Indeed in every reading you see some horizons that you had not seen before.

Indeed in every reading you see some horizons that you had not seen before. Considering the range of the topics the Qur'an comments on, the repetition of some stories, the non-classification of the topics, it is hard to find such a book without contradictions and errors. By human standard, practically no book is free from mistakes whether it is on history, physics, chemistry, astronomy or biology. But here is a book, which was not written at one time.

It is a collection of piecemeal revelations, covering a span of about 23 years. Can any scholar believe that any human being, unlettered, will remember every single word, which he had uttered during the previous 23 years? It is impossible and hence the chances of contradictions. But Qur'an has no contradiction; and, according to that test, it is the word of Allah.

There is a tradition in al-Ihtijaj reporting that an atheist had mentioned some ayat to Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s.) which he thought were contradictory to each other. When Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s.) explained the meaning and purpose of those ayat, that atheist had to admit that the Qur'an was free from discrepancies.

Leaving that lengthy report aside, I quote here a paragraph from a shorter tradition in which Imam Ali (a.s.) had replied to a question of similar nature put by a Kharijite, Abdullah ibn al-Kawwa'. The Kharijite had claimed that the following three ayat contradicted one another: But nay! I swear by the Lord of the [many] Easts and [many] Wests… (70:40) The Lord of the two Easts and the two Wests.

(55:17) The Lord of the Easts and the Wests… (73:9) He thought it contradictory, because in one place it speaks of one East and one West, while another ayah mentions two Easts and two Wests and yet a third describes many Easts and many Wests. Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s.) showed that there was no discrepancy at all.

The ayah speaking of "the East and the West" refers to the two cardinal points; the one mentioning "two Easts and two Wests" describes the two extreme points of the sunrise and sunset of the winter and the summer, and the one of many Easts and many Wests draws attention to the scientific exactitude because every day the Sun rises and sets in a different place from the previous day.

Thus we should understand that whatever word or expression is used in the Qur'an it points out to one or the other great truth. Mankind will gain much by pondering upon the words of God, which has come to us in its purest form in the Qur'an.