Al- Quran
The Holy Book of Islam
The Qur’an (also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, or Al-Qur’an) is the central religious text of Islam. Without the doubt the Qur’an is the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind towards salvation. The Quran is the last message of God to mankind. Its content can be said to be the manual of life for all human being. Whoever wonders about the purpose of life and why we are here and what is out Job here, or better say Quran clearly explain that where you are coming from what are you doing here in this universe and were you are heading off. Help any believer or nun believers to find his way to hell or heaven. Anyone who put his or her trust in this book will find it to be an amazing guide towards excellence inspiration, abundance and benefits.
This is˺ a Book which We have revealed to you ˹O Prophet˺ so that you may lead people out of darkness and into light, by the Will of their Lord, to the Path of the Almighty, the Praiseworthy Q: 14:1.
This ˹Quran˺ is an insight from your Lord—a guide and a mercy for those who believe.” Q:7:203.
……the Quran was revealed as a guide for humanity with clear proofs of guidance and the decisive authority…..Q: 2:185.
This Qur’an could not have been invented (by anyone) apart from God, but confirms what was (revealed) before it, a fuller explanation of the Book—wherein there is no doubt—from the Lord of the Worlds. (Quran: 10: 37 23).
God has sent down the fairest discourse as a Book, some parts of which confirm and resemble others, whereat shiver the skins of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts soften to the remembrance of God. That is God’s guidance. (Quran: 39: 23).
It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong). (Quran: Chapter 3: Verse 3).
In truth We have sent the Quran to you, confirming all the previous heavenly books that were revealed before you and bearing witness to them. (Quran: Chapter 5: Verse 48).
“And there are, certainly, among the People of the Book [Jews and Christians], those who believe in God, in the revelation to you, and in the revelation to them, bowing in humility to God: They will not sell the Signs of God for a miserable gain! For them is a reward with their Lord, and God is swift in account. (The Noble Quran, 3:199)”
Muslims consider the text in its original Arabic to be the literal word of Allah, revealed to Muhammad the prophet of Islam over a period of twenty-three years and view the Qur’an as God’s final commands and advice to mankind. The content of this book, however, deals with entire aspect of human life in this world and hereafter.
Qur’an is the collection of the revelation that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad from Al-mighty God. It is called the book of God. Quran has it own characteristic style of writing. It is not like the books that has been written in contemporary time and is not chapterised in the same way as any books that has been published. Many different subjects are addressed in each chapter, or Surah, of the Qur’an. Information about many different subject is found within one chapter, whether it be advice, commands or stories. Why it is been written like this (God knows best).
The Qur’an is structured as follows:
- The entire holy Qur’an has 114 chapters of varying length. The longest chapter is Al-Baqarah (the Caw) consisting of 286 verses and the shortest chapter is Al-Kawthar (The Abundance) consisting of three verses only.
- The Qur’an is made up of 6256 verses, 77436 words containing 336 233 letters in total.
- It is divided into 30 parts which each called a juz’a.
- Each juz’a is subdivided into two sections called hizb.
- Each hizb are further divided into four quarters which are called rub’a.
- Qur’an is divided into 7 equal segments, each called a manzil.
The first revelation descended in 610 AD, and the last chapter of the Qur’an was revealed in about 633 AD.
Muslims regard the Qur’an as the last in series of divine messages that started with those revealed to Adam – regarded, in Islam, as the first prophet (father of the mankind) and including the Suhuf-i-Ibrahim (Scrolls of Abraham), the Tawraah (Torah the book of Israelite), the Zabur (Psalms the book of King David), and the Injil (the Bible). The above mentioned books all are acknowledged in the Holy Qur’an, and the Qur’anic text assumes familiarity with many events from Jewish and Christian scriptures, some of these events in distinctive ways, and referring indirectly to others. It rarely offers detailed accounts of historical events; the Qur’an emphasis is in general on the moral significance of an event, rather than its narrative sequence. Details to historical events are contained within the Hadith of Muhammad and the narrations of Muhammad’s Companions (Sahabah).
The Qur’anic text itself proclaims a divine protection of its message: “Surely We have revealed the Reminder and We will most surely be its guardian”.(Q: 15: 9 )
Preservation of Quran
Where and when any revelations came (Qur’anic verses) were originally memorized by Prophet (PBUH), and then he recited them to his companions. Some been written done with by one or more companions on whatever was at hand, from stones to pieces of bark or skins of the animals. Then collected as a book.
The collection of the Qur’an and the compilation took place under the Caliph Abu Bakr, this task being led by Zayd ibn Thabit Al-Ansari. “The manuscript on which the Quran was collected, remained with Abu Bakr till Allah took him unto Him, and then with ‘Umar till Allah took him unto Him, and finally it remained with Hafsa bint Umar (Umar’s daughter).” It was from this book the third caliph Usman made the last completion, prepared several copy and sent it to the other Muslims territories, and up to the present the content of the Book has not been subject of any changes.
Different names of Quran:
Quran is the most well known name of last the Holy Scripture of Islam, the scripture is known by many different names and titles. Below are some of the names that refer to the Book:
Names Location Meaning
Al Ketab (Chapter 2; Verse 2). The Book.
AlForqaan (Chapter 25; Verse 1). Differentiate between right and wrong.
Dekr (Chapter 21; Verse 50). Remembrance
Tanzeil (Chapter 26; Verse 192). The Descended Book
KalamAllah (Chapter 9; Verse 6). The Words of Allah
The Qur’an can also be referred to by it’s attributes:
Al Qur’an Al Hakeem (Chapter 36; Verse 2). The Wise Book
Al Qur’an Al Kareem (Chapter 56; Verse 77). The Honourable Book
Al Qur’an Al Majid (Chapter 50; Verse 2). The Glorious Book
Al Qur’an Al Mobin (Chapter 15; Verse 1). The Clear Book
Al Qur’an Al Azeim (Chapter 15; Verse 78). The Grand Book
Publication
Surveys show that at present there are well over 9,000,000 Muslims who have memorised entire content of the Quran and over 7 billion copies of the Quran have been printed and distributed across the world:
What they say about Quran:
Without necessarily agreeing with all that they said, we provide here some opinions of important non-Muslim scholars about this Holy Book. Readers can easily observe how the contemporary world is coming closer to reality regarding the Qur’an.
Here some opinion of the scholars:
“However often we turn to it [the Qur’an] at first disgusting us each time afresh, it soon attracts, astounds, and in the end enforces our reverence… Its style, in accordance with its contents and aim is stern, grand, terrible – ever and anon truly sublime — Thus this book will go on exercising through all ages a most potent influence.” Goethe, quoted in T.P. Hughes’ DICTIONARY OF ISLAM, p. 526.
“The Koran admittedly occupies an important position among the great religious books of the world. Though the youngest of the epoch-making works belonging to this class of literature, it yields to hardly any in the wonderful effect which it has produced on large masses of men. It has created an all but new phase of human thought and a fresh type of character. It first transformed a number of heterogeneous desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a nation of heroes, and then proceeded to create the vast politico-religious organizations of the Muhammadan world which are one of the great forces with which Europe and the East have to reckon today.”
- Margoliouth, Introduction to J.M. Rodwell’s, THE KORAN, New York: Everyman’s Library, 1977, p. vii.
“A work, then, which calls forth so powerful and seemingly incompatible emotions even in the distant reader – distant as to time, and still more so as a mental development – a work which not only conquers the repugnance which he may begin its perusal, but changes this adverse feeling into astonishment and admiration, such a work must be a wonderful production of the human mind indeed and a problem of the highest interest to every thoughtful observer of the destinies of mankind.”
Dr. Steingass, quoted in T.P. Hughes’ DICTIONARY OF ISLAM, pp. 526-527.
“The above observation makes the hypothesis advanced by those who see Muhammad as the author of the Qur’an untenable. How could a man, from being illiterate, become the most important author, in terms of literary merits, in the whole of Arabic literature? How could he then pronounce truths of a scientific nature that no other human being could possibly have developed at that time, and all this without once making the slightest error in his pronouncement on the subject?”
Maurice Bucaille, THE BIBLE, THE QUR’AN AND SCIENCE, 1978, p. 125.
“Here, therefore, its merits as a literary production should perhaps not be measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic taste, but by the effects which it produced in Muhammad’s contemporaries and fellow countrymen. If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic elements into one compact and well-organized body, animated by ideas far beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out of savage tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history.”
Dr. Steingass, quoted in T.P. Hughes’ DICTIONARY OF ISLAM, p.528.
“In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of my predecessors, and to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pains to study the intricate and richly varied rhythms which – apart from the message itself – constitute the Koran’s undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of mankind… This very characteristic feature – ‘that inimitable symphony,’ as the believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, ‘the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy’ – has been almost totally ignored by previous translators; it is therefore not surprising that what they have wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in comparison with the splendidly decorated original.”
Arthur J. Arberry, THE KORAN INTERPRETED, London: Oxford University Press, 1964, p. x.
“A totally objective examination of it [the Qur’an] in the light of modern knowledge, leads us to recognize the agreement between the two, as has been already noted on repeated occasions. It makes us deem it quite unthinkable for a man of Muhammad’s time to have been the author of such statements on account of the state of knowledge in his day. Such considerations are part of what gives the Qur’anic Revelation its unique place, and forces the impartial scientist to admit his inability to provide an explanation which calls solely upon materialistic reasoning.”
Maurice Bucaille, THE QUR’AN AND MODERN SCIENCE, 1981, p. 18.