أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ ٱلْقُرْءَانَ ۚ وَلَوْ كَانَ مِنْ عِندِ غَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ لَوَجَدُوا۟ فِيهِ ٱخْتِلَٰفًۭا كَثِيرًۭا ﴿٨٢﴾
Will they not then ponder on the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah they would have found therein much incongruity.
Why do Muslims believe the Quran is the word of God?
Short answer
Muslims believe it for several reasons: the Quran's unmatched style, its internal consistency over 23 years of revelation, its accurate teachings about God and the human being, the changes it made in those who followed it, and its own challenge to anyone who doubts it to bring something like it.
The fuller answer
The Quran invites people to reflect on it and says that if it were from other than God they would find in it many contradictions. It makes a challenge to produce a chapter like it, and Muslims say that the challenge has been open for 1,400 years. Its Arabic is considered a miracle of eloquence even by non-Muslim Arabic scholars.
A Muslim's conviction is not only intellectual. Many describe a personal experience of reading it and finding in it answers to their own questions. Muslims welcome people to read it, in translation, with an open mind and ask questions of it.
From the Quran
وَإِن كُنتُمْ فِى رَيْبٍۢ مِّمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَىٰ عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا۟ بِسُورَةٍۢ مِّن مِّثْلِهِۦ وَٱدْعُوا۟ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ ﴿٢٣﴾
And if ye are in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto Our slave (Muhammad), then produce a surah of the like thereof, and call your witness beside Allah if ye are truthful.
قُل لَّئِنِ ٱجْتَمَعَتِ ٱلْإِنسُ وَٱلْجِنُّ عَلَىٰٓ أَن يَأْتُوا۟ بِمِثْلِ هَٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانِ لَا يَأْتُونَ بِمِثْلِهِۦ وَلَوْ كَانَ بَعْضُهُمْ لِبَعْضٍۢ ظَهِيرًۭا ﴿٨٨﴾
Say: Verily, though mankind and the jinn should assemble to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof though they were helpers one of another.
From the Sunnah
The authentic hadith behind this answer, from Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and the Sunan with the grade of the scholars of hadith. Open a reference to read it in the hadith library of this site.
Arabic text
حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ يُوسُفَ، حَدَّثَنَا اللَّيْثُ، حَدَّثَنَا سَعِيدٌ الْمَقْبُرِيُّ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم " مَا مِنَ الأَنْبِيَاءِ نَبِيٌّ إِلاَّ أُعْطِيَ مَا مِثْلُهُ آمَنَ عَلَيْهِ الْبَشَرُ، وَإِنَّمَا كَانَ الَّذِي أُوتِيتُ وَحْيًا أَوْحَاهُ اللَّهُ إِلَىَّ فَأَرْجُو أَنْ أَكُونَ أَكْثَرَهُمْ تَابِعًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ".
This answer follows the mainstream Sunni understanding and is general learning, not a fatwa. Where Muslims differ, the answer says so. Have a question of your own? Write to us.