Islam - Part 16: Quran - Word of God?

The Quran is the jewel of Islam. The "why" of Muslim belief, it is the prize of Muhammad and the foundation of the faith.  Its place in Islamic theology is that of Yeshua in Christian Theology.

Muslims claim their Quran is perfect in every way.  We've discussed how the believe that only Allah could have written it because of its literary excellence.

Quran 17:88 [Sahih International]: Say, “If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants.”

The basic challenge is repeated multiple times in the Quran. 

According to Muslims, this challenge was made to skeptical Arabs who were experts in poetry.  They were never able to produce anything as excellent and compelling as the Quran, and the challenge thus stands to this day.

Challenge accepted!

There is a modern book called al-Furqan al-Haqq ("The True Furqan"), published in 1999.

It was written in classical Arabic by Christian authors (under the pseudonyms Al Saffee and Al Mahdee) and translated into English by Anis Shorrosh. It deliberately imitates the style and cadence of the Quran while presenting Christian teaching instead of Islamic doctrine. It has 77 chapters and was produced specifically as a response to the challenge in Quran 17:88.

According to the translator and later Christian writers, when portions of it were read aloud in Quranic style in Arab Muslim areas, some passersby who heard it assumed it was the Quran and thanked the readers for reciting it.

The book exists, the attempt was made, and that particular reaction is reported by those involved with it.
Gerd R. Puin in a 1999 interview with Toby Lester in The Atlantic ("What Is the Koran?").

Puin, a specialist in Arabic orthography and early Quran manuscripts (including the Sana’a fragments), said: "The Koran claims for itself that it is ‘mubeen,’ or ‘clear,’ but if you look at it, you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn’t make sense. Many Muslims—and Orientalists—will tell you otherwise, of course, but the fact is that a fifth of the Koranic text is just incomprehensible."

He went on to note that this is why there has long been anxiety about translating it: if it can’t even be clearly understood in Arabic, it isn’t readily translatable.
Of course, all of this is apart from the subjectivity of the test and its ultimately non-sequitur nature: Who is to say whether one composition is more excellent than another? By what measure?