Are you familiar with Musaylimah or Tulayha?
It sounds as though you are leaning on you/your audience's ignorance of Arabic to say we don't know of replications therefore there aren't any.
There is a great response to the "bring a surah like it" challenge at quora;
Is it true that no one has met the 'bring a chapter like it challenge' in the Quran? - Quora
I'll copy it across since Quora occasionally has access issues.
'Ah yes. The historical challenge of coming up with another Qur’an. My favourite.
Yet another hollow challenge that supposedly proves that the Qur’an is a miracle.
Some context before the answer: This challenge requires non-believers to produce something as eloquent as the Qur’an. If they fail, then that must indicate that the Qur’an is beyond human capabilities.
First of all, this challenge assumes that the Qur’an is the perfect book. That there is no book that can be as powerful or better than it. Now Obviously this is not true. More than 7 billion in the world do not agree to that. The only people who see the miracle of the Qur’an are Muslims. — “And what is so special about that book to warrant a challenge?” some might ask.
Well, it is a great piece of literature beyond doubt. The passages and chapters are constructed in a way that can mesmerize the reader. However, this is ONLY true if you read or hear the Qur’an in Arabic. After-all, the Qur’an is simply poetry at the end of the day, and this is the basis of this “challenge”. Reading it in any other language besides Arabic, the Qur’an loses its linguistic “magic”. The book simply turns into ramblings that become very boring to listen to. Even if someone is fulfilled by reading it in English for example, there is noway he can understand this “challenge”.
So back to the challenge. The prophet challenged the people of Arabia to come up with something similar to the Qur’an. The people of Pre-Islamic Arabia were a poet society. They would talk, insult, compliment and even pray with each other using poetry.
Here is where it gets interesting. Arab poets before Muhammad actually did have passages and chapters that were quite similar to the Qur’an. There were poets who came before the prophet who actually stand up to this challenge. This is something that many do not know or chose to deny, but the prophet’s work (i.e. the Qur’an) was influenced by poets before him. Muhammad was not the first Arab to come and make good poetry in the name of god or a religion.
Therefore this challenge in itself is flawed. It assumes that the Qur’an is the best book out there while many clearly do not see it as such. It is great literature yes. It is high quality poetry that Arabs can hardly emulate. — But to say that it is impossible to replicate only shows the arrogance of the author.
In my opinion, the most influential poet who Muhammad’s Qur’an was influenced by is:
- Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt: Umayya, a poet older than Muhammad, also preached about the Abrahamic faith. He actually wanted to be the prophet that Arabia was waiting for. He has a HUGE collection of work that can easily be related to many chapters found in the Qur’an. When I first read some of his work I was mind-blown. I always knew Muhammad wrote the Qur’an, but seeing that he actually was just the lucky poet who managed to make it work was a real eye opener. Umayya’s poetry was so good and preached such a similar message to the Qur’an that the prophet said this about him: “His poetry believed, yet his heart did not”. I mean if that is not enough proof that the prophet wanted all the glory to himself I don’t know what is.
- Another poet who influenced Muhammad’s Qur’an, the father of Arabic poetry, Imru' al-Qais was a Pre-Islamic poet who wrote many different types of poetry. Including plenty of Spiritual material that slightly differs from the Qur’an in that it has more of a romantic side to it. A very emotional, and personal type of poetry. The way the Qur’an describes scenery such as land, stars, and landscape are almost exactly copied from Imru' al-Qais’ work. However, he never claimed to be a prophet or a religion preacher, just a great poet.
Then came Muhammad with the Qur’an. He completely revolutionized the game. His book was good, with a different touch and melody to it. His poetry was powerful and the people were amazed by it. Does that mean that it was god who sent it? Is the fact that this one poet was better than everyone before him evidence enough that this whole thing is from god? He was the best at something. He learned from those before him and surpassed them. What is so divine about that? He is the Shakespeare of Arabic poetry, the Mozart of Arabic poetry.
- Also, many Arabs took on this challenge after the prophet died and wrote similar chapters to the Qur’an. You know what the Muslim Caliphate did? They declared war and killed them all as apostates. Musaylimah was one such person who actually copied the Qur’an in almost everything, but was killed. Another one who was murdered was Tulayha. It can be done, but clearly Muslims flip out because it is impossible to convince them it is similar...'
Courtesy of Mohamad Al Assaad