe someone could—after consuming nine maunds of marijuana mixed with five-year-old bhang, charas, and cheap liquor.

Even then, many have written such surahs. Many have faced violence for doing so. In this age of AI, any model can generate thousands of such surahs with a simple prompt. So what? Does that prove or disprove the Qur’an’s divine claim? I wrote this “Surah Light”—what does it prove? It is more humane and enlightening than many Qur’anic surahs, and unlike the Qur’an, it does not claim that “light” is supreme. This entire “write a surah like it” challenge is pure nonsense. Yet the Qur’an demanded this nonsense 1400 years ago, and its followers still repeat the same challenge today while calling it the eternal guide for humanity. Does it make any sense, man? This is 2026.

Even if you write a surah, extremists will say: “This is just copying the Qur’an. Write something in your own style.” If you write another one, they’ll say: “This is not like the Qur’an.” The challenger becomes the judge, and they’ve already decided no one can write like the Qur’an. Let neutral experts judge—Hindus, Jews, Christians, humanists. If you challenge people and then judge the result yourself, what’s the point? And what will you do in the end? Label people Islamophobes, enemies of Allah and the Prophet, and attack them with machetes?

In 2020, during COVID, an Algerian named Jilu wrote “Surah Corona.” You can find its recitation on YouTube. It went viral, stirred Arab social media, and enraged conservatives. They issued death threats and demanded arrests. Jilu’s Facebook account was disabled due to mass reporting. Many people were attacked for sharing it. A Tunisian woman named Amna al-Sharqi received death threats. An Algerian woman named Sana Bendimerad was threatened with having acid poured into her vagina.

Writing a surah like the Qur’an is not difficult. Those who issue this challenge are extremely foolish, and the author of the Qur’an himself initiated this foolishness. Even in 2026, many people continue this legacy of stupidity.

Let me conclude with a remark by the Persian physician and philosopher Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al‑Razi (Al‑Razi), who wrote more than 184 books on medicine, alchemy, physics, and other subjects — a remark he made about the challenge of producing a surah similar to the Qur’an —

You speak of a book that merely retells ancient mythical tales, a book filled with contradictions and lacking any useful information or explanation. And then you say: ‘Bring something like it?
— Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al‑Razi