But when it comes to parsing holy writ, there is one big difference between Islam and most other text-based faiths.

ECONOMIST: Muslims and the Koran

Such loyalty will be balm to the souls of his forty million readers, who have come to accept the book as holy writ.

NEWYORKER: The Da Vinci Code

According to the holy writ of the CBO, only the next 10 fiscal years matter, and changes in tax rates have no impact on decisions to work, save, and invest.

FORBES: Paul Ryan Brilliantly Evokes Clueless Conservatism

Morris Lapidus's hotels were loved by, or at least charmed, almost everyone except writers on architecture, who saw them as a blasphemous assault on the holy writ of austere functionality.

ECONOMIST: Morris Lapidus

So when Americans despair of Washington, of Congress, of their politicians, their constitution, they should remember they are despairing of their constitution, which so many venerate as if it were Holy Writ.

BBC: A system designed to be this way

Medieval Europe's map makers did not suppose that they knew the exact co-ordinates of Paradise, but they wanted to show that it was indeed on Earth, as holy writ and the church declared.

ECONOMIST: Modern man knows where he stands. His map tells him