Jews, Christians and Muslims all claim their holy books to have been the revealed words of God. Muslims also believe that the Qu’ran is the last of the revealed books, sent through Muhammad, who could neither read nor write.

The first revelation came in AD 610. He was forty years old and on a spiritual sojourn on a hill outside Mecca when he was thunderstruck by an overwhelming presence — that of Archangel Gabriel — ordering him to “Read.” He said he did not know how. “Read.” Again, he said he couldn’t. “Read,” commanded the Angel the third time, and proceeded to pronounce the first revelation:

Read in the name of your Lord who created

He created man from a clot

Read, your Lord is most honorable

Who taught you to write with the pen (96:1-4).

Muhammad had trouble believing he was the chosen one but was convinced by family and friends that he was. The revelations, burnt into his heart, came over a period of twenty-two years, five months and fourteen days. A third came during his days in Mecca, and two-thirds during his decade in Medina (622-32).

To those who thought Muhammad was a soothsayer or a sorcerer or that he might have contrived the Scripture, Allah challenged the doubters:

If they say, “he invented it,” say, “then bring 10 surahs [chapters] like it of your devising” (11:13).

And if you are in doubt as to that which We have revealed to Our servant, produce a chapter like it (2:23).

Muhammad challenged the best poets and storytellers of the day to match the breathtaking elegance and the broad sweep of the divine text. They couldn’t.

Contemporary sensibilities are not immune to the magnetic force of the Qur’an. Stories abound of people entering Islam after listening to a recitation of it, or reading it in translation. Cat Stevens, the British folk singer, converted and became Yusuf Islam after he read a copy given to him by his brother. Boxer Cassius Clay also converted after reading the Qur’an and became Muhammad Ali.

The Prophet’s followers memorized the Qur’an and inscribed it on stones, date palm branches, hides, the shoulder bones of camels and slates. After his death, the Qur’an was formally compiled under his successor Abu Bakr, the first caliph. There was a dispute over whether it had been transcribed accurately. So Umar, the second caliph, had it redone, employing a more vigorous methodology. Detractors still regurgitate that dispute and spice it with the assertion that if the Qur’an was God’s words, why was it argued over? The answer, say the believers, is that the Qur’an was indeed God’s, but the arguments were those of humans. The answer, from the perspective of modern democracies that guarantee freedom of religion, is that it is none of the state’s business what any believers believe, as long as they are not breaking the law of the land.