during the time of Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s.) Ibn Abil Awja and three heretics, who were literary experts decided to compose a book like Qur’an and each of them decided to contribute one-fourth of it. Thus they made this secret pact in Mecca and declared that they would meet again in Mecca the following year and finalize the arrangement. The next year, they gathered at the Place of Ibrahim and one of them said: “When I saw the following verse, I decided that it is impossible to imitate the Qur’an:
يَا أَرْضُ ابْلَعِي مَاءَكِ وَيَا سَمَاءُ أَقْلِعِي وَغِيضَ الْمَاءُ وَقُضِيَ الْأَمْرُ
“…O earth, swallow down your water, and O cloud, clear away; and the water was made to abate and the affair was decided…”
Second man said: When I saw the following verse, I also despaired from competing with Qur’an:
فَلَمَّا اسْتَيْأَسُوا مِنْهُ خَلَصُوا نَجِيًّا
“Then when they despaired of him, they retired, conferring privately together.”85 Meanwhile, Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s.) passed before them and miraculously recited the following verse:
قُلْ لَئِنِ اجْتَمَعَتِ الْإِنْسُ وَالْجِنُّ عَلٰى أَنْ يَأْتُوا بِمِثْلِ هٰذَا الْقُرْآنِ لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍ ظَهِيرًا.
“Say: If men and jinn should combine together to bring the like of this Qur’an, they could not bring the like of it, though some of them were aiders of others.”
When they witnessed the miracle of Imam Ja’far Sadiq (a.s.) they were humiliated and they went away from there.