The Qur'an is the religious text of Islam. It is widely regarded as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language. Muslims hold that the Qur'an is the verbal divine guidance and moral direction for mankind. Muslims also consider the original Arabic verbal text to be the final revelation of God and believe that the Qur'an was repeatedly revealed from Allah to Muhammad verbally through the angel Jibril (Gabriel) over a period of approximately 33 years; beginning in 610 CE.