One claim against the Quran is that the material is organized “randomly”.
To
the untrained eye, the way the suwar and subject matter are organized can
seem haphazard. Anyone who studies the speech of Allah ﷻwill come to
the conclusion that nothing in His book is arbitrary. If He is precise down to a
single letter, how could He not be precise in how He organized
the āyāt and suwar of the Quran?
One arrangement Allah ﷻutilizes throughout the Quran is a rhetorical device
called “concentrism”, also known as “ring structure.” This is where there is a
correspondence — such as in the repetition of a name or phrase — between
the first element and the last, and likewise between the second element and
the second-to-last, and so on, like a ring, whereby the middle represents the
core (as in A-B-C-B’-A’).
It has been observed that Allah ﷻuses ring structure on the level of
entire suwar, but we’ll start with a look at an individual āyah you may be
familiar with; the greatest āyah of the Quran, Āyah al-Kursī (The Āyah of the
Throne) from Sūrah al-Baqarah (The Cow) (2:255). The āyah is made up of
nine sentences which structure themselves as so:
A/A’ - Allah ﷻbegins with two of His names, al-Ḥayy (the Living) and al-
Qayyūm (the Eternal) and similarly ends with two of His names, al-’Alīy (the
Exalted) and al-’Aẓīm (the Great).
B/B’ - Sentence 2 and 8 correspond to each other in that they both point to
Allah’s lack of need to rest. Allah ﷻtells us that He doesn’t sleep, nor does
He even fatigue. Both statements compliment one another by covering all
aspects of tiredness.
C/C’ - Allah ﷻthen shifts to the topic of His control. He owns everything in
the heavens and on the earth, but one might then ask about His control of
things within these domains because ownership does not always necessitate
control. The corresponding sentence then informs us that His control over the
two aforementioned domains is as extensive as His ownership is absolute.
D/D’ - In this section the āyāt are linked through the shared reference to
Allah ﷻas the One who grants permission. We need His permission to
intercede on behalf of others and for others to intercede for us. Likewise, we
need His permission to access knowledge of any type.
E - At the center Allah ﷻtells us that He knows what is coming and what has
already happened. This āyah is fitting in the ring structure, as if to say,
“what’s coming is just as what has already occurred in this passage.”
َأ
َوالَّلُه عَلُم- And Allah knows best
Source
Azaiez, Mehdi. “The Throne Verse (ayat-l-kursi) in Light of Rhetorical
Analysis.” International Qur’anic Studies Project, 4 Mar. 2013
