In his book, Good Argumentation with the Doubters of Islam from the Qur’an, the Torah, the Gospels and Science, Sheikh `Abdul-Majid Subh replied to the question “Your Book, the Qur’an, contains several contradictions; it is incoherent, and it comprises numerous repetitions. How do you regard it as a miracle then?” as follows:

“Your question is not a novel one. Rather, it is based on the false claim of the preceding orientalists that the Qur’an is the work of Muhammad. By the same token, your question can be traced back to the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) when the Divine Revelation was descending. In this connection, I would like you to reflect on what the Glorious Qur’an itself has recorded of similar questions, saying, “When We substitute one revelation for another, and Allah knows best what He reveals (in stages), they say, thou art but a forger: but most of them understand not. Say, “The Holy Spirit has brought the revelation from thy Lord in truth, in order to strengthen those who believe, and as a guide and glad tidings to Muslims.” We know indeed that they say, it is a man that teaches him. The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notably foreign, while this is Arabic, pure and clear. Those who believe not in the Signs of Allah, Allah will not guide them, and theirs will be a grievous penalty. It is those who believe not in the Signs of Allah, that forge falsehood: it is they who lie.” (An-Nahl: 101–105)

“But the disbelievers say: “Naught is this but a lie which he has forged, and others have helped him at it. In truth it is they who have put forward an iniquity and a falsehood.” And they say: “Tales of the ancients, which he has caused to be written: and they are dictated before him morning and evening.” Say: “The (Qur’an) was sent down by Him Who knows the Mystery (that is) in the heavens and the earth: verily He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Al-Furqan: 4–6)

Now, it becomes clear that those who claim that the Qur’an is the work of Muhammad blindly imitate their predecessors.

The Glorious Qur’an, the very words of Allah, has challenged all mankind to produce even the like of its smallest surah (chapter). It contains endless and astonishing miracles that stun the fair-minded scientists and prove its Divine nature.

In his well-known The Bible, the Qur’an and Science, Dr. Maurice Bucaille compares scientific data and statements contained in the Scriptures—the Qur’an and the Bible. The results stunned the author: the Qur’an, most definitely, does not contain a single proposition at variance with the most firmly established modern knowledge. In the conclusion, Dr. Bucaille says, “The comparison of several Biblical and Qur’anic narrations of the same subject shows the existence of fundamental differences between statements in the former, which are scientifically unacceptable, and declarations in the latter, which are in perfect agreement with modern data: this was the case of the Creation and Flood, for example.”

Among the fruits of this study is that the author embraced Islam, for he unswervingly believed in the Divinity of the Glorious Qur’an. In his book, Dr. Bucaille discovered numerous contradictions between the Bible and the scientifically established facts.

However, as to the Christian missionaries’ claim that the Glorious Qur’an is “incoherent”, it is null and void for they have no knowledge of the Arabic stylistic features. In spite of their eloquence and mastering of Arabic, the Arabs, who belied the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), never depicted the Qur’an as incoherent or contradictory to the Arabic stylistic rules.

Finally, as to your claim that the Qur’an contains numerous repetitions, it is groundless for the above-mentioned reason, namely, that you have no profound knowledge of the Arabic stylistic rules. In fact, the Glorious Qur’an has no repetition, but it sometimes states the same event or story in more than one location. Nevertheless, it adds each time more and more pieces of information to the narration.

Furthermore, the Glorious Qur’an always varies its mode of expression so as to suit the context of speech as well as the nature of the addressees. So, it uses diverse modes of expression: examples, briefness, expatiation, threat, promise, clarity, metaphor, and so on.

In fact, variation in the Glorious Qur’an was one of the challenges faced by the eloquent Arabs when they were called—and they assuredly failed—to produce even a single verse similar to any of the Qur’an’s.