- The Koran is the religious text of Islam and is revered by all Muslims around the world. It is the supposed literal, word for word, perfect revelation of Allah given to Mohammed, the founder and prophet of Islam.
- Around 610 A.D. Mohammed claimed to have received his first of many revelations from Allah, supposedly delivered to him by the angel Gabriel while Mohammed was praying in a cave near Mecca. He would receive these revelations over a period of 22 years.
- Mohammed reported that when he received these revelations he would go into seizures. He even feared initially that he might be demon possessed.
- Mohammed’s revelations were originally delivered orally to his followers. They were only compiled and arranged in the Koran after his death. This is why the Koran is in no chronological order. Mohammed’s followers simply compiled his revelations, the 114 Suras of the Koran, in order from the longest to the shortest.
- Muslims claim that the Koran is a miraculous work of Allah since Mohammed could not read or write. They claim that Allah gave these revelations to an illiterate Mohammed so that all would know they were of divine origin and not from man.
- The Muslims’ claims for the Koran, however, are seriously flawed. Not only does the Koran contain numerous internal inconsistencies, contradictions, historical and scientific errors, but modern day archaeology and textual criticism has demonstrated conclusively that Mohammed borrowed much of the Koran from pre-existing written texts and oral traditions found in Arabian and Judeo-Christian culture.
For more information on the Koran and the religion of Islam, please check out the documentary DVD, Islam Rising, available in our online store.