The Qur’an: Sacred Scripture or Human Construction?

I. 📌 Introduction: More Than a Book

When we talk to Muslims about faith, we’re not just discussing abstract doctrines. We’re stepping into sacred ground — the Qur’an. For the Muslim, it isn’t just a book. It is the voice of God, the final revelation, and the unchangeable standard for all of life.

But what is the Qur’an?
Where did it come from?
Why do Muslims revere it so deeply?
And — crucially — does it stand up to scrutiny?

In this post, we will explore:

What the Qur’an is and why Muslims venerate it
The traditional Islamic story of how the Qur’an came to be
How the Qur’an affects the daily life and worldview of Muslims
Problems with the orthodox narrative about the Qur’an
Christian responses and strategies for witness

II. 📚 The Qur’an Itself: Structure and Form

General Facts:

Length: Roughly that of the New Testament
Chapters (Surahs): 114 total, arranged mostly by length, not chronology
Verses (Ayahs): Vary in length — some as short as a word, others a full paragraph
Division: Also divided into 30 parts (juz’) for daily Ramadan recitation
Language: Arabic only; considered divine and untranslatable in essence
Style: Rhyming prose, dramatic, often God speaking directly to Muhammad

Surahs are labeled by names rather than numbers — often based on a striking word, not the content. There is no thematic or narrative flow. A single Surah may jump from judgment to legal rulings to past prophets to warnings.

Modern Qur’ans usually indicate whether a Surah is Meccan (revealed before Muhammad’s migration to Medina in 622) or Medinan (after). Meccan Surahs tend to be shorter, poetic, and theological; Medinan ones are longer and more legalistic.

III. 🌌 Where the Qur’an Came From: The Orthodox Islamic View

A. Divine Origin — Eternal, Uncreated, Perfect

Muslims believe the Qur’an:

Exists eternally on a heavenly tablet (al-lawh al-mahfuz) — Sura 85:21–22
Was dictated to Muhammad in Arabic over 23 years (610–632 CE)
Came via three means (Sura 42:51):
- Direct revelation
- Voice from behind a veil
- Through the angel Gabriel (Jibril)

Muhammad, in this view, was not an author but a passive transmitter. His mind, personality, and cultural context are supposedly irrelevant.

B. Transmission and Compilation

Muhammad reportedly recited the revelations orally to followers. Some memorized them; others wrote them on palm leaves, bones, pottery, or leather. But:

No full written Qur’an existed during Muhammad’s life.
He was illiterate (per Islamic tradition), so could not write it down himself.
Oral memorization was the primary method of preservation.

After Muhammad’s death (632 CE), a crisis struck:

633 CE: Many Qur’an memorizers (Qurra’) were killed in battle
Abu Bakr, the first caliph, ordered a collection of the scattered revelations
Zaid ibn Thabit, Muhammad’s former scribe, compiled it using:
- Written scraps
- Oral recitations
- Two-witness verification per fragment

But this was not the final Qur’an.

C. Uthman’s Standardization (c. 653 CE)

Under the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, multiple rival versions of the Qur’an emerged — reportedly 15 or more. These differed in:

Surah count
Wording
Vowelization
Order of verses
Regional recitations (Qira’at)

To enforce unity, Uthman:

Formed a committee (again led by Zaid ibn Thabit)
Used Hafsa’s copy (Muhammad’s widow and Umar’s daughter)
Produced a standardized version
Burned all others

This canon became today’s Qur’an. Muslims claim it has remained unchanged since Uthman.

But is that claim credible?

IV. 🧠 The Qur’an in the Mind of the Muslim

For your Muslim neighbor, the Qur’an is not just theology — it is identity, culture, and sacred rhythm.

It governs:

Personal devotion (prayer, dhikr, Ramadan recitation)
Public practice (Friday sermons, legal rulings)
Ethics (marriage, family, business)
Politics (Sharia law, Islamic governance)
Spiritual worldview (life after death, angels, jinn, fate)

Muslims believe:

Reciting the Qur’an = reciting God’s eternal speech
Listening to its melody = hearing the divine
Touching it = touching heaven

They perform ritual washings (wudu) before reading. It is placed on the highest shelf in a home, never on the floor, never under other books. Many don’t understand Arabic but still recite the Qur’an, believing the sound itself has supernatural merit.

V. 🧨 Challenging the Orthodox View: Four Fatal Problems

A. ❌ The Myth of Perfect Preservation

Muslims claim perfect preservation of a divine book — but the evidence says otherwise.

Even within Islam’s own sources, we find:

Contradictory compilation reports
- How the Qur’an was gathered, who did it, and how it was verified all differ across Hadith and early biographies
Burned manuscripts
- Uthman destroyed rival versions — some possibly more authentic
Imprecise Arabic script
- Early Arabic lacked dots and vowels; many words were ambiguous
Lack of early manuscripts
- No Qur’an from Muhammad or Uthman’s time survives
- Earliest partial manuscripts (like Sana'a) contain textual variants

Conclusion: The official narrative collapses under its own contradictions.

B. 📜 External Evidence Exposes Human Origins

Archaeology, textual analysis, and historical study (e.g., Wansbrough, Burton, Puin) show:

The Qur’an evolved over time
Its text reflects political and theological tensions of early Islam
Portions appear to have been edited or added later

The Qur’an did not drop from heaven. It rose — piece by piece — from the sands of Arabia.

C. 🤝 Borrowed Content

The Qur’an’s stories clearly borrow from:

Jewish Midrash (e.g., Abraham in the fire)
Christian Apocrypha (e.g., infant Jesus speaking, clay birds)
Zoroastrianism (angelology, paradise motifs)
Arab folklore

Yet orthodox Christian content is absent. Why? Because Muhammad encountered heretical sects, not the biblical Gospels.

D. 🚫 Immune to Critique — But Why?

Muslims insist the Qur’an is:

Inimitable (no one can write anything like it)
Beautiful beyond human effort
Miraculously scientific
Prophetically accurate

When historical or textual criticisms arise, many:

Attack the Bible instead
Dismiss scholars as biased
Resort to emotionalism or circular logic
Invoke linguistic miracles or scientific foreknowledge (long debunked)

The Qur’an is declared perfect — not proven perfect.

VI. 🛑 What This Means for Christians

Muslims believe the Qur’an supersedes and corrects the Bible. If the Bible and Qur’an contradict — the Bible must be wrong.

But this logic collapses when:

The Qur’an misrepresents Christian doctrine (e.g., Trinity = God, Jesus, Mary)
The Qur’an claims to confirm earlier scriptures — then contradicts them
The Qur’an lacks manuscript evidence while the Bible has abundant early textual support

The Christian doctrine of Scripture acknowledges human transmission. We do not claim a word-for-word dictation from heaven. Instead, we affirm historical reliability, textual integrity, and divine inspiration through human authors.

Islam demands perfect preservation — a burden it cannot carry.

🙏 Conclusion: Honesty vs. Illusion

Muslims trust the Qur’an out of loyalty, fear, and identity — not evidence.

Christians should respond:

Not with arrogance, but with clarity
Not with mockery, but with truth in love
Not with soft compromise, but with firm grace

We must lead them gently to see:

A perfect book cannot arise from imperfect history.

A God who speaks cannot contradict Himself.

And truth — real truth — does not fear investigation.

📚 Recommended Resources

John Gilchrist – Jam’ Al-Qur’an: The Codification of the Qur’an
Ahmad von Denffer – 'Ulum al-Qur’an (Islamic Foundation)
John Burton – The Collection of the Qur’an (Cambridge University Press)
W. Montgomery Watt – Introduction to the Qur’an (Edinburgh Press)

Truth About Islam

Friday, 11 July 2025