Since Islam's inception, a lot of people have claimed that the Qur'an's most renowned quality, its linguistic prowess, has been matched or surpassed, with the idea that doing so "refutes" Islam's claimed divine origin. In this thread I will delve deeper into some aspects that, in my opinion, render said claim rather mistaken.
Regardless of what one has to say about the theological, philosophical, or legislative content of the Qur'an, it remains the single most distinguished linguistic work in the Arabic language and, quite possibly, in any language as well, especially in terms of poetry. I will cite some examples as to why.
• First, the Qur'an is not all poetry, as it contains a considerable portion of prose, so poetic strength is not all it has going for it. Throughout its 114 surahs, the grammar, choice of words, and syntax are all concise, correct, and precise to the point of managing to be the primary reference in the Arabic language for all three. This is despite the fact that the Arab world has had some magnificent poetry over the centuries, dating all the way back to before Islam even appeared.
While not exhaustive in the slightest, three of the primary factors of what makes an Arabic poem well-written are (in no particular order)
1) sound grammar
2) contextually proper use of rhetorical and poetic devices, and
3) being able to express vivid and/or precise meanings without using many words.
Again, the Qur'an fulfills all three criteria to the point where it is the Arabic language's primary reference thereof. For example, the shortest surah in the Qur'an, Surat al-Kawthar, has only three verses but more poetic devices than some poems of much greater length. This is without taking poetic liberty either, since the grammar and syntax are perfectly sound as well.
• Second, the Qur'an wasn't just an excellent linguistic work for its time; it has also stood the test of time to this day. The Arabic language has had some extremely talented and skilled poets and writers, so it is more than a little difficult for a single book to remain the magnum opus among a language's poetic and literary endeavors for over 1,400 years. And with how long it is, the fact that its grammar is as sound as it is all throughout makes it stand out further.
• Third, Arabic has a diacritical system that relies on grammar: the pronunciation of words can change depending on where they are in a sentence or what meaning they serve—the same word could be pronounced differently depending on whether it functions as a subject or an object in a sentence, for example. This has led some poets to take poetic liberty with grammar in order to maintain rhyme, but the Qur'an doesn't do that: it manages to maintain both rhyme and grammatical soundness. So it also excels in terms of how it employs words, not just in how it chooses them.
Since the Qur'an basically can't be translated without sacrificing many of the qualities I mentioned above, this post only scratches the surface of what's there. One would need to understand Arabic and be familiar with Arabic grammar in order to fully appreciate the Qur'an's linguistic excellence. It seems to me that the most plausible of all of Islam's claims is indeed that the Qur'an is linguistically unparalleled.
Discuss.
I cannot judge the poetry of Holy Quran.
What I understand about all scripture is that they point to what mind-senses cannot know. For example, Holy Quran repeats very often "Allah is the seer of all. Allah is the knower of all." I think that a very small proportion of people comprehend what that means. And so with the Bible and the Vedas.