Arabs-they who had embraced the worst habits and worshiped the idols, and who were preoccupied with tribal warfare and the vainglorious boasting of the pre-Islamic age,٩ instead of pursuing knowledge and rectifying their souls. With the Quran as a guide, they became, in a very short time, a community significant in its learning and history, and superior in its customs. Whoever studies the history of Islam and probes into the biographies of the Prophets Companions, who met their martyrdom in his presence, would realize the greatness of the Quran in the effectiveness of its guid‌ ance and the extensiveness of its influence. Indeed, it was the Quran that pulled them out of the abyss of the age of ignorance (jahiliyya, the pre-Islamic age) [and brought them) to the heights of knowledge and perfection, and made them be devoted to the cause of invigorating the Sharia, with no regret about wealth, children, and wives they left behind.
The words of ai-Miqdad to the Messenger of God. when the Messenger consulted
the believers about setting out for Badr, are a fair corroboration of what we have said:

٠ Prophet of God, carry out what God has commanded you to do, for we are with you. By God, we shall not say what the Children of Israel said to Moses: "Go, you and your Lord, and fight. We are slackers here" [Q. ٥:٢٤). But we say: "Go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed, we are with you as fighters. I swear by the One who has sent you with the truth, if you march us toward Birk al-Ghimad [across the sea]-by which al‌ Miqdad meant the capital of Abyssynia-"we shall endure it with you until you attain it." The Prophet of God (peace be upon him and his progeny) said kind words to him and prayed for him. ١٠
AI-Miqdad was only one of the Muslims to express his belief and determination, and to dedicate himself with heart and soul in order to vitalize the truth and destroy associationism (shirk). Many Muslims were of this faith, overtlowing with sincerity.
Undoubtedly, it was the Quran that enlightened the hearts of those who had been devoted to the idols and who had engaged in tribal warfare and pre-Islamic vain‌ glory. It made them hard on the rejecters of faith and merciful to each other, each of them valuing his companions life over his own. Hence, by virtue of Islam. the Muslims conquered, in eighty years, more than others conquered in eight hundred. Whoever compares the lives of the Prophets Companions with those of earlier prophets would realize that therein lies a divine mystery. and that the beginning of this mystery is the Book of God, which shone on the souls and cleansed the hearts and the spirits with a lofty faith and a steadfast doctrine.
Look at the history of the disciples of Jesus, and at the history of other compan‌ ions of the prophets, and you will see what their ways were. They abandoned their prophets under adversity and betrayed them for fear of destruction! As a result, those earlier prophets had no power over the oppressors of their time, but used to hide from them in caves and ravines. This is the second attribute that gives the Quran merit over all other miracles.
Having learned from the preceding that the Quran is a divine miracle of eloquence and style, it should be added that its inimitability is not confined to that. Rather, it is a miracle pertaining to the Lord and a manifold proof of the prophethood of the one to whom it was revealed. It is appropriate for us at this point to present some of these aspects [of the Qurans inimitability], however briefly.