Is it okay to ask who wrote the Quran?

Maybe you saw a video online. Someone said: Muhammad was a clever man who wrote the Quran himself. Or: he copied it from the Bible. Or a friend asked you: how do you know it came from God, and not from a person?

These are fair questions. Asking them is not a sin. The Quran asks this question itself. It quotes the people who said Nabi ﷺ made it up, and then it answers them. Allah says: will they not think about the Quran?¹. He sent it down so that people would think about its verses².

So this chapter does not ask you to switch off your mind. It asks you to look at the evidence, calmly, one step at a time.

The short answer

If a man wrote the Quran, we would expect certain things. We see the opposite:

• The challenge was never met. The best speakers of Arabic were told to bring one surah like it. They fought Nabi ﷺ for years instead.
• He could not read or write, and had no fame as a poet for forty years.
• He did not control it. Sometimes he had to wait a long time for an answer.
• It corrects him, in front of everyone.
• It does not go against itself, and it changed the people who heard it.

Any one point alone could be argued about. All of them together are very hard to explain if a person wrote it.

What is the Quran's challenge?

Some people in Makkah said: he made it up. The Quran answered with a challenge, in steps:

• Bring a speech like it, if you are telling the truth³.
• Bring ten surahs like it, and call anyone you can to help you⁴.
• Bring just one surah like it⁵⁶. The shortest surah, al-Kawthar, is only three short verses.

Then it said something very bold: if you do not do it, and you never will⁷. Even if all humans and jinn worked together, they could not bring anything like it⁸.

Why does this matter?

• The Arabs were masters of language. Poetry was their pride. The challenge went to the very people best able to meet it.
• They had every reason to try. The leaders of Makkah lost power, money and family members because of Islam. One short surah would have been far easier than years of war. They chose war.
• One success would have ended Islam. The Quran said openly: you will never do it. If anyone had, the whole claim would have fallen.

Nabi ﷺ said every prophet was given signs that made people believe, and what I was given is the revelation Allah sent to me⁹. Unlike the signs of earlier prophets, anyone can still open this one and read it today.

What does "like it" mean? Most scholars say the miracle is in the Quran itself: its words, style, sound and meaning together. A small number of early scholars said Allah held people back from meeting the challenge. Either way, the challenge was given, and it was not met.

Could Nabi ﷺ have learned it from books?

Nabi ﷺ could not read or write. The Quran calls him the unlettered prophet¹⁰. It says to him: you did not read any book before this, and you did not write one with your right hand. If you had, those who reject the truth would have had a reason to doubt¹¹.

His people knew this. No one in Makkah said: we saw him studying books. When the angel first said read, he answered: I am not a reader¹².

For forty years before the Quran, people knew him as honest and trustworthy. But no one knew him as a poet or a speaker. Then, at forty, he began to recite words the best poets could not match. Allah told him to say: I lived among you a whole lifetime before this. Do you not use your minds?¹³. In other words: you watched me grow up. Where would this have come from?

Did he copy it from the Bible, or from a teacher?

The Quran tells some of the same stories as the Torah and the Bible: Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Isa and others. So some say he copied them. People said this in his time too: old stories he had written down¹⁷.

Why are some stories the same? Allah sent revelation to many prophets: We sent revelation to you as We sent it to Nuh and the prophets after him¹⁸. Two books from the same Lord will share stories. The Quran says it confirms the books before it and stands as a judge over them¹⁹. See Allah's books.

Why it does not look copied

• He had no way to read them. He could not read²⁰. Historians have not found a Bible in Arabic from his time. Waraqah wrote in Hebrew letters²¹.
• The teacher they named did not speak good Arabic. They said a man was teaching him. The Quran answers: that man speaks a foreign tongue, and this is clear Arabic²².
• It corrects, it does not copy. One example: in the Quran, Harun (Aaron) did not make the golden calf. A man called as-Samiri made it, and Harun warned the people against it²³.
• It tells what his people did not know. After the story of Nuh, Allah says: you did not know it, and nor did your people, before this²⁴.

We say this with respect. Muslims believe in all of Allah's prophets and the books He first sent. Our point is simple: the Quran is not a copy of anything.

Was he a poet, or a clever man who made it up?

His enemies could not agree on what to call him: a poet, a magician or a madman. One of them said: this is only magic from old times. It is only the words of a man²⁵. The Quran answers: it is not the words of a poet²⁶, and your companion is not mad²⁷.

His own words sound different. We have thousands of hadith: his own words as a man. Scholars of Arabic have long noted that his speech and the Quran sound clearly different. Keeping two styles apart for 23 years, without ever mixing them, is very hard for anyone.

He did not control it

• It was heavy on him. Aisha saw sweat on his forehead when revelation came, on a very cold day²⁸.
• He had to wait for it. Some Jews asked him about the ruh (the soul). He stayed silent until revelation came: say: the soul is from my Lord's command, and you have been given only a little knowledge²⁹³⁰.
• Once he waited a whole month. People spread a lie about his wife Aisha. It hurt his whole family. Yet for a month, no revelation came about it³¹. A man making up verses could have ended that pain on the first day.
• He was told not to rush it. Early on, he moved his lips fast to hold on to the words. Allah said: do not move your tongue to hurry with it. It is on Us to gather it and to make you recite it³²³³.

The Quran even warns him: if he had made up any words and said they were from Us, We would have seized him³⁴. A man making it up would not write that about himself.

Why would an author blame himself?

Many people do not expect this: the Quran corrects Nabi ﷺ. He recited those verses to everyone, and Muslims still read them in salah today.

• The blind man. He turned away from a poor blind man to keep talking to a leader of Makkah. Allah sent down: he frowned and turned away³⁵³⁶. The full story is below.
• The prisoners of Badr. He chose to free the prisoners for a ransom. A verse came saying this was not the better choice³⁷, and he wept³⁸.
• Honey at home. To please his wives, he promised to stop drinking honey, which he liked. A verse came: O Prophet, why do you forbid yourself what Allah has made halal for you?³⁹⁴⁰.

About another verse that corrected him in a family matter⁴¹, Aisha said: if he had hidden anything, he would have hidden this verse⁴².

A man inventing a book for power or respect would make himself look perfect. Instead, the Quran shows him as a servant of Allah, taught and corrected by his Lord, in front of everyone, forever.

Does the Quran contradict itself?

Allah says: will they not think about the Quran? If it had been from anyone other than Allah, they would have found many contradictions in it⁴⁷.

The Quran came bit by bit over 23 years: in Makkah when Muslims were weak, in Madinah when they had a city, in war and in peace, in grief and in joy. Anyone who speaks for 23 years through all that will change his mind or say things that clash. The Quran's message stays the same from start to end: worship Allah alone, do good, and get ready to meet Him.

What about verses people say clash?

• Most are about context. One verse speaks about one situation, another about a different one. Read in full, they fit.
• Some rules came in steps. Alcohol was made haram in stages. First: its harm is bigger than its benefit⁴⁸. Then: do not come to salah drunk⁴⁹. Then: stay away from it completely⁵⁰. That is a wise teacher, not a contradiction.
• Scholars have answered these questions for centuries. If you see a claim online, read the full verse and ask someone with knowledge. See How to look for answers.

What did the Quran do to the people who heard it?

The Quran did not only win arguments. It changed hearts, even the hearts of its enemies.

• Jubayr ibn Mut'im came to Madinah as an enemy, about the prisoners of Badr. He heard Nabi ﷺ recite Surah at-Tur. At the verses about who created them, he said: my heart was about to fly⁵¹. That was when iman (faith) first settled in my heart, he said⁵².
• The leaders of Makkah feared it. They told each other: do not listen to this Quran, and make noise over it, so you can win⁵³. People do not fear words that have no power.
• They feared a man reciting and crying. Abu Bakr recited the Quran outside his house and wept as he read. The women and children of the idol worshippers gathered around him, amazed. The leaders told him to stop, saying: we are afraid he will affect our women and children⁵⁴.
• Even idol worshippers bowed down. Once Nabi ﷺ recited Surah an-Najm and went into sujud (prostration). The Muslims and the idol worshippers there went down with him⁵⁵.

In about 23 years, the Quran turned warring tribes into one people. Allah describes its effect: the skin of those who fear their Lord shivers from it. Then their skin and their hearts soften to the remembrance of Allah⁵⁶.

What can we not fully prove?

We want to be honest with you:

• The beauty of the Arabic is hard to feel in a translation. A translation gives the meaning, not the sound and power. Without Arabic, you are trusting history: the masters of the language could not meet the challenge. That is fair to trust, but it is not the same as feeling it.
• No single argument forces belief. Someone can always offer another story for each point. The strength is in all the signs together: the challenge, his life, the way the Quran corrects him, its effect, and how it was kept safe (see Has the Quran been kept the same?).
• We do not need "science miracle" claims. Some Muslims say certain verses match modern science. Many scholars are careful about this, because science changes and verses can be stretched. The Quran is a book of guidance, not a science textbook. See Islam and science.
• Guidance is from Allah. Arguments can clear the way. But iman is a light Allah puts in the heart. So we think, and we also make dua.

What can you do with this doubt?

• Read the Quran yourself, with the meaning. Not only clips online. Start with a short surah in our Quran reader.
• Listen to it recited well. Many people say the sound alone moved them, even without Arabic.
• Read his life. See the Seerah and How do we know Muhammad ﷺ was a prophet?
• Ask, and take your time. Write your question down and ask an imam or teacher you trust. It is okay not to have every answer today.
• Make dua: O Allah, show me the truth, and help me follow it.

If your doubts come with deep sadness or worry that will not go away, please talk to someone today: family, an imam, a doctor or a counselor. See Is it normal to have doubts?

Common questions

I read the Quran in English and it did not move me. Is it nothing special?

No. A translation carries the meaning, not the sound and style the challenge is about. Many people find the Quran grows on them when they read slowly and learn a little Arabic. Try listening to a good reciter while you read the meaning.

Someone online says he wrote a surah like the Quran. Has the challenge been met?

A few people in history claimed this. Their words did not last, and experts of Arabic did not accept them as equal. Copying the shape of a surah is easy. Matching its language, meaning and effect together is what the challenge asks⁵⁷.

Did Nabi ﷺ ever learn to write later in life?

All scholars agree he could not read or write before the Quran came⁵⁸. At the treaty of Hudaybiyyah, a report says he took the paper and wrote, though he did not write well⁵⁹. Scholars differ on what this means. Many say he had someone write for him. Some say he wrote a few letters as a miracle. Either way, he did not learn from books.

Could a group of people have written it for him?

The Quran says even all humans and jinn together could not bring anything like it⁶⁰. It also came in answer to events as they happened, often in front of people. No Companion ever said: I helped write it. His enemies looked hard for anything to use against him, and never found such a team.

Do I have to prove all this before I can be a Muslim?

No. Most Muslims never study these arguments, and their faith is real. These points are here for when a doubt comes, or someone asks you. Your belief, your salah and your good deeds matter most.