As Muslims we believe that the Quran is a revelation from God, its origin is divine, and not man made. Now what good reasons are there to believe that the Quran is in fact the word of God, rather than the word of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)? Obviously those that don’t believe in the divine origin of the Quran will argue that it was simply created by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), this is in fact what his early opponents used to accuse him of.

There is a lot of good evidence when reading the Quran, that it wasn’t created by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and in this article we shall highlight some of these proofs.

Now if the Quran were invented by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), you would then expect the book to over praise him, and to consistently mention his name and so on. Yet in the Quran, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is mentioned by name only 4 times, prophets such as Jesus, Moses, Abraham peace be upon them all, and many others are mentioned by name more times than the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). This is indeed a very strange thing if the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had invented the Quran.

Moreover when reading the Quran, the Quran is not filled with over praising the prophet, the prophet is praised in some instances in the Quran, mainly to do with his religious commitment and good character, but the praise is never to the extreme. The Quran in fact goes out of it’s way to make people realize that Muhammad (pbuh) is not a divine figure, that he doesn’t have super special powers, and that he is a man just like everybody else.

The Quran is very clear to mention that we all belong to God, and were created to serve and worship God; the Quran doesn’t say we were created for the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). 

Something else we find missing from the Quran, which we would expect to find had the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) written the Quran, is major praising of his people, specifically the Qurayshi Arabs. This after all would have been the best and easiest way to convert most of the Qurayshi Arabs during his early ministry. The Qurayshi Arabs were very proud of their tribe, it was one of the best Arab tribes, one of the most honored and respected. Now if the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) invented the Quran you would have expected him to praise his people, of which he is a part of, he would have made verses that talk about how they are superior to all people’s and all Arabs.

Yet when reading the Quran, we find no such thing, and this is something we would expect to find because in the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), your tribal roots and the tribe you belonged to, the lineage, was something so important and special to the people. So had the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) been after his own interests, and wasn’t sincere, he would have without a doubt made verses in the Quran that exalt his Quraysh tribe over everybody else, but this doesn’t happen.

The Quran makes it very clear that God is the God of everybody, not just the Arabs, and more specifically the Quraysh Arabs. More to this point, in the Quran we actually find lots of stories about the Israelites, and the praise for figures amongst the Israelites. Now this is very strange if the Quran was invented by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), why would he recount stories about the Israelites and praising them, rather than doing the same thing amongst his own Arab people?

The Quran even goes onto praise Mary the mother of Jesus as being chosen above all women:

“Behold! the angels said: ‘O Mary! God hath chosen thee and purified thee – chosen thee above the women of all nations.'” (3:42)

Why would an Arab from one of the best and most noble Arab tribes, the Quraysh, be praising a woman from a different group, namely the Israelites? If the Quran was invented by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), we would expect him to praise his own women, mentioning them by name, as being the best, but the wives of the prophet and the women of the Quraysh in general are never mentioned by name. Instead the woman who is mentioned by name, being chosen above all other women of all nations, is Mary the mother of Jesus, who comes from the Israelites, and not the Arabs.

None of this makes sense to the logical mind if Muhammad (pbuh) invented the Quran. This point cannot be stressed enough, during the time of Muhammad (pbuh), your lineage, and the tribe you came from was so important and had a very special place, it was essentially what defined you. People took major pride in it; it was all about from whom you came from, and whom you belonged to. And the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) came from one of the best and most noble Arab lineages and tribe, the Quraysh, and more specifically the Banu Hashim, one of the foremost and most honorable and powerful Arab tribes.

So in that context, it makes no sense for a man to invent a book, that praises other people coming from other tribes and lineages, recounting their major events, their major figures, and calling one of their women by name (Mary), as being chosen above all other women and nations. This makes no sense at all if he invented the book.

If Muhammad (pbuh) invented the book, then it would be his people that would always be mentioned time and time again in praise, the Quraysh. It would be them that are called special, and the chosen ones, their women, and their leaders. In fact rather than over praising the Quraysh and its leaders, the Quran has many verses in condemnation against the Quraysh and their leaders. The Quran even condemns them for their tribalistic ways. So instead of praising these attributes, which is what we would expect if the Quran had been invented by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), the book actually condemns these things, and this is why the Quraysh were so opposed to Muhammad (pbuh).

In conclusion, from a logical and rational standpoint, it makes no sense that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) invented the Quran when we find these things. Some might argue well other Arabs invented the Quran, well that still wouldn’t make logical sense because if Arabs invented the book, then again we would expect the book to majorly praise the Arabs, name their figures, leaders, and women all by name as being the best, rather than recounting the incidents of the Israelites and their figures and their people.