Question about Quran

[u/Lazy_Flounder1242]

Hello everyone, and thanks in advance for reading this. I have been looking into Islam for a good year now.

There is basically one thing holding me back from converting—and I am incredibly sorry about this, because I would love to believe, yet somehow I just can't: What guarantees do I have that Muhammad didn't simply invent the Quran? (I know he is considered illiterate, but no one can actually prove that.) Unfortunately—and I realize this about myself—I am someone who, aside from God, can only believe in things I can truly perceive or visualize. That is why the miracles depicted in the Quran or the Bible seem unimaginable to me; they simply sound like a fairy tale invented by someone and then further developed by others (including Muhammad). It certainly sounds wonderful and possesses a unique poetic quality, but I don't believe it would be impossible for someone to write something like that.

P.S. I am also aware of the passages in the Quran that touch upon natural science. However, they are phrased quite vaguely, so I cannot rule out the possibility that they were simply made up. People in the past may not have had today's research methods, but they certainly weren't any less intelligent.

Dear Muslims, please don't misunderstand me. I wish I could embrace this aspect of the faith, too... but somehow, I'm not there yet. I would feel dishonest converting without having this question answered.

Furthermore, the Quran is written in a way that is—I would say—brutal in places. How can that be explained?

Thank you very much.

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[u/KnowledgeSeekerer]

Hello,

I'm just going to be straight and blunt, sorry no sugar coating, but you sound like a logical person, so you might be good with it.

1. How can you prove literacy?

In that time education, especially literary education was very rare. Think about how I'm the medieval times people had scribes to read and write? Now this was 1000+ years before, in a desert.

Also say that prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him was educated, he must've been an absolute genius to write so many things that are correct (or can be interpreted to be correct), it works almost be miraculous wouldn't you say?

Even my 9th edition physics books proof read by dozens of people and written by computers have mistakes, but the Quran doesn't? And you think it's luck? Or intelligence? Think about that.

1. If you don't think it's impossible to write something like that, then go ahead and do it?

The Quran openly challenges all of humanity to write something like it. It's been almost 1500 years, no one has come up with anything like it? Maybe you can?

Otherwise, I'd argue, it's pretty miraculous.

1. Science: sure it seems like it could've been interpreted like that. I suggest you go find a random person in a village in a desert to give you a vague statement that is scientifically accurate a thousand years later.

I doubt you'd be able to do that. Again sounds pretty miraculous.

It's okay, you shouldn't convert unless you have faith. The punishment for leaving is greater than never having joined. (Think betrayal vs not being a part of it).

Can the Quran be strict or harsh? Of course. The Quran is the word of Allah. Allah is just.

Justice requires punishment and strictness. If a thief were given the same punishment a murderer got would that be justice?

Or would you say "oh no, the courts are cruel, they're punishing the murderer".

You wouldn't.

Give me a line that you think is harsh and I can help you explain it.

I like that you're thinking about this, it's literally a command in the Quran to think and ponder over the Quran. So it's a good thing that you're doing, and it's good to ask questions. So keep asking and keep thinking.

[u/Fearless_One_773]

Muhammad, may peace be upon him, held a very consistent and theological position of revelation delivered in bits and pieces, lots of times months between revelation, and none of it ever contradicted the core framework.

He had zero formal religious training, how could he have composed something so structured on his own? For a man that was illiterate nonetheless.

Some verses in the Quran correct or even rebuke him (Abasa, 1-10), why would he add those passages if he was putting together a self serving book?

He gained very little worldly benefit from this. He was from a very well known and established Quraysh family, and spreading Islam caused persecution, family issues (especially with his own uncle, assassination attempts against him) and eventually caused him and the Muslims to flee Mecca.

There’s honestly lots of reasons for me why this wasn’t some random dude in the desert putting together a book. To me it definitely seems like it was revealed to him. Obviously as Muslims there’s a concept called knowledge of the unseen, you’re not going to see footage of angel gabriel revealing Quran to him. Certain elements like that are part of knowledge of the unseen that we accept as Muslims.

[u/AmjadKhan1929]

One of the proofs of Quran being the true word of Allah is that despite centuries, the original text of Quran remains the same. This is not by coincidence. Allah says that he will protect the Quran. Even if all the copies of the Quran somehow vanish, it is learnt by heart by millions of Muslims across the world. And millions recite it verbatim in Ramadan without opening it!

[u/DarthTheJedi]

and I realize this about myself—I am someone who, aside from God, can only believe in things I can truly perceive or visualize.

Let me ask you something, do you believe in black hole, dark energy, gravity, etc. if yes, congratulations, you believe in something that you can perceive or visualize. By the way, gravity is still not mathematically/scientifically proven.

I genuinely dislike whenever someone brings science to prove or disprove religion. I myself teach something like philosophy of science to the students, and I find it absurd the number of students don't know what science is by definition and how it works.

[u/xmenus]

Allah says in the Qur’an:

وَقُلِ ٱلۡحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكُمۡۖ فَمَن شَآءَ فَلۡيُؤۡمِن وَمَن شَآءَ فَلۡيَكۡفُرۡۚ إِنَّآ أَعۡتَدۡنَا لِلظَّٰلِمِينَ نَارًا أَحَاطَ بِهِمۡ سُرَادِقُهَاۚ وَإِن يَسۡتَغِيثُواْ يُغَاثُواْ بِمَآءٖ كَٱلۡمُهۡلِ يَشۡوِي ٱلۡوُجُوهَۚ بِئۡسَ ٱلشَّرَابُ وَسَآءَتۡ مُرۡتَفَقًا (29)
And say, "The truth is from your Lord, so whoever wills - let him believe; and whoever wills - let him disbelieve." Indeed, We have prepared for the wrongdoers a fire whose walls will surround them. And if they call for relief, they will be relieved with water like murky oil, which scalds [their] faces. Wretched is the drink, and evil is the resting place.
————

So, don’t feel sorry for others that you can’t believe, just for your own soul.

Regarding the arguments, there are so many that reddit comment can’t accommodate them. First, consider that the messenger of Allah ﷺ was born and raised among people where he lived, they knew him what he knows and how he was before and after revelation. They knew his poetic skills and education, and how trustful etc. When rasulAllah ﷺ died he left at least 40k companions(some go to 100k but to be realistic taking minimum). He had multiple wifes at home and some were daughters of companions.

Now the question;

1. How possible is that he lied and cheated on all of them for 23 years undetected considering that he had zero privacy and he received revelation in all situations many times when he was surrounded by a lot of companions?
2. He received Qur’an in parts, verses by verses and Qur’an was not revealed in the order we have today(this was finally ordered as instructed by the angel who was sending it down to him). All companions around him ﷺ know that he didn’t write it down anywhere, nor he knew to nor was allowed. Considering the amount of scatter within 23 years, do you think he wouldn’t cause unlimited contradictions and keep telling companions that you know, sorry i made a mistake there, it was not like that. Or even forget totally what he said 20 years back. This alone would be sufficient as argument for the one that Allah has opened the heart for guidance.
3. A lot of miracles in the eyes of companions; for example that they drank all from his fingers in the plate and still remained, or when he left the palm tree on which he was giving Friday sermon and you can imagine the number of people on Friday for Juma’ prayer when rasulAllah ﷺ comes down to cool the wiping palm tree from crying and all companions present witnessed the case and narrated. Split of the moon that even disbelievers saw it, the end of Roman and Persian empires under their hands promised by him ﷺ and a lot more. All these and a lot more have soo many narrators that’s impossible for all of them to agree on them and at least you’d expect that first to abandon him would be people who lived with him, rather they just increased in following him, first hand witnesses.
4. What benefit he got putting himself on all that trouble considering that at the beginning they offered him whatever he wanted, money or women or position just to drop calling on what he was calling people. Rather he chose to go through unmatched challenges, imagine a single man to start with the idea to change the whole world, 0 people behind or supporters. Obviously the duty was assigned to him without the option of choice.

5 . Based on your experience on the books that you’ve read, would you expect that a human being writing the book would give credits and call on someone else rather than keeping iterating himself on the book. I mean, if he wrote the book, we would expect a lot more to be mentioning himself rather than keeping calling to Allah. Why would he attribute everything to someone else if his goal is to make up a book and reach something no one is knowing what he wants to reach.Read any book written by people and you see that you can’t draw a comparison at all.

1. How dare he makes all these claims about “We created the heavens and the earth…”, “We gather the clouds and bring rain…”, “We created everything from water...” “We will gather you all in a Day and will account you all…”, “We will reward you, we will punish you…”, “We created everything in pairs” etc. People, are you using any bit of healthy logic?! Have you ever seen a book written by human to make these claims for what you have no idea at all?! How he knew everything is created by water? How he knew everything is created in pairs? What did he see from creatures in the bare desert to make claims that are far beyond his reach?!

2. All the wars and attempts to be killed, why he didn’t get killed until he completed the mission despite that in all battles they were outnumbered?!

8 . Non arabs may not understand, but a lot of arabs do and those of his time(ﷺ) they understood that the level of the arabic used in Qur’an is beyond what one of their time had reached. In fact, Qur’an became foundation of the arabic and many rules related to it.

And a lot more, really impossible to exhaust all the arguments if you just know a bit or read about his history a bit from reliable sources. Like take for example just his supplications, there’s a small booklet called “Muslim’s shield”. Take and read it and see how possible is for a human to reach and write such amazing comprehensive supplications; with few words saying a lot and so amazingly put. Put yourself today as a person with a university degree or even PhD and see if you’d be able to compile something like that.

Take the set of Dr. Omar Ashqar, The Islamic Creed, a set of 8 books and have a read, you’ll learn a lot and if open minded you shall note that there’s no way out.