Very shortly after starting the Qur'an it became obvious that its greatest selling point is the beautiful poetry of the Arabic original, which is lost in translation. The content is repetitive, dull, both morally and theologically shallow, and, when not going on about the end of the world, mostly consists of Judeo-Christian myths and Arabian folklore clumsily slammed together, making an altogether unsatisfying mythology.
I have read so many better books - Star Maker, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Sandman, Paradise Lost, The Book of Job, Walden, Gulliver's Travels, The City and the Stars, etc - and none of these claim to be (a) the best book that has ever been written, or (b) the best book that can ever be written.
But the Qur'an does:
"Were humans and jinn to band together to produce a semblance of this Qur'an, they could not do so, even if they back one another up."
Muhammad was an illiterate merchant turned street preacher turned warlord, who lived in 7th century Arabia, making him the perfect judge as to whether he'd just dictated The Best Book That Can Ever Exist. However, it is uplifting to know that even in 7th century Arabia, a lot of people were calling Muhammad up on his bullshit:
"In this Qur'an, We have elucidated to mankind every sort of parable, but most people will assent to nothing but blasphemy. We have detailed in this Qur'an all manner of things, that they might ponder and remember, but it only increases them in their distaste of it. Those who disbelieve use false arguments in order to refute the truth. They have taken My verses, and the warnings they received, as a laughing matter."
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