Day 28 - The Quran

As you probably realize by now, the Quran is the Muslim "bible"... and beyond that, it guides them on prettymuch every aspect of life. It is the dictionary to a Scrabble game - consulted on almost every issue that comes up in a Muslim life.

According to the Quran, it is "the Book in which there is no doubt, in it is guidance for those who fear God, who believe in the unseen...and who believe in that which was sent down to you [Muhammad], and that which was sent down before you (the Books and the prophets - ie, the old Testament) and have certain faith in the hereafter. The are on (true) guidance from their Lord, and it is these who will prosper." Quran 2:2-5

Whew. I think in that glowing accolade, the Quran was basically just swearing that it is the Truth, the Whole Truth, and nothing BUT the Truth! That said, it probably is a tiny bit biased on its accuracy. Considering that it is claiming to be the truth, and that claim not by an objective third party. I'm just saying.

So what evidence supports the Quran's claim of authenticity? Supposedly, it is the only "revealed book" that exists today in the precise form and content in which it was originally revealed.
Even if the Quran has been preserved, what evidence supports that it is the Word of God and not simply Muhammad's(pbuh) own writings?

How can you be sure that parts haven't been lost or "misplaced"?

Apparently, during Muhammad's lifetime, the book was written down AND memorized as it was revealed. The written portion was checked against the memorized portion and vice-versa. Interestingly, it is one of the only books that has been memorized in its entirity by millions of people!

Nonetheless, we are taking the word of Muhammad and his group of disciples/followers that this is exactly what God said, much like the Bible, so an element of faith is inherent in the belief that this is the infallible Word of God.

In my mind, you cannot prove a fact with evidence from the same source - it comes down to the parental answer to the question "why?" - "Because I said so." Oh really? Because you said? Well, then that makes it fact, right?

So, faith in hand, Muslims believe as fact that the Quran is the speech of God written by Muhammad. If you take this as a given, then the question remains whether it is still in its original form. Historically, the Arabic society has excelled at story-telling and has a strong oral tradition, so the idea that the Quran could have been memorized and passed along verbatim is not SO far-fetched. Additionally, one must keep in mind that the Quran was written in 600 AD, and while that was not the present age of document preservation and provable evidence, it was nonetheless written in a relatively MORE modern time than other documents, such as the Old Testament and New Testament. It was written over 500 years after the New Testament was complete, and over 100 years after the entire Bible had been translated into 500 languages. Given the relative technology and records that the world had at that time, it is definitely believable that this book could have been kept in its original form, especially considering that it had but one author, who wrote the entire thing during his lifetime. Additionally, it was written in the same primary language of the religion, unlike other books (the Bible).

Outside of that, the Quran does seem to have knowledge of scientific things that were only discovered years later, which bolsters its claim to being a prophetic book - for instance, the Quran described the planet earth as a sphere and egg-shaped ("like and ostrich egg" Quran 79:30). This claim wasn't proven scientifically for another 900 years or so.
The Quran describes the development of a fetus in rough but accurate terms as well in surah 23:12-14.

So I guess you'd have to say, unless you were alive in 600 AD when the Quran was being written, that you will have to take a measure of it's historical accuracy and literary preservation on faith. And, truly, you would need to take the accuracy of other such religious texts on faith in like fashion.

But I think even without the 100% knowledge that what is written is exactly as it was 600 years ago, most Muslims would tell you that they abide by the principles therein because of their independent value - they do what the book says not only because they believe it to be the word of God, but because it just makes sense to them. So there you have it.

Note, as a reader commented, although the words of the Quran were spoken by Muhammad and thereafter written down, he was not the one with pen in hand writing these words, he only spoke what he felt Allah said to him. Scribes and/or followers copied down the words.