The Quran

I'm not Muslim, but to be a good Apologist, one must understand and be knowledgeable about many subjects--particularly the beliefs of the people you are converting.

The Quran (/kɔrˈɑːn/ kor-ahn; Arabic: القرآن‎ al-qur'ān, literally meaning "the recitation"; also romanized Qurʾan or Koran or Qur'aan) is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God (Arabic: الله‎, Allah).

Muslims believe the Quran was verbally revealed by God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel (Jibril), gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609 CE, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad, a proof of his prophethood, and the culmination of a series of divine messages that started with the messages revealed to Adam and ended with Muhammad.

According to the traditional narrative, several companions of Muhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing down the revelations. Shortly after Muhammad's death, the Quran was compiled by his companions who wrote down and memorized parts of it. These codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version now known as Uthman's codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran we have today. However, the existence of variant readings, with mostly minor and some significant variations, and the early unvocalized Arabic script mean the relationship between Uthman's codex to both the text of today's Quran and to the revelations of Muhammad's time is still unclear.