How can you prove the Qur’an is the word of God?

Why is this question important?

If the Qur’an is from God, it will explain the purpose of your life – what could be more important?

Could the Qur’an have been sourced from anywhere else but God?

To prove the authenticity of this book we have to establish that it could not have been sourced from anywhere but God Himself. This is what makes Islam a rational belief, not one that relies on any leap of faith.

The Arabic of the Qur’an is miraculous

It is well known that the pagan Arabs of the time of Muhammad [s] were great poets and writers of the Arabic language.

When the revelation started to come to Muhammad [s] it was the style of language which made the Qur’an different to anything that they’d every heard of.

The challenge of the Qur’an to write something equivalent to it

The unique literary form of the Qur’an is its miracle – the Quran is inimitable. The Qur’an states,

‘If you are in doubts about what We have sent down to Our slave,
produce another chapter equal to it,
and call your witnesses besides Allah,
if you are telling the truth.’ (2:23)

And,

‘Or do they say: “He has simply made it up”?
No, the truth is they do not believe.
Let them produce a discourse like it
if they are telling the truth.’ (52:33-34)

These verses are a challenge to produce a chapter (surah) that imitates the Qur’an’s unique literary form.

The tools needed to meet this challenge are:

• the finite grammatical rules of Arabic
• and the twenty eight letters that make-up the Arabic language

These are independent and objective measures available to all. After 1400 years, no one has managed to produce a chapter like the Qur’an. And the challenge is still open.

The Qur’an’s miracle is that it has a unique literary form that no person can produce.

‘Say: “If both men and jinn banded together
to produce the like of the Qur’an
they could never produce anything like it,
even if they backed each other up.” (17:88)

Where could have the Qur’an have come from?
There are now only two other possible sources – Muhammad (s) or God.

Did Muhammad (s) write the Qur’an?
Muhammad (s) was an Arab and spoke Arabic, but never claimed to be the author of the Qur’an. In fact he was never challenged as its author even by the people who hated him when he was alive.

The fact that Muhammad (s) did not write the Qur’an can also be seen clearly from definitely confirmed sayings of Muhammad (s) – narrated word for word (Hadith Mutawatir), of which there are many hundreds.

The style of language in Muhammad’s speech and the Qur’an are very different. And no matter how hard you try, your style of speech cannot be completely altered consistently, and certainly not over a period of 23 years in which the Qur’an was revealed.

A revelation from God

This leaves only one source of the Qur’an – God.

‘Will they not ponder the Qur’an?
If it had been from other that Allah,
They would have found many inconsistencies in it.’ (4:82)

‘We only sent you for the whole of mankind,
to bring good news and to give warning.
But most of mankind do now know it.’ (34:28)