“Bring a surah like it” — one surah or ten
فَأْتُوا۟ بِسُورَةٍ مِّثْلِهِ
fa-ʾtū bi-sūratin mithlihi — “Then bring a surah like it”
Two near-identical challenges to the accusation of fabrication differ in the demand: a single surah in (10:38) and ten fabricated chapters in (11:13), with the second adding the passive participle muftarayāt that turns the accusers' verb back on themselves.
The two verses open identically: أَمْ يَقُولُونَ ٱفْتَرَىٰهُ (“Or do they say, ‘He has fabricated it’?”) followed by the command قُلْ فَأْتُوا۟... (“Say, ‘Then bring...’”) and close identically with وَٱدْعُوا۟ مَنِ ٱسْتَطَعْتُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ (“and call whomever you are able, apart from Allah, if you are truthful”). What differs is the object of the demand. In (10:38) it is بِسُورَةٍ مِّثْلِهِ, an indefinite singular, “a surah like it.” In (11:13) it is بِعَشْرِ سُوَرٍ مِّثْلِهِ, “ten chapters like it,” with the added word مُفْتَرَيَٰتٍ, a feminine plural passive participle of form VIII from the same root ف ر ي that appears in the accusers' verb ٱفْتَرَىٰهُ. The participle makes the demanded chapters carry the very quality the accusers alleged: they are to be “fabricated ones.” The surrounding verses frame each challenge differently. In (10:37–39) the challenge sits between a statement that “this Qur’an was not to be fabricated apart from Allah” (10:37) and a report that “they have denied what they have not encompassed in knowledge” (10:39). In (11:12–14) it sits between the accusation “Why has a treasure not been sent down upon him, or an angel come with him?” (11:12) and the conclusion “if they do not respond to you, then know that it has only been sent down with Allah’s knowledge” (11:14). The escalation from one surah to ten, and the explicit labeling of the demanded product as fabricated, sharpens the second challenge within its context.
Where it occurs
- 10:38 Commands the accusers to bring a single surah like it, with helpers apart from Allah, if they are truthful.
- 11:13 Commands the accusers to bring ten fabricated chapters like it, with helpers apart from Allah, if they are truthful.
All Qur'anic expressions