/lit/ - Literature

The problem is that the Qur'an is very unlike the Bible or other sacred texts, in a lot of ways.
It's difficult for a non-Muslim to jump into it by reading it from the start, which is what you would do with a "translation".
Pic related. It gives translations (sometimes more than one) of some of the earliest suras, which tend to appear closer to the end of the book. These are the suras that kids learn first, and the suras that are more likely to be read at recitations.

Read this.
I understood it a lot better after reading this.
Some random things that I remember from it (mistakes due to me):
The earliest revelations tend to be toward the end of the book.
The chapters generally get shorter as you go on.
There is no overarching story, as in a lot of the Old or New Testament books; don't look for one.
Some passages are extremely poetic, including sound figures, allusions to other verses, allusions to older poetry, and passages that have never been translated satisfactorily into other languages.
Children learn the Quran often by memorizing these earliest revelations.
There are rules about how to recite the Quran.
There are Quran-reciting contests and people that are experts at reciting it.

I can't remember whether this story was in the book, or if I heard it from someone else: the writer was on a crowded bus in (I think) Cairo. Everyone was hot and annoyed. Someone put on a tape of a Quran recitation, and everyone became calmer and more peaceful.