I know what you mean. I cannot read Arabic, but I have read a book about the styles and themes of the Quran, and it truly is extraordinary in its power to describe and the intensity and power behind it, not to mention the utter beauty of it.
The reason why I think Islam has a difficult time tolerating criticism of it is because of its absolute and adamantine doctrines. The more absolute the claims of a religion are, the more vulnerable it is to criticism, because it has to defend those absolutist claims on a weak basis. It is known according to mainstream Islamic tradition, for instance, that Muhammad proposed to a six year old girl when he was in his early fifties and he had sexual intercourse with her (Aisha) when she was nine years old. And mainstream orthodox Muslims know that, but at the same time they have very strong emotional attachments to the prophet Muhammad, so of course once this fact for instance is brought to light their insecurities are going to manifest themselves in the form of rage and even violence.
Back to the first point of my response, there are certain problems with automatically considering the Quran divine because of its extraordinary linguistic qualities. One is the presence of unscientific verses in the Quran, such as the embryological verses for instance. Another problem is the moral flaws present in many Quranic verses, such as the verses which can bring about a proclivity of anti-Semitism in the Muslim, etc. Another verse noted for its moral flaw is the verse condoning marriages to pre-pubescent females.
I, and I am saying this as an ex-Muslim myself, believe that the Quran needs to be placed in its proper historical context in order for it to be studied and thus critically analyzed. Once we do that, we can penetrate the secrets of this powerful book, and unlock its very heart.