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I'm learning Arabic right now, and the Arabs seem to all hold this book in high regard. Obviously, many for merely religious reasons. However, I've found numerous people that reference it as some sort of perfected grammar. Is there any reason, linguistically, to hold this book in such high regard? Aside from its mythological value.

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Somebody here was talking about it a few days ago and compared reading it in English to reading it in Arabic. She says in Arabic it is poetry but the translation, trying to stay as literal as possible, lacks the poetry. She seemed to be an atheist raised as a Muslim. – hippietrail Nov 1 '12 at 16:24

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For many (most?) languages, there is such a thing as a standard variety among a number of dialects.

For English, which has several standards, some of these would be Standard English and General American; for German it's Standard or High German.

For Arabic, the standard is Standard Arabic, which is not what is actually spoken everyday in the Arabic world, which consists of several countries speaking different dialects, but what you find in the Koran. The Koran, if you will, sets the standard for correct Arabic.

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If there is any perception of it being "perfect" Arabic, then it would stem from the prestige associated with the book itself.

It may also be a similar case to the language of the bible, where its words are deemed to be those of God. So to deny its status as being perfect would be to suggest God is not perfect.

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The perception comes from the fact that the Koran itself claims to be perfect in every possibly way, and thus, is a miracle, by itself ;-) – prash Nov 4 '12 at 0:42
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One major sociolinguistic difference between the Qur'an and the (various) Bible(s) is that the Qur'an is usually read in the same language it was written in, Arabic; the Bible is usually read in a different language than it was written in (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). – Mark Beadles Nov 4 '12 at 23:05

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