he Quran (English pronunciation: /kɔrˈɑːn/[n 1] kor-ahn , Arabic: القرآن al-qurān, IPA: [qurˈʔaːn],[n 2] literally meaning the recitation, also romanised Quran or Koran) is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God (Arabic: الله, Allah).[1] Its scriptural status among a world-spanning religious community, and its major place within world literature generally, has led to a great deal of secondary literature on the Quran.[2] Quranic chapters are called suras and verses are called ayahs. Muslims believe that the Quran was verbally revealed by God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel (Jibril),[3][4] gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609 CE,[5] when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632 CE, the year of his death.[1][6][7] Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad, a proof of his prophethood,[8] and the culmination of a series of divine messages that started with the messages revealed to Adam and ended with Muhammad. They consider the Quran to be the only revealed book that has been protected by God from distortion or corruption.[9] According to the traditional narrative, several companions of Muhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing down the revelations.[10] Shortly after Muhammads death, the Quran was compiled by his companions who wrote down and memorized parts of it.[11] These codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version now known as Uthmans codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran we have today. However, the existence of variant readings, with mostly minor and some significant variations, and the early unvocalized Arabic script mean the relationship between Uthmans codex to both the text of todays Quran and to the revelations of Muhammads time is still unclear.[10] The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. It summarizes some, dwells at length on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events.[12][13][14] The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance. It sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence.[15][16] The Quran is used along with the hadith to interpret sharia law.[17] During prayers, the Quran is recited only in Arabic.[18] Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz. Some Muslims read Quranic ayahs (verses) with elocution, which is often called tajwīd. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers. In order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, most Muslims rely on the tafsir.[19]The word qurʼān appears about 70 times in the Quran itself, assuming various meanings. It is a verbal noun (maṣdar) of the Arabic verb qaraʼa (قرأ), meaning he read or he recited. The Syriac equivalent is (ܩܪܝܢܐ) qeryānā, which refers to scripture reading or lesson.[20] While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, the majority of Muslim authorities hold the origin of the word is qaraʼa itself.[1] Regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammads lifetime.[1] An important meaning of the word is the act of reciting, as reflected in an early Quranic passage: It is for Us to collect it and to recite it (qurʼānahu).[21]Islamic tradition relates that Muhammad received his first revelation in the Cave of Hira during one of his isolated retreats to the mountains. Thereafter, he received revelations over a period of 23 years. According to hadith and Muslim history, after Muhammad emigrated to Medina and formed an independent Muslim community, he ordered many of his companions to recite the Quran and to learn and teach the laws, which were revealed daily. It is related that some of the Quraish who were taken prisoners at the battle of Badr regained their freedom after they had taught some of the Muslims the simple writing of the time. Thus a group of Muslims gradually became literate. As it was initially spoken, the Quran was recorded on tablets, bones, and the wide, flat ends of date palm fronds. Most suras were in use amongst early Muslims since they are mentioned in numerous sayings by both Sunni and Shia sources, relating Muhammads use of the Quran as a call to Islam, the making of prayer and the manner of recitation. However, the Quran did not exist in book form at the time of Muhammads death in 632 CE.[28][29][30] There is agreement among scholars that Muhammad himself did not write down the revelation Hira (Arabic: حراء Ḥirāʾ ) or the Cave of Hira (غار حراء Ġār Ḥirāʾ ) is a cave about 3 kilometres (2 mi) from Mecca, on the mountain named Jabal al-Nour in the Hejaz region of present day Saudi Arabia. It is notable for being the location where Muslims believe Muhammad received his first revelations from God through the angel Jebril (Arabic: جِبرِيل ) (alternatively spelled Jabraeel ((Arabic: جبرائيل ) as is pronounced in certain Quran recitation schools (Qiraat) and by some Arab tribes). To Christians, Jebril is known as Gabriel. [1] Taking 600 steps to reach, the cave itself is about 3.7 m (12 ft) in length and 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in) in width.[1] the cave is at a height of 270 m (890 ft)[2] and the radius is 263.23 m (863.6 ft). During the Hajj around 5,000 Muslims climb up to the Hira cave daily to see the place where Muhammad is alleged to have received the first revelation of the Quran on the Night of Power.[2] Muslims do not typically consider seeing the cave an integral part of the pilgrimage. Nonetheless many visit it for reasons of personal pleasure and spirituality, and though some consider it a place of worship, this view conflicts with Salafist interpretations of Islamic scripture. -- while the Cave of Hira is an important place to know in the Al-sīra (prophetic biography) it is not considered as holy as other sites in Mecca (for example, the Masjid Al-Haram) and so under most interpretations of Islam, the same reward is received for praying here as any other place in Mecca. Muslims believe the Quran to be the book of divine guidance revealed from God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel over a period of 23 years and view the Quran as Gods final revelation to humanity.[6][51] They also believe that the Quran has solutions to all the problems of humanity irrespective of how complex they may be and in what age they occur.[citation needed] Revelation in Islamic and Quranic concept means the act of God addressing an individual, conveying a message for a greater number of recipients. The process by which the divine message comes to the heart of a messenger of God is tanzil (to send down) or nuzūl (to come down). As the Quran says, With the truth we (God) have sent it down and with the truth it has come down.[52] nimitability of the Quran (or Ijaz) is the belief that no human speech can match the Quran in its content and form. The Quran is considered an inimitable miracle by Muslims, effective until the Day of Resurrection—and, thereby, the central proof granted to Muhammad in authentication of his prophetic status. The concept of inimitability originates in the Quran where in five different verses opponents are challenged to produce something like the Quran: If men and sprites banded together to produce the like of this Quran they would never produce its like not though they backed one another.[61] So the suggestion is that if there are doubts concerning the divine authorship of the Quran, come forward and create something like it. From the ninth century, numerous works appeared which studied the Quran and examined its style and content. Medieval Muslim scholars including al-Jurjani (d. 1078CE) and al-Baqillani (d. 1013CE) have written treatises on the subject, discussed its various aspects, and used linguistic approaches to study the Quran. Others argue that the Quran contains noble ideas, has inner meanings, maintained its freshness through the ages and has caused great transformations in individual level and in the history. Some scholars state that the Quran contains scientific information that agrees with modern science. The doctrine of miraculousness of the Quran is further emphasized by Muhammads illiteracy since the unlettered prophet could not have been suspected of composing the Quran.[43][62]The Quran consists of 114 chapters of varying lengths, each known as a sura. Suras are classified as Meccan or Medinan, depending on whether the verses were revealed before or after the migration of Muhammad to the city of Medina. However, a sura classified as Medinan may contain Meccan verses in it and vice versa. Sura titles are derived from a name or quality discussed in the text, or from the first letters or words of the surah. Suras are arranged roughly in order of decreasing size. The sura arrangement is thus not connected to the sequence of revelation. Each sura except the ninth starts with the Bismillah (بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم) an Arabic phrase meaning In the name of God. There are, however, still 114 occurrences of the Bismillah in the Quran, due to its presence in Quran 27:30 as the opening of Solomons letter to the Queen of Sheba.[63] Each sura consists of several verses, known as ayat, which originally means a sign or evidence sent by God. The number of verses differs from sura to sura. An individual verse may be just a few letters or several lines. The total number of verses in the Quran is 6236, however, the number varies if the bismillahs are counted separately. In addition to and independent of the division into suras, there are various ways of dividing the Quran into parts of approximately equal length for convenience in reading. The 30 juz (plural ajzāʼ) can be used to read through the entire Quran in a month. Some of these parts are known by names—which are the first few words by which the juzʼ starts. A juz is sometimes further divided into two ḥizb (plural aḥzāb), and each hizb subdivided into four rubʻ al-ahzab. The Quran is also divided into seven approximately equal parts, manzil (plural manāzil), for it to be recited in a week.[1] Muqattaat, or the Quranic initials, are 14 different letter combinations of 14 Arabic letters that appear in the beginning of 29 suras of the Quran. The meanings of these initials remain unclear. According to one estimate the Quran consists of 77,430 words, 18,994 unique words, 12,183 stems, 3,382 lemmas and 1,685 roots.[64]The Quran has sparked a huge body of commentary and explication (tafsīr), aimed at explaining the meanings of the Quranic verses, clarifying their import and finding out their significance.[81] Tafsir is one of the earliest academic activities of Muslims. According to the Quran, Muhammad was the first person who described the meanings of verses for early Muslims.[82] Other early exegetes included a few Companions of Muhammad, like ʻAli ibn Abi Talib, ʻAbdullah ibn Abbas, ʻAbdullah ibn Umar and Ubayy ibn Kaʻb. Exegesis in those days was confined to the explanation of literary aspects of the verse, the background of its revelation and, occasionally, interpretation of one verse with the help of the other. If the verse was about a historical event, then sometimes a few traditions (hadith) of Muhammad were narrated to make its meaning clear.[83] Because the Quran is spoken in classical Arabic, many of the later converts to Islam (mostly non-Arabs) did not always understand the Quranic Arabic, they did not catch allusions that were clear to early Muslims fluent in Arabic and they were concerned with reconciling apparent conflict of themes in the Quran. Commentators erudite in Arabic explained the allusions, and perhaps most importantly, explained which Quranic verses had been revealed early in Muhammads prophetic career, as being appropriate to the very earliest Muslim community, and which had been revealed later, canceling out or abrogating (nāsikh) the earlier text (mansūkh).[84][85] Other scholars, however, maintain that no abrogation has taken place in the Quran.[86] The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has published a 10-volume Urdu commentary on the Quran, with the name Tafseer e Kabir.[87]
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 05:36:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015