The Noble
"Alif Laam Raa. A book which we have revealed to you (Muhammad) so that you may lead the people from out of the darknesses into the light by their Lord's leave to the path of the All-Mighty, the Praiseworthy." [Qur'an 14:1]
The Qur’an is the Book of Allah (God) that was revealed in Arabic to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) over a period of twenty-three years(610 CE to 622 CE). It was transmitted to us in a chain starting from the Almighty Himself (swt) to the angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad (saas). He read it aloud to his followers as he received it from the Angel Jibril (Gabriel), and they wrote it down on whatever materials were accessible. The Prophet and many of his followers memorized it as it was revealed. The Prophet (saas) was 40 years old when the Qur'an began to be revealed to him, and he was 63 when the revelation was completed. The language of the original message was Arabic, but it has been translated into many other languages.
The Qur'an is one leg of two which form the basis of Islam. The second leg is the Sunnah of the Prophet (saas). What makes the Qur'an different from the Sunnah is primarily its form. Unlike the Sunnah, the Qur'an is quite literally the Word of Allah, whereas the Sunnah was inspired by Allah but the wording and actions are the Prophet's. The Qur'an has not been expressed using any human's words. Its wording is letter for letter fixed by no one but Allah.
Prophet Muhammad (saas) was the final Messenger of Allah to humanity, and therefore the Qur'an is the last Message which Allah has sent to us. Its predecessors such as the Torah, Psalms, and Gospels have all been superceded. It is an obligation - and blessing - for all who hear of the Qur'an and Islam to investigate it and evaluate it for themselves. Allah has guaranteed that He will protect the Qur'an from human tampering, and today's readers can find exact copies of it all over the world. The Qur'an of today is the same as the Qur'an revealed to Muhammad (saas).
The Qur’an consists of 114 surahs (sometimes called chapters) of a range of lengths, from 3 to 286 verses. The verses were revealed a few at a time and not in their current order but were placed in their arrangement by the Prophet in agreement to instructions from the Angel Jibril.
Soon after the death of the Prophet, the first caliph, Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, ordered the scribe Zayd ibn Thabit to accumulate the manuscripts and make one copy of the Qur’an. He did so with the aid of the hundreds of Companions of the Prophet who had memorized the Qur’an, thus guaranteeing that nothing was added or omitted, and that the order of the verses was according to the Prophet’s instructions. Later, the third caliph, ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan, again asked Zayd to oversee the copying of the Qur’an. Several regular copies were made and sent to all the provinces of the Muslims, with orders that all other manuscripts be burned. This was to ensure that there would not be diverse readings of the Qur’an.
Thus, the Qur’an remains today exactly as it was revealed more than 14 centuries ago and contains the exact Words of Allah. Many thousands of Muslims memorized it each generation so that it was never forgotten. Further, the Arabic language in which the Qur’an was revealed remains a living language. There are copies of the Qur’an from the first century after the revelation in libraries in the Muslim world. A comparison to modern printed copies shows that the Qur’an has not changed over the centuries.
Only the Arabic text is the authentic Word of Allah. Translations of the meaning of the Qur’an have been made in many languages, but no translation can capture the full meaning of the Qur’an. Therefore, to properly understand the teachings of Islam, one must refer to and understand the Arabic text of the Qur’an.
What Is the Qur’an About?
Someone who is familiar with the Bible might expect the Qur’an to be similar, but will be surprised to find that it is not. It is not a narrative or a collection of rules or a hymnal or a science book, yet it contains elements of all these things and more.
The Qur’an speaks of the nature of Allah, man’s relationship with Allah, and man’s relationship with others. The Qur’an has a unique style that moves from one topic to another, intertwining an assortment of themes, moving from the specific to the general and back again. For this reason, calling the surahs “chapters” is really a misnomer, for a chapter deals with one theme. The word “surah” is unique to the Qur’an.
The Qur’an contains, among other things, glimpses of the stories of previous prophets but, with the exception of Prophet Yusuf (Joseph), does not tell each story in one continuous storyline. Rather, in various places it relates certain details and asks us to reflect on their significance.
The verses revealed in Makkah during the first 13 years of the Prophet’s mission generally deal with the articles of faith — the Oneness and Uniqueness of Allah, the Day of Judgment, the Angels, Prophets, previous Books, and Divine Decree. The verses revealed in Madinah, where the Muslims had established a blossoming Islamic society, generally deal with social relationships between individuals and groups. Often just a few verses came down at a time to deal with a question or situation that had arisen in the Muslim community. Therefore, the study of the “reasons for revelation” — the background of when, where and why a particular verse was revealed — is integral to scholars’ understanding of the Qur’an.
The Qur’an remains the most widely read book in the world. All Muslims memorize some parts of it to recite in their ritual prayers daily. Many others dedicate a part of each day to reading the Qur’an, and even more so during the month of Ramadan. Further, there are still hundreds of thousands — both Arab and non-Arab — who memorize the entire Qur’an.
The Chapters of the Qur'an:
The Qur'an meaning in English