The Criterion
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE
[25:32]
Now they who are bent on denying the truth are wont to ask, "Why has not the Qur’ān been bestowed on him from on high in one single revelation?"
[It has been revealed] in this manner so that We might strengthen thy heart thereby – for We have so arranged its component parts that they form one consistent whole


* v.32 : Lit., “in one piece” or “as one statement” (jumlatan wāhidatan) – implying, in the view of the opponents of Islam, that the gradual, step-by-step revelation of the Qur’ān points to its having been “composed” by Muhammad to suit his changing personal and political requirements.
* I.e., free of all inner contradictions (cf. 4:82). See also 39:23, where the Qur’ān is spoken of as “fully consistent within itself.” The concise phrase rattalnāhu tartīlan comprises the parallel concepts of “putting the component parts [of a thing] together and arranging them well” as well as “endowing it with inner consistency.” Inasmuch as full consistency and freedom from contradictions in a message spread over twenty-three years of a life as full of movement and drama as that of the Prophet does give a clear indication of its God-inspired quality, it is bound to strengthen the faith of every thinking believer: and herein lies, according to the Qur’ān itself, the deepest reason for its slow, gradual revelation. (When applied to the reciting of the Qur’ān – as in 73:4 – the term tartīl refers to the measured diction and the thoughtful manner in which it ought to be enunciated.)