The Story of the Quran

7/21/2019 The Story of the Quran

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The Story of the Quran

(part 1 of 4): Gods Final Revelation

Muslims believe the Quran to be Gods final revelation. They believe it is

the literal word of God, revealed over many years, to His final prophet,Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him. The Quran is

full of wisdom. It is full of the wonder and glory of God, and a testament toHis mercy and ustice. It is not a history boo!, a storyboo!, or a scientific

te"tboo!, although it contains all of those genres. The Quran is God#s greatest

gift to humanity $ it is a boo! li!e no other. In the second verse of the second

chapter of the Quran, God describes the Quran by calling it a boo! whereof

there is no doubt, a guidance to those who are pious, righteous, and fear

God. (Quran 2:2)

The Quran is core to Islam. %elieving in it is a re&uirement. 'ne who doesnot believe in the Quran, in its entirety, cannot claim to be a Muslim.

"The essen!er (uhaad) #elieves in $hat has #een

sent do$n to hi fro his %ord& and (so do) the #elievers'

ah one #elieves in God& *is +n!els& *is ,oo-s& and *is

essen!ers' (They say&) ./e a-e no distintion #et$een

one another of *is essen!ers 0 and they say& ./e hear&

and $e o#ey' (/e see-) our for!iveness& our %ord& and to

ou is the return (of all)'" (Quran 2:23)

Islam has two primary sources, the Quran, and the authentic Traditionsof (rophet Muhammad, that e"plain and sometimes e"pand on that of the

Quran.

+nd /e have not sent do$n the ,oo- (the Quran) to you

(5 uhaad& e6ept that you ay e6plain learly unto

the those thin!s in $hih they differ& and (as) a !uidane

and a ery for a fol- $ho #elieve'7 (Quran 18:84)

The Quran was delivered to (rophet Muhammad by the )ngel Gabriel and

revealed in stages over a period of *+ years.


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+nd (it is) a Quran $hih /e have divided into parts& in

order that you i!ht reite it to en at intervals' +nd /e

have revealed it #y sta!es'7 (Quran 19:18)

(rophet Muhammad was commanded by God to convey the Quran to all of

human!ind and the responsibility weighed heavily upon him. ven in hisfarewell address he called on the people present to bear witness that he had

delivered the message.

The Quran e"plains the concept of God, it e"plains in detail what is

permissible and what is forbidden, it e"plains the basics of good manners and

morals, and gives rulings about worship. It tells stories about the (rophets and

our righteous predecessors, and describes (aradise and Hell. The Quran was

revealed for all of human!ind.

The boo! in which the Quran -the words of God are contained in is called

amushaf . The Quran is considered so uni&ue in content and style that it cannotbe translated/ therefore, any translation is considered an interpretation of the

meanings of the Quran.

0hen God sent (rophets to the various nations He often allowed them to

perform miracles that were relevant to their particular time and place. In the

time of Moses magic and sorcery were prevalent therefore Moses miraclesappealed to the people he was sent to guide. In the time of Muhammad, the

)rabs, although predominantly illiterate, were masters of the spo!en word.

Their poetry and prose were considered outstanding and a model of literary

e"cellence. 0hen (rophet Muhammad recited the Quran $ the words of God $ the

)rabs were moved tremendously by its sublime tone and e"traordinary beauty.

The Quran was (rophet Muhammads miracle from God. Muhammad was

unable to read or write therefore the )rabs !new that he was unli!ely to have

produced such elo&uent words, but even so some refused to believe that the

Quran was the word of God. God therefore challenged them, in the Quran, to

produce a rival te"t.

+nd if you (+ra# pa!ans& ;e$s& and


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from the (reserved Tablet516 to the @owest Heaven. It then descended from the

heavens to the earth in small stages.

The revelation was delivered to(rophet Muhammad through the

)ngel Gabriel.5*6 0hen (rophetMuhammad was around forty years

of age he started to spend time in

deep reflection. )ccording to his

beloved wife )isha5+6 the love of

seclusion was bestowed upon him via

vivid good dreams. He would go to

the cave !nown asHirato worship the 'ne God and contemplate life, the

universe, and his place in the world.

'ne night during 8amadan an angel came to him and as!ed him to read.The (rophet, who was unable to read or write, replied #I do not !now how to

read#. The angel then held him forcibly and pressed his chest so hard that he

could not bear the pressure. The angel then released Muhammad and as!ed

him once more to read. )gain he replied Abut I do not !now how to readB. The

angel held him forcibly three times and Muhammad responded each time that

he did not !now how to read -or as!ed what shall I read. The angel then

related to him the first words of Quran. 526

ReadB Cn the Dae of your %ord& /ho has reated (all

that e6ists)' *e has reated an fro a lot (a piee of

thi- oa!ulated #lood)' ReadB +nd your %ord is the ostGenerous& /ho has tau!ht #y the pen& *e has tau!ht an

that $hih he -ne$ not'7 (Quran ?8:1E3)

)fter this first revelation, which Muhammad found frightening/ he was not

visited by the angel Gabriel again for an undetermined amount of time. The

ne"t time he encountered him -the angel he was wal!ing alone. (rophet

Muhammad heard a voice from the heavens. 0hen he loo!ed up he saw the

angel sitting on a chair between the s!y and the earth. Muhammad was afraid

and ran home see!ing comfort and as!ing to be wrapped in blan!ets. The

second revelation occurred at this time.5C6

5 you overed in !arents arise and $arn the people of a

severe punishent'''7 (Quran 94:1E3)

'ver the ne"t *+ years until shortly before (rophet Muhammads death, the

Quran was revealed in stages. :everal reasons have been suggested for this.:ome say that it was revealed slowly to offer (rophet Muhammad support and

address issues as they arose.

)isha, the wife of the (rophet, narrates that when as!ed about how the

divine inspiration was revealed (rophet Muhammad replied, Soeties it is

li-e the rin!in! of a #ell& this for of inspiration is the hardest of all and
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5C6Saheeh Al-Bukhari

5D6Ibid

5E6Ibid

56Ibn Hisham

(part = of 4): + Revelation /ell @reserved and Guarded

Ct is /e /ho have sent do$n the ree#rane (i'e' the

Quran) and surely& /e $ill !uard it fro orruption'7

(Quran 13:?)

0hen God revealed His words of guidance for the whole of human!ind $

the Quran, He guaranteed to preserve it. 'ne of the ways in which it was

preserved was that the men, women and children around the (rophet

Muhammad memoriFed Quran, paying careful attention to each word. In the

very early days of Islam the emphasis was on memoriFation, however soon,

those who had mastered the art of reading and writing began to write down the

words of Quran on whatever writing material available. They wrote on flat

stones, bar!, bones, and even animal s!ins.

)s the words of God were revealed, to (rophet Muhammad, may the mercy

and blessings of God be upon him, by the )ngel Gabriel, it is said that he

would call for a scribe to write down the words as they began to flow from his

lips. The principle scribe was a man named aid Ibn Thabit. Many

companions reported that (rophet Muhammad would call for aid saying let

hi #rin! the #oard& the in- pot and the sapula #one7.516 In the lifetime ofthe (rophet, the Quran e"isted on bits and pieces of writing material, rather

than in boo! form.

'ne of the reasons that Quran was not at that stage, in the form of a boo!

was that it was not revealed in order. 8ather the chapters and verses were

revealed over a period of *+ years often in response to happenings in the life

and times of the early Muslim community. However, the order of the chapters

and verses of Quran was !nown to (rophet Muhammad. 0hen the )ngel

Gabriel would reveal the divine words of God, he would also issue instructions

as to what verses and chapters belonged where.The Quran was written down under the direct supervision of (rophet

Muhammad.


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chapters and still others had pieces of bar! or animal s!in containing only one

verse.

?uring the time of )bu %a!r, the man chosen to lead the Muslim nationafter the death of (rophet Muhammad, the wider Muslim community found

itself in a time of civil strife. 4alse (rophets arose and many bewilderedpeople, unable to sustain their faith without (rophet Muhammad, left the fold

of Islam. %attles and s!irmishes too! place and many of the men who had

memoriFed the Quran lost their lives.

)bu %a!r was afraid that the Quran would be lost, so he consulted some of

the senior companions about compiling the Quran into a single boo!. He as!ed

aid ibn Thabit, to oversee this tas!. )t first, aid felt uneasy about doing

something that (rophet Muhammad did not specifically authoriFe. However,

he did agree to collect pieces of Quran, both written and memoriFed and

compile a boo! $ theMushaf. In the traditions of (rophet Muhammad, we findaid Ibn Thabit#s own recollection of how the compilation of Quran came

about.5+6

A)bu %a!r sent for me when the people of al9Kamaamah had been !illed

5i.e., a number of the (rophet#s ;ompanions who fought against the false

prophet Musaylimah6. I went to him and found


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method alone. He was very careful and methodical in his compilation of the

Quran and would not write down any verses unless they had been confirmed by

at least two of (rophet Muhammads ;ompanions.

Thus, the Quran came to be written and compiled in boo! form. It

remained with )bu %a!r until his death, at which time it came into thepossession of


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Islamic nation the Quran was recited in a variety of different accents and

dialects. Many people especially those new to Islam were becoming confused

and some of the ;ompanions of (rophet Muhammad began to fear that the

authenticity of Quran would be compromised.

0hilst on a ourney, one of (rophet Muhammads companions noticed thatthere were many different recitations of Quran throughout the Muslim

;aliphate. He suggested to


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It is not !nown e"actly how many copies were made by

The Story of the Quran

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