In the previous article, we reached the understanding that the ‘alien’ who brought the Qur-aan to Muhammad could have been one of the following seven entities:
(i) An evil entity like Satan (or the Devil) with some evil intention(s).
(ii) An evil entity like Satan (or the Devil) with some neutral intention(s).
By an evil entity I mean a purely diabolical being that has no potential for goodness.
(iii) A non-evil and non-angel entity belonging to and sent by an intelligent community of alien species with some good intention(s).
(iv) A non-evil and non-angel entity belonging to and sent by an intelligent community of alien species with some malicious intention(s) against humans.
(v) A non-evil and non-angel entity belonging to and sent by an intelligent community of alien species with some neutral intention(s) like checking the impact of the Qur-aan on humans, as part of an experiment, project, or some need(s) or ambition(s) of their own.
By a non-evil and non-angel entity I mean a being like humans that has potentials for both goodness and evil.
(vi) An angelic entity (like Gabriel) with some good intention(s).
(vii) An angelic entity (like Gabriel) with some neutral intention(s).
By an angelic entity I mean a being that is purely virtuous, with no potential for evil.
Let’s start our analysis with the first option.
Is it actually possible that the alien was an evil entity like the Satan who produced the Qur-aan and gave it to Muhammad to accomplish some evil objectives?
(a.) Satan’s authorship of the Qur-aan seems implausible because if he were the author of the Qur-aan then he wouldn’t have cursed himself and praised God in the hundreds of places in the Qur-aan!
(b.) Had Satan brought forth the Qur-aan with some evil intentions then he wouldn’t have repeatedly exhorted people to do good deeds and encouraged them to strive for paradise, he wouldn’t have prohibited evil and warned of hell, in the hundreds of instances in the Qur-aan!
Thus the option (i) is ruled out with regards to Satan or the Devil.
(c.) An evil entity other than Satan too seems far-fetched for the same reason (b). It’s unlikely that an evil entity with an evil objective would forbid evil and call to goodness!
Thus the option (i) is ruled out with regards to any evil entity other than Satan too.
(d.) And the same reason (c) rules out option (iv) as well.
Thus the options that we are now left with are: (ii), (iii), (v), (vi), and (vii).
(e.) Option (ii) is more plausible than option (i) because some neutral motive(s) might drive an evil entity (other than Satan since we have already ruled Satan out in argument ‘a’ above) to produce a book and falsely attribute it to God. And this would logically be consistent since an evil entity can easily lie in the name of God! Maybe to check the human impact of a book that claims to be from God.
(f.) The same logic holds for option (v) too, that is, a non-evil and non-angel entity with any neutral motive, could have produced the Qur-aan and falsely attributed it to God. A non-evil and non-angel entity forging in the name of God is logically consistent too, as such an entity is by definition capable of both evil and good deeds.
(g.) These aliens could be so advanced and powerful that they could conduct experiment(s) on a global scale to measure the impact of an allegedly divine, strictly monotheistic, and apparently exclusivist message on humans.
(h.) The Qur-aan is an interpretable book. This interpretability leads to differing opinions on issues that the Qur-aan deals with. The differences of opinions amongst the experts of the Qur-aan often lead to bitter sectarianism and intra-community and inter-community strife. Thus, to observe the effects and the results of an interpretable religious scripture on humans at a global scale could also have been an objective of the alien experiment on humanity.
(i.) Many such neutral, purely experimental objectives could be conceived as probable reasons for an alien race to fabricate the Qur-aan in the name of God and give it to humans.
So let’s analyze the neutral motives options (ii) and (v) now.
(j.) Both propositions involve presuming the existence of advanced alien races, advanced enough to use humans for their own purposes!
(k.) But the existence of such advanced alien races, although probable, is yet to be detected, let alone established!
(l.) Believing these propositions is no different from believing in the Quranic claim that it was sent by god through the angel Gabriel! Both are plausible claims that cannot be directly tested as of now.
(m.) The latter at least fits into a consistent narrative regarding why God would do so. The former is a conjecture that is incapable of definitively answering which alien race it was. What exactly was its purpose? There can be no limits to the number of conjectured reasons behind this. The Islamic narrative at least gives a definite reason to us.
(n.) And the reason is neatly built into a consistent and large framework that gives our lives meaning, purpose, and direction.
(o.) In epistemological terms, the Islamic narrative is thus more structured and more useful and hence more true than the counter alien narrative which fails to give any definite answers and is incapable of being useful to us.
(p.) Coming to option (iii). It is also unlikely for the same reasons as above. Although it’s logically consistent that a non-angelic and non-evil entity might have done it for some good reasons, given the Qur-aan commands goodness and forbids evil. But again the question arises, if the motives were good, then why try to accomplish it by lying in the name of God? Sounds more like a conspiracy theory to me! It fails to mention the exact motives. If it was to call people to goodness and monotheism, then it could have been achieved without lying in the name of God! So, I find the belief in a concrete Islamic theory more reasonable than the belief in a wild conspiracy theory like this!
(q.) So we are left with the last two options now, (vi) and (vii). But lo and behold! They sound like the Islamic narrative! The angel Gabriel bringing the Qur-aan to Muhammad for a neutral reason that is to obey God’s command which in turn is a good reason as obeying God is nothing but goodness!
(r.) Thus the Islamic narrative subsumes the most reasonable options (vi and vii) within its framework and hence proves itself to be an advanced and robust theory that is capable of usefully explaining observed natural phenomena, particularly, in our case here, the observed advanced literature of the Qur-aan that we set out to explore in my article no.7.
(s.) Thus we have established that the advanced literature of the Qur-aan and its challenge to humanity that went unanswered has no other explanation other than the Islamic narrative that the Qur-aan is from God!
Moving forward from here, I’ll take on some other advanced features of Islam that impressed me and paved my return to faith! So, keep reading!