The Quran, also
romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central
religious text
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...
of
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
, believed by
Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
to be a
revelation
Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...
directly from
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
(''
Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides its religious significance, it is widely regarded as the finest work in
Arabic literature,
and has significantly influenced the
Arabic language
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
. It is the object of a modern field of academic research known as
Quranic studies
Quranic studies is the academic study of the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. Like in biblical studies, the field uses and applies a diverse set of Academic discipline, disciplines and methods, such as philology, textual criticism, lex ...
.
Muslims believe the Quran was orally revealed by God to the final Islamic
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
through the
angel Gabriel
In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...
incrementally over a period of some 23 years, beginning on the
Laylat al-Qadr
In Islamic belief, Laylat al-Qadr () or Night of Power is an Islamic holidays, Islamic festival in memory of the night when the Quran was first sent down from Heaven in Islam, heaven to the world, the first Waḥy, revelation the Islamic proph ...
, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. Muslims regard the Quran as Muhammad's most important
miracle, a proof of his
prophethood, and the culmination of a series of divine messages starting with those revealed to the first Islamic prophet
Adam
Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam).
According to Christianity, Adam ...
, including the
holy books of the
Torah
The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
,
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of B ...
, and
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
in Islam.
The Quran is believed by Muslims to be God's own divine speech providing a complete code of conduct across all facets of life. This has led
Muslim theologians to fiercely debate whether the Quran was "
created or uncreated." According to tradition, several of Muhammad's
companions served as scribes, recording the revelations. Shortly after Muhammad's death, the Quran was compiled on the order of the first caliph
Abu Bakr
Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...
() by the companions, who had written down or memorized parts of it. Caliph
Uthman () established a standard version, now known as the
Uthmanic codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran known today. There are, however,
variant readings, with some differences in meaning.
The Quran assumes the reader's
familiarity with major narratives recounted in the
Biblical and
apocryphal texts. It summarizes some, dwells at length on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance for humankind (). It sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and it often emphasizes the
moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence.
Supplementing the Quran with explanations for some cryptic Quranic narratives, and rulings that also provide the basis for
Islamic law in most denominations of Islam, are
hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
s—oral and written traditions believed to describe words and actions of Muhammad. During
prayers, the Quran is recited only in Arabic. Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a . Ideally, verses are recited with a special kind of
prosody reserved for this purpose called . During the month of Ramadan, Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during prayers. In order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, Muslims rely on
exegesis, or commentary rather than a direct translation of the text.
Etymology and meaning
The word appears about 70 times in the Quran itself,
assuming various meanings. It is a
verbal noun (
) of the
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
verb () meaning 'he read' or 'he recited'. The
Syriac equivalent is (), which refers to 'scripture reading' or 'lesson'.
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 itself.
Regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammad's lifetime.
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 ()."
In other verses, the word refers to 'an individual passage recited
y Muhammad. Its
liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example: "So when is recited, listen to it and keep silent." The word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the
Torah
The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
and
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
.
The term also has closely related
synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran. Each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning, but its use may converge with that of in certain contexts. Such terms include ('book'), ('sign'), and ('scripture'); the latter two terms also denote units of revelation. In the large majority of contexts, usually with a
definite article
In grammar, an article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech.
In English, both "the" ...
(), the word is referred to as the ('revelation'), that which has been "sent down" () at intervals. Other related words include: ('remembrance'), used to refer to the Quran in the sense of a reminder and warning; and ('wisdom'), sometimes referring to the revelation or part of it.
The Quran describes itself as 'the discernment' (), 'the mother book' (), 'the guide' (), 'the wisdom' (), 'the remembrance' (), and 'the revelation' (; 'something sent down', signifying the descent of an object from a higher place to lower place).
Another term is ('The Book'), though it is also used in the Arabic language for other scriptures, such as the Torah and the Gospels. The term ('written work') is often used to refer to particular Quranic manuscripts but is also used in the Quran to identify earlier revealed books.
History
Prophetic era
Islamic tradition relates that
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
received
his first revelation in 610 CE in the
Cave of Hira on the
Night of Power during one of his isolated retreats to the mountains. Thereafter, he received revelations over a period of 23 years. According to (traditions ascribed to Muhammad)
and
Muslim history, after Muhammad and his followers
immigrated 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
Quraysh 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 (also usually transliterated as Surah) were in use amongst early Muslims since they are mentioned in numerous sayings by both
Sunni
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
and
Shia sources, relating Muhammad's 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 Muhammad's death in 632 at age 61–62.
There is agreement among scholars that Muhammad himself did not write down the revelation.

narrates Muhammad describing the revelations as, "Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell" and
A'isha reported, "I saw the Prophet being inspired Divinely on a very cold day and noticed the sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over)." Muhammad's first revelation, according to the Quran, was accompanied with a vision. The agent of revelation is mentioned as the "one mighty in power," the one who "grew clear to view when he was on the uppermost horizon. Then he drew nigh and came down till he was (distant) two bows' length or even nearer."
The Islamic studies scholar Welch states in the ''
Encyclopaedia of Islam
The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...
'' that he believes the graphic descriptions of Muhammad's condition at these moments may be regarded as genuine, because he was severely disturbed after these revelations. According to Welch, these seizures would have been seen by those around him as convincing evidence for the superhuman origin of Muhammad's inspirations. However, Muhammad's critics accused him of being a possessed man, a
soothsayer, or a
magician since his experiences were similar to those claimed by such figures well known in
ancient Arabia. Welch additionally states that it remains uncertain whether these experiences occurred before or after Muhammad's initial claim of prophethood.
The Quran describes Muhammad as "", which is traditionally interpreted as 'illiterate', but the meaning is rather more complex. Medieval commentators such as
al-Tabari () maintained that the term induced two meanings: first, the inability to read or write in general; second, the inexperience or ignorance of the previous books or scriptures (but they gave priority to the first meaning). Muhammad's illiteracy was taken as a sign of the genuineness of his prophethood. For example, according to
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, if Muhammad had mastered writing and reading he possibly would have been suspected of having studied the books of the ancestors. Some scholars such as
W. Montgomery Watt prefer the second meaning of —they take it to indicate unfamiliarity with earlier sacred texts.
The final verse of the Quran was revealed on the 18th of the Islamic month of
Dhu al-Hijjah in the year 10
A.H., a date that roughly corresponds to February or March 632. The verse was revealed after
the Prophet finished delivering his sermon at Ghadir Khumm.
According to Islamic tradition, the Quran was revealed to Muhammad in seven different (meaning letters; however, it could mean dialects, forms, styles or modes). Most Islamic scholars agree that these different are the same Quran revealed in seven different Arabic
dialect
A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
s and that they do not change the meaning of the Quran, the purpose of which was to make the Quran easy for recitation and memorization among the different Arab
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...
s.
While Sunni Muslims believe in the seven , some Shia reject the idea of seven Quranic variants. A common misconception is that the seven and the are the same.
Compilation and preservation
Following Muhammad's death in 632, a number of his companions who memorized the Quran were killed in the
Battle of al-Yamama by
Musaylima. The first caliph,
Abu Bakr
Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...
(), subsequently decided to collect the book in one volume so that it could be preserved.
Zayd ibn Thabit () was the person to collect the Quran since "he used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle".
Thus, a group of scribes, most importantly Zayd, collected the verses and produced a hand-written manuscript of the complete book. The manuscript according to Zayd remained with Abu Bakr until he died. Zayd's reaction to the task and the difficulties in collecting the Quranic material from parchments, palm-leaf stalks, thin stones (collectively known as , any written work containing divine teachings)
and from men who knew it by heart is recorded in earlier narratives. In 644, Muhammad's widow
Hafsa bint Umar was entrusted with the manuscript until the third caliph,
Uthman (),
requested the standard copy from her. According to historian
Michael Cook, early Muslim narratives about the collection and compilation of the Quran sometimes contradict themselves: "Most ... make Uthman little more than an editor, but there are some in which he appears very much a collector, appealing to people to bring him any bit of the Quran they happen to possess." Some accounts also "suggest that in fact the material" Abu Bakr worked with "had already been assembled", which since he was the first caliph, would mean they were collected when Muhammad was still alive.
Around the 650s, the Islamic expansion beyond the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
and into
Persia, the
Levant and
North Africa
North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
, as well as the use of the seven , had caused some confusion and differences in the pronunciation of the Quran, and conflict was arising between different Arab tribes due to some claiming to be more superior to other Arab tribes and non-Arabs based on dialect, which Uthman noticed.
In order to preserve the sanctity of the text, he ordered a committee headed by Zayd to use Abu Bakr's copy and prepare a standard text of the Quran.
[: ] Thus, within 20 years of Muhammad's death in 632, the complete Quran was committed to written form as the
Uthmanic codex. That text became the model from which copies were made and promulgated throughout the urban centers of the Muslim world, and other versions are believed to have been destroyed.
[:
*"Poetry and Language", by Navid Kermani, pp. 107–20.
*For the history of compilation see "Introduction," by Tamara Sonn, pp. 5–6
*For eschatology, see "Discovering (final destination)", by Christopher Buck, p. 30.
*For literary structure, see "Language," by Mustansir Mir, p. 93.
*For writing and printing, see "Written Transmission", by François Déroche, pp. 172–87.
*For recitation, see "Recitation," by Anna M. Gade pp. 481–93] and the six other of the Quran fell out of use.
The present form of the Quran text is accepted by Muslim scholars to be the original version compiled by Abu Bakr.
Qira'at which is a way and method of reciting the Quran was developed sometime afterwards. There are
ten canonical recitations and they are not to be confused with ahruf. Shias recite the Quran according to the of
Hafs on authority of
‘Asim, which is the prevalent in the Islamic world and
believe that the Quran was gathered and compiled by Muhammad during his lifetime.
It is claimed that the Shia had more than 1,000
hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
s ascribed to the
Shia Imams which indicate the distortion of the Quran and according to Etan Kohlberg, this belief about Quran was common among Shiites in the early centuries of Islam. In his view,
Ibn Babawayh was the first major
Twelver author "to adopt a position identical to that of the
Sunni
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
s" and the change was a result of the "rise to power of the Sunni '
Abbasid caliphate," whence belief in the corruption of the Quran became untenable vis-a-vis the position of Sunni "orthodoxy". Alleged distortions have been carried out to remove any references to the rights of Ali, the Imams and their supporters and the disapproval of enemies, such as
Umayyads and Abbasids.
Other personal copies of the Quran might have existed including
Ibn Mas'ud's and
Ubay ibn Ka'b's codex, none of which exist today.
[
* For God in the Quran (Allah), see "Allah", by Zeki Saritoprak, pp. 33–40.
* For eschatology, see "Eschatology," by Zeki Saritoprak, pp. 194–99.
* For searching the Arabic text on the internet and writing, see "Cyberspace and the Qur'an", by Andrew Rippin, pp. 159–63.
* For calligraphy, see by "Calligraphy and the Qur'an" by Oliver Leaman, pp. 130–35.
* For translation, see "Translation and the Qur'an," by Afnan Fatani, pp. 657–69.
* For recitation, see "Art and the Qur'an" by Tamara Sonn, pp. 71–81; and "Reading", by Stefan Wild, pp. 532–35.]
Academic research
Studies on the Quran rarely went beyond
textual criticism
Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts (mss) or of printed books. Such texts may rang ...
. Until the early 1970s,
[ Donner, "Quran in Recent Scholarship", 2008: p.30] non-Muslim scholars of Islam —while not accepting traditional explanations for divine intervention— accepted the above-mentioned traditional origin story in most details.
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
professor
Fred Donner states that:
ere was a very early attempt to establish a uniform consonantal text of the Qurʾān from what was probably a wider and more varied group of related texts in early transmission.… After the creation of this standardized canonical text, earlier authoritative texts were suppressed, and all extant manuscripts—despite their numerous variants—seem to date to a time after this standard consonantal text was established.
Although most variant readings of the text of the Quran have ceased to be transmitted, some still are.
There has been no
critical text produced on which a scholarly reconstruction of the Quranic text could be based.

In 1972, in a mosque in the city of
Sana'a,
Yemen
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
, manuscripts "consisting of 12,000 pieces" were discovered that were later proven to be the oldest Quranic text known to exist at the time. The
Sana'a manuscripts contain
palimpsests, manuscript pages from which the text has been washed off to make the parchment reusable again—a practice which was common in ancient times due to the scarcity of writing material. However, the faint washed-off underlying text () is still barely visible.
Studies using
radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...
indicate that the parchments are dated to the period before 671 CE with a 99 percent probability.
The
German scholar
Gerd R. Puin has been investigating these Quran fragments for years. His research team made 35,000 microfilm photographs of the manuscripts, which he dated to the early part of the 8th century. Puin has noted unconventional verse orderings, minor textual variations, and rare styles of orthography, and suggested that some of the parchments were palimpsests which had been reused. Puin believed that this implied an evolving text as opposed to a fixed one.
It is also possible that the content of the Quran itself may provides data regarding the date of writing of the text. For example, sources based on some archaeological data give the construction date of
Masjid al-Haram, an architectural work mentioned 16 times in the Quran, as 78 AH an additional finding that sheds light on the evolutionary history of the Quran mentioned,
which is known to continue even during the time of
Hajjaj, in a similar situation that can be seen with
al-Aksa, though different suggestions have been put forward to explain.
In 2015,
a single folio of a very early Quran, dating back to 1370 years earlier, was discovered in the library of the
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...
, England. According to the tests carried out by the Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, "with a probability of more than 95%, the parchment was from between 568 and 645". The manuscript is written in
Hijazi script, an early form of written Arabic.
This possibly was one of the earliest extant exemplars of the Quran, but as the tests allow a range of possible dates, it cannot be said with certainty which of the existing versions is the oldest.
Saudi scholar Saud al-Sarhan has expressed doubt over the age of the fragments as they contain dots and chapter separators that are believed to have originated later. The Birmingham manuscript caused excitement amongst believers because of its potential overlapping with the dominant tradition over the lifetime of
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
to 632 CE
[Elizabeth Goldman (1995), p. 63, gives 8 June 632, the dominant Islamic tradition. Many earlier (mainly non-Islamic) traditions refer to him as still alive at the time of the invasion of Palestine. See Stephen J. Shoemaker, ''The Death of a Prophet: The End of Muhammad's Life and the Beginnings of Islam,'' University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.] and used as evidence to support conventional wisdom and to refute the
revisionists' views that expresses findings and views different from the traditional approach to the early
history of the Quran and Islam.
Contents
The Quranic content is concerned with basic Islamic beliefs including the existence of
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
and the
resurrection. Narratives of the early
prophets, ethical and legal subjects, historical events of Muhammad's time, charity and
prayer
File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)''
rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...
also appear in the Quran. The Quranic verses contain general exhortations regarding right and wrong and historical events are related to outline general moral lessons.
The style of the Quran has been called "
allusive", with commentaries needed to explain what is being referred to—"events are referred to, but not narrated; disagreements are debated without being explained; people and places are mentioned, but rarely named."
While
tafsir in
Islamic sciences expresses the effort to understand the implied and implicit expressions of the Quran,
fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.[Fiqh](_blank)
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...
refers to the efforts to expand the
meaning of expressions, especially in the verses related to
the provisions, as well as understanding it.
Quranic studies
Quranic studies is the academic study of the Quran, the central religious text of Islam. Like in biblical studies, the field uses and applies a diverse set of Academic discipline, disciplines and methods, such as philology, textual criticism, lex ...
state that, in the historical context, the content of the Quran is related to
Rabbinic,
Jewish-Christian,
Syriac Christian and
Hellenic literature, as well as
pre-Islamic Arabia.
Many places, subjects and mythological figures in the
culture of Arabs and many nations in their historical neighbourhoods, especially
Judeo-Christian stories,
are included in the Quran with small allusions, references or sometimes small narratives such as
jannāt ʿadn,
jahannam,
Seven Sleepers
The Seven Sleepers (; ), also known in Christendom as Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, and in Islam as Aṣḥāb al-Kahf (اصحاب الکهف, ''aṣḥāb al-kahf'', lit. Companions of the Cave), is a Late antiquity, late antique Christianity, ...
,
Queen of Sheba etc. However, some philosophers and scholars such as
Mohammed Arkoun, who emphasize the mythological content of the Quran, are met with rejectionist attitudes in Islamic circles.
The stories of
Yusuf and Zulaikha,
Moses,
Family of Amram (parents of
Mary according to the Quran) and mysterious hero
Dhul-Qarnayn ("the man with two horns") who built a barrier against
Gog and Magog that will remain until the
end of time are more detailed and longer stories. Apart from semi-historical events and characters such as
King Solomon and
David, about
Jewish history as well as the
exodus of the Israelites from Egypt,
tales of the hebrew prophets accepted in Islam, such as
Creation,
the Flood,
struggle of Abraham with
Nimrod
Nimrod is a Hebrew Bible, biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles, the Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush (Bible), Cush and therefore the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of Sh ...
, sacrifice of
his son occupy a wide place in the Quran.
Creation and God
The central theme of the Quran is
monotheism. God is depicted as living, eternal, omniscient and omnipotent (see, e.g., Quran , , ). God's omnipotence appears above all in his power to create. He is the creator of everything, of the heavens and the earth and what is between them (see, e.g., Quran , , , etc.). All human beings are equal in their utter dependence upon God, and their well-being depends upon their acknowledging that fact and living accordingly.
The Quran uses
cosmological and
contingency arguments in various verses without referring to the terms to prove the
existence of God
The existence of God is a subject of debate in the philosophy of religion and theology. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God (with the same or similar arguments also generally being used when talking about the exis ...
. Therefore, the
universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents. It comprises all of existence, any fundamental interaction, physical process and physical constant, and therefore all forms of matter and energy, and the structures they form, from s ...
is originated and needs an originator, and whatever exists must have a sufficient cause for its existence. Besides, the design of the universe is frequently referred to as a point of contemplation: "It is He who has created
seven heavens in harmony. You cannot see any fault in God's creation; then look again: Can you see any flaw?"

Even though Muslims do not doubt about the existence and
unity of God, they may have adopted
different attitudes that have changed and developed throughout history regarding his
nature (attributes),
names and relationship with creation.
Rabb is an
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
word to refers to God meaning Lord
and the Quran cites in several places as in the
Al-Fatiha; "All Praise and Gratitude is due to God, ''Lord'' of all the Universe".
Mustafa Öztürk points out that the first Muslims believed that this god
lived in
the sky with the following words of
Ahmad Ibn Hanbal: "Whoever says that Allah is everywhere is a heretic, an infidel. He should be invited to repent, but if he does not, be killed." This understanding changes later and gives way to the understanding that "God cannot be assigned a place and He is everywhere." Also actions and attributes suh as coming, going, sitting, satisfaction, anger and sadness etc. similar to humans used for this God in the Quran were considered —"no one knows
its interpretation except God" ()—by later scholars stating that God was
free from resemblance to humans in any way.
Prophets
In Islam, God speaks to people called prophets through a kind of
revelation
Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...
called ''
wahy'', or through
angels. () ''
nubuwwah'' ( 'prophethood') is seen as a duty imposed by God on individuals who have some characteristics such as intelligence, honesty, fortitude and justice: "Nothing is said to you that was not said to the messengers before you, that your lord has at his Command forgiveness as well as a most Grievous Penalty."
Islam regards
Abraham as a link in the chain of prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
via
Ishmael
In the Bible, biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs.
Within Isla ...
and mentioned in 35
chapters of the Quran, more often than any other biblical personage apart from
Moses. Muslims regard him as a ''
hanif'', an archetype of the perfect Muslim, and revered prophet and builder of the
Kaaba
The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and Holiest sites in Islam, holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Sa ...
in Mecca. The Quran consistently refers to Islam as 'the religion of Abraham' (). In Islam,
Eid-al-Adha is celebrated to commemorate
Abraham's attempt to sacrifice his son by surrendering in line with his dream,(
As-Saaffat
As-Saffat (, , Those who rank themselves in Order,George Sale translation "Ranged in Row", "The Rangers") is the 37th chapter (sūrah) of the Qur'an with 182 verses (''āyāt'').
Regarding the timing and contextual background of the believed ...
; 100–107) which he accepted as the will of God.

In Islam,
Moses is a prominent prophet and messenger of God and the most frequently mentioned individual in the Quran, with
his name being mentioned 136 times and his life being narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet.
Stories of the prophets in the Quran often revolve around a certain pattern, according to which a prophet is sent to a group of people, who then reject or attack him, and ultimately suffer extinction as God's punishment. However, the Quran, given its paraenetic character, does not offer a full narrative; but rather offers a parabolic reference to the doom of previous generations, assuming the audience is familiar with the told stories.
Ethico-religious concepts
While belief in God and obedience to the prophets are the main emphasis in the prophetic stories,
there are also non-prophetic stories in the Quran that emphasize the importance of humility and having profound-inner knowledge (
hikmah) besides trusting in God. This is the main theme in the stories of
Khidr,
Luqman and Dhul Qarnayn. According to the later ascriptions to these stories, it is possible for those with this knowledge and divine support to teach the prophets (Khidr-Moses story
Quran 18:65–82) and employ
jinn (Dhul Qarnayn). Those who "spend their wealth" on people who are in need because they devoted their lives to the way of Allah and whose situation is unknown because they are ashamed to ask, will be rewarded by Allah. (
Al Baqara; 272-274) In the story of
Qārūn, the person who avoids searching for the
afterlife with his wealth and becomes arrogant will be punished, arrogance befits only God. (
Al Mutakabbir) Characters of the stories can be closed-mythical, (Khidr) demi-mythologic or combined characters, and it can also be seen that they are Islamized. While some believe he was a prophet, some researchers equate Luqman with the
Alcmaeon of Croton or
Aesop.
''Commanding ma’ruf and forbidding munkar'' (Ar. ٱلْأَمْرُ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَٱلنَّهْيُ عَنِ ٱلْمُنْكَرِ) is repeated or referred to in nearly 30 verses in different contexts in the Quran and is an important part of
Islamist /
jihadist
Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Political aspects of Islam, Islamic movements that seek to Islamic state, establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation ...
indoctrination
Indoctrination is the process of inculcating (teaching by repeated instruction) a person or people into an ideology, often avoiding critical analysis. It can refer to a general process of socialization. The term often implies forms of brainwas ...
today, as well as
Shiite teachings.
Although a common translation of the phrase is "
Enjoining good and forbidding evil", the words used by
Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—''falsafa'' (), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, mathematics, and p ...
determining
good and evil in discourses are "
husn" and "qubh". The word ma’ruf literally means "known" or what is approved because of its familiarity for a certain society and its antithesis munkar means what is disapproved because it is unknown and extraneous.
The Quran is one of the fundamental sources of Islamic law (''
sharia''). Some formal religious practices receive significant attention in the Quran including the ''
salat
''Salah'' (, also spelled ''salat'') is the practice of formal ibadah, worship in Islam, consisting of a series of ritual prayers performed at prescribed times daily. These prayers, which consist of units known as rak'a, ''rak'ah'', include ...
'' and
fasting in the
month of Ramadan. As for the manner in which the prayer is to be conducted, the Quran refers to
prostration.
The term chosen for charity, ''
zakat'', literally means purification implies that it is a self-purification.
In
fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.[Fiqh](_blank)
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...
, the term
fard is used for clear imperative provisions based on the Quran. However, it is not possible to say that the relevant verses are understood in the same way by all segments of Islamic commentators; For example,
Hanafis accept
5 daily prayers as fard. However, some religious groups such as
Quranists and
Shiites, who do not doubt that the Quran existing today is a religious source, infer from the same verses that it is clearly ordered to pray two or three times, not five times. About six verses address the way a woman should dress when in public;
Some Muslim scholars consider this verse referring to the
Hijab while others to clothings in general.
Research shows that the rituals in the Quran, along with laws such as
qisas and tax (
zakat), developed as an evolution of
pre-Islamic Arabian rituals. Arabic words meaning pilgrimage (
hajj
Hajj (; ; also spelled Hadj, Haj or Haji) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for capable Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetim ...
), prayer (
salāt) and charity (zakāt) can be seen in pre-Islamic
Safaitic-Arabic inscriptions, and this continuity can be observed in many details, especially in hajj and
umrah.
As a source of law and judgment
A small number of verses in the Quran are about general rules of governance,
inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...
,
marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
,
crime and punishment. Although the Quran does not impose
a specific legal-management system, it emphasizes
custom in nearly 40 verses and commands
justice. (
An-Nahl; 90) The practices prescribed in the Quran are considered as reflections of
contextual legal understandings, as can be clearly seen in some examples such as
Qisas and
Diya.
The following statement in the Quran is thought to be the general rule of testimony in
Islamic jurisprudence, except for crime and punishment - for example, debt, shopping, etc.; O believers! When you contract a loan for a fixed period of time, commit it to writing....with justice. Call upon two of your men to witness. If two men cannot be found, then one man and two women of your choice will witness so if one of the women forgets the other may remind her.
As a different example, in
the necklace story of Aisha, called
Asbab al-Nuzul for surah
An-Nur :11-20 four witnesses were required for the accusation of adultery. In addition, those who made accusations that did not meet the specified conditions would be punished with 80 lashes. The jurisprudence of later periods stipulates that witnesses must be men, covering all
hadd crimes and people who did not have credibility and honesty in society (
slaves
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
, non-adl;
sinners, infidels) could not testify against believers. In addition, the Islamic judiciary did not require proof of the issues defined as
tazir.
The statement in the Quran that determines the status of slaves in community is; ''Ma malakat aymanuhum'' meaning "
those whom your right hands possess". The widespread use of
slavery in the Islamic world continued until the last century, and the unrestricted sexual use of female slaves, with a few exceptions such as they couldn't be loaned out in traditional islamic jurisprudence while stated today often that sharia provides many rights to slaves and aims to eradicate slavery over time.
Sharia is a collection of laws and rules created by scholars' interpretations on the Quran and hadith collections, and has been developed over the centuries, changing according to different geographies and societies.
Fiqh sects are schools of understanding that try to determine the actions that people should do or avoid based on the Quran and hadiths. The place of hadiths in legislation is controversial; for example, in the
Hanafi sect, in order to claim that something is
obligatory, that issue must be clearly expressed in the Quran. Some of these results may also indicate exaggeration of statements, generalizations taken out of context, and imperative broadening of scope. Of the few criminal cases listed as crimes in the Quran, only a few of them are punished by the classical books of sharia as determined by the verses of the Quran and are called
hudud laws. How the verse
Al-Ma'idah 33, which describes the crime of
hirabah, should be understood is a matter of debate even today.
The verse talks about the punishment of criminals by killing, hanging, having their
hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, and being exiled from the earth, in response to an -abstract- crime such as "fighting against Allah and His Messenger". Expanding or narrowing the conditions and scope of this crime according to new situations and universal legal standards are issues that continue to be discussed today
such as punishing in addition to rebellion against the legitimate government on "concrete sequential criminal acts" ie massacre, robbery and rape as preconditions.
Although the constitutions of most Muslim-majority states contain references to sharia, its rules are largely preserved only in family law and criminal law in some. The Islamic revival of the late 20th century
brought calls by
Islamic movements for the full implementation of sharia, including
corporal punishment
A corporal punishment or a physical punishment is a punishment which is intended to cause physical pain to a person. When it is inflicted on Minor (law), minors, especially in home and school settings, its methods may include spanking or Padd ...
such as
stoning for
adultery,
through a variety of propaganda methods, from civic political activities to
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
.
Eschatology
The doctrine of the last day and
eschatology (the final fate of the universe) may be considered the second great doctrine of the Quran.
It is estimated that approximately one-third of the Quran is eschatological, dealing with the afterlife in the next world and with the day of judgment at the end of time. The Quran does not assert a natural
immortality of the human
soul, since man's existence is dependent on the will of God: when he wills, he causes man to die; and when he wills, he raises him to life again in a bodily
resurrection.
In the Quran belief in the afterlife is often referred in conjunction with belief in God: "Believe in God and the last day"
emphasizing what is considered impossible is easy in the sight of God. A number of
suras such as 44, 56, 75, 78, 81 and 101 are directly related to the afterlife and warn people to be prepared for the "imminent" day referred to in various ways. It is 'the Day of Judgment,' 'the Last Day,' 'the Day of Resurrection,' or simply 'the Hour.' Less frequently it is 'the Day of Distinction', 'the Day of the Gathering' or 'the Day of the Meeting'.
Text and arrangement
The Quran consists of 114 chapters of varying lengths, known as a ''
sūrah''. Each sūrah consists of verses, known as ''
āyāt'', which originally means a 'sign' or 'evidence' sent by God. The number of verses differs from sūrah to sūrah. An individual verse may be just a few letters or several lines. The total number of verses in the most popular
Hafs Quran is 6,236; however, the number varies if the ''bismillahs'' are counted separately. 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.

Chapters 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 on traditional account. However, a sūrah classified as Medinan may contain Meccan verses in it and vice versa. Sūrah names are derived from a name or a character in the text, or from the first letters or words of the sūrah. Chapters are not arranged in chronological order, rather the chapters appear to be arranged roughly in order of decreasing size. Each sūrah except the ninth starts with the ''
Bismillah'' (), 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 as the opening of
Solomon
Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...
's letter to the
Queen of Sheba.
The ''
Muqattaʿat'' ( , 'disjoined letters, disconnected letters'; also 'mysterious letters')
are combinations of between one and five
Arabic letters figuring at the beginning of 29 out of the 114 chapters of the Quran just after the basmala.
The letters are also known as ''
fawātih'' (), or 'openers', as they form the opening verse of their respective suras. Four surahs are named for their :
''Ṭāʾ-Hāʾ'',
''Yāʾ-Sīn'',
''Ṣād'', and
''Qāf''. Various theories have been put forward; they were a secret communication language between Allah and Muhammad, abbreviations of various names or attributes of Allah, symbols of the versions of the Quran belonging to different companions, elements of a secret
coding system, or expressions containing esoteric meanings.
Some researchers associate them with
hymns used in Syrian Christianity. The phrases must have been part of these hymns or abbreviations of
frequently repeated introductory phrases. Some of them, such as Nun, were used in symbolic meanings.
In addition of the division into chapters, there are various ways of dividing Quran into parts of approximately equal length for convenience in reading. The 30 ''
juz''' (plural ) can be used to read through the entire Quran in a month. A is sometimes further divided into two ''
ḥizb'' (plural ), and each subdivided into four . The Quran is also divided into seven approximately equal parts, ''
manzil'' (plural ), for it to be recited in a week.
A different structure is provided by semantic units resembling paragraphs and comprising roughly ten each. Such a section is called a ''
ruku''.
Literary style

The Quran's message is conveyed with various literary structures and devices. In the original Arabic, the suras and verses employ
phonetic
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...
and
thematic structures that assist the audience's efforts to recall the message of the text. Muslims assert (according to the Quran itself) that the Quranic content and style is inimitable.
The language of the Quran has been described as "rhymed prose" as it partakes of both poetry and prose; however, this description runs the risk of failing to convey the rhythmic quality of Quranic language, which is more poetic in some parts and more prose-like in others. Rhyme, while found throughout the Quran, is conspicuous in many of the earlier Meccan suras, in which relatively short verses throw the rhyming words into prominence. The effectiveness of such a form is evident for instance in
Sura 81, and there can be no doubt that these passages impressed the conscience of the hearers. Frequently a change of rhyme from one set of verses to another signals a change in the subject of discussion. Later sections also preserve this form but the style is more expository.
The Quranic text seems to have no beginning, middle, or end, its nonlinear structure being akin to a web or net.
The textual arrangement is sometimes considered to exhibit lack of continuity, absence of any chronological or thematic order and repetitiousness.
Michael Sells, citing the work of the critic
Norman O. Brown, acknowledges Brown's observation that the seeming disorganization of Quranic literary expression—its scattered or fragmented mode of composition in Sells's phrase—is in fact a literary device capable of delivering profound effects as if the intensity of the prophetic message were shattering the vehicle of human language in which it was being communicated.
Sells also addresses the much-discussed repetitiveness of the Quran, seeing this, too, as a literary device.
A text is
self-referential when it speaks about itself and makes reference to itself. According to Stefan Wild, the Quran demonstrates this
metatextuality by explaining, classifying, interpreting and justifying the words to be transmitted. Self-referentiality is evident in those passages where the Quran refers to itself as revelation (), remembrance (''
dhikr''), news (), criterion () in a self-designating manner (explicitly asserting its Divinity, "And this is a blessed Remembrance that We have sent down; so are you now denying it?"), or in the frequent appearance of the "Say" tags, when Muhammad is commanded to speak (e.g., "Say: 'God's guidance is the true guidance'", "Say: 'Would you then dispute with us concerning God?'"). According to Wild the Quran is highly self-referential. The feature is more evident in early Meccan suras.
Inimitability
In
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
, (), "inimitability challenge" of the Quran in sense of feṣāḥa and
belagha (both eloquence and rhetoric) is the doctrine which holds that the Quran has a miraculous quality, both in content and in form, that no human speech can match. According to this, the Quran is a
miracle and its inimitability is the proof granted to
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
in authentication of his prophetic status. The literary quality of the Quran has been praised by Muslim scholars and by many non-Muslim scholars.
[For example see comments by Arthur John Arberry: "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 constitute the Koran's undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of mankind'' Arberry, A.J (1955). The Koran: Interpreted. New York: Macmillan. pp. x''; ]Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong (born 14 November 1944) is a British author and commentator known for her books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic religious sister, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and Christian mysticism, mystical ...
: "It is as though Muhammad had created an entirely new literary form that some people were not ready for but which thrilled others. Without this experience of the Koran, it is extremely unlikely that Islam would have taken root." ''Armstrong, K (1994). A History of God.p.78''; Oliver Leaman: "the verses of the Qur'an represent its uniqueness and beauty not to mention its novelty and originality. That is why it has succeeded in convincing so many people of its truth. it imitates nothing and no one nor can it be imitated. Its style does not pall even after long periods of study and the text does not lose its freshness over time" ''Leaman, Oliver (2006). The Qur'an: an Encyclopedia.p.404'' and similar views by Joseph Schacht (1974) ''The legacy of Islam'', Henry Stubbe ''An account of the Rise and Progress of Mohammadanism (1911)'', Martin Zammit ''A Comparative Lexical Study of Qur'anic Arabic (2002)'', and Alfred Guillaume ''Islam (1990)'' The doctrine of the miraculousness of the Quran is further emphasized by Muhammad's illiteracy since the unlettered prophet could not have been suspected of composing the Quran.

The Quran is widely regarded as the finest work in
Arabic literature.
The emergence of the Quran was an oral and aural
poetic experience; the aesthetic experience of reciting and hearing the Quran is often regarded as one of the main reasons behind conversion to Islam in the early days.
Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry was an element of challenge, propaganda and warfare, and those who incapacitated their opponents from doing the same in feṣāḥa and
Belagha socially honored, as could be seen on
Mu'allaqat
The Muʻallaqāt (, ) is a compilation of seven long pre-Islamic Arabic poems. The name means The Suspended Odes or The Hanging Poems, they were named so because these poems were hung in the Kaaba in Mecca. Some scholars have also suggested th ...
poets. The etymology of the word "
shā'ir; (poet)" connotes the meaning of a man of inspirational knowledge, of unseen powers. `To the early Arabs poetry was ṣihr ḥalāl and the poet was a genius who had supernatural communications with the
jinn or
spirits, the muses who inspired him.’
Although pre-Islamic Arabs gave poets status associated with suprahuman beings, soothsayers and prophecies were seen as persons of lower status. Contrary to later
hurufic and recent
scientific prophecy claims, traditional
miracle statements about the Quran hadn't focused on
prophecies, with a few exceptions like the Byzantine victory over the Persians in wars that
continued for hundreds of years with mutual victories and defeats.
The first works about the of the Quran began to appear in the 9th century in the
Mu'tazila circles, which emphasized only its literary aspect, and were adopted by other religious groups. According to grammarian
Al-Rummani the
eloquence contained in the Quran consisted of
tashbīh,
istiʿāra,
taǧānus,
mubālaġa, concision, clarity of speech (bayān), and
talāʾum. He also added other features developed by himself; the free variation of themes (taṣrīf al-maʿānī), the implication content (taḍmīn) of the expressions and the rhyming closures (fawāṣil). The most famous works on the doctrine of inimitability are two medieval books by the grammarian
Al Jurjani (d. 1078 CE), ''Dala’il al-i'jaz'' ('the Arguments of Inimitability') and ''Asraral-balagha'' ('the Secrets of Eloquence').
Al Jurjani believed that Quran's eloquence must be a certain special quality in the manner of its stylistic arrangement and composition or a certain special way of joining words.
[ Angelika Neuwirth lists the factors that led to the emergence of the doctrine of : The necessity of explaining some challenging verses in the Quran; In the context of the emergence of the theory of "proofs of prophecy" ( dâ'il an-nubuwwa) in Islamic theology, proving that the Quran is a work worthy of the emphasized superior place of Muhammad in the history of the prophets, thus gaining polemical superiority over Jews and Christians; Preservation of Arab national pride in the face of confrontation with the Iranian Shu'ubiyya movement, etc. Orientalist scholars Theodor Nöldeke, Friedrich Schwally and John Wansbrough, pointing out linguistic defects, held similar opinions on the Quranic text as careless and imperfect.]
Significance in Islam
Quran says, "We have sent down the Quran in truth, and with the truth it has come down" and frequently asserts in its text that it is divinely ordained. The Quran speaks of a written pre-text that records God's speech before it is sent down, the "preserved tablet" that is the basis of the belief in fate also, and Muslims believe that the Quran was sent down or started to be sent down on the Laylat al-Qadr
In Islamic belief, Laylat al-Qadr () or Night of Power is an Islamic holidays, Islamic festival in memory of the night when the Quran was first sent down from Heaven in Islam, heaven to the world, the first Waḥy, revelation the Islamic proph ...
.
Revered by pious Muslims as "the holy of holies",[ Guillaume, ''Islam'', 1954: p.74] whose sound moves some to "tears and ecstasy", it is the physical symbol of the faith, the text often used as a charm on occasions of birth, death, marriage. Traditionally, before starting to read the Quran, ablution is performed, one seeks refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan, and the reading begins by mentioning the names of Allah, Rahman and Rahim together known as basmala. Consequently,
It must never rest beneath other books, but always on top of them, one must never drink or smoke when it is being read aloud, and it must be listened to in silence. It is a talisman against disease and disaster.[ Ibn Warraq, ''Why I'm Not a Muslim'', 1995: p.105]
According to Islam, the Quran is the word of God (). Its nature and whether it was created became a matter of fierce debate among religious scholars;[ Patton, ''Ibn Ḥanbal and the Miḥna'', 1897: p.54] and with the involvement of the political authority in the discussions, some Muslim religious scholars who stood against the political stance faced religious persecution
Religious persecution is the systematic oppression of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religion, religious beliefs or affiliations or their irreligion, lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within socie ...
during the caliph
A caliphate ( ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with Khalifa, the title of caliph (; , ), a person considered a political–religious successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a leader of ...
al-Ma'mun period and the following years.
Muslims believe that the present Quranic text corresponds to that revealed to Muhammad, and according to their interpretation of Quran , it is protected from corruption ("Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardians"). Muslims consider the Quran to be a sign of the prophethood of Muhammad and the truth of the religion. For this reason, in traditional Islamic societies, great importance was given to children memorizing the Quran, and those who memorized the entire Quran were honored with the title of hafiz. Even today, millions of Muslims frequently refer to the Quran to justify their actions and desires", and see it as the source of scientific knowledge, though some refer to it as weird or pseudoscience.
Muslims believe the Quran to be God's literal words, a complete code of life, the final revelation to humanity, a work of divine guidance revealed to Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
through the angel Gabriel. On the other hand it is believed in Muslim community that full understanding of it can only be possible with the depths obtained in the basic and religious sciences that the ulema ( imams in shia) might access, as "heirs of the prophets". For this reason, direct reading of the Quran or applications based on its literal translations are considered problematic except for some groups such as Quranists thinking that the Quran is a complete and clear book; and tafsir / fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ) is the term for Islamic jurisprudence.[Fiqh](_blank)
Encyclopædia Britannica ''Fiqh'' is of ...
are brought fore to correct understandings in it. With a classical approach, scholars will discuss verses of the Quran in context called asbab al-nuzul in islamic literature, as well as language and linguistics; will pass it through filters such as muhkam and mutashabih, nasıkh and abrogated; will open the closed expressions and try to guide the believers. There is no standardization in Quran translations, and interpretations range from traditional scholastic, to literalist- salafist understandings to Esoteric- Sufist, to modern and secular exegesis according to the personal scientific depth and tendencies of scholars.
In worship
Surah Al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Quran, is recited in full in every rakat of salah
''Salah'' (, also spelled ''salat'') is the practice of formal worship in Islam, consisting of a series of ritual prayers performed at prescribed times daily. These prayers, which consist of units known as ''rak'ah'', include a specific s ...
and on other occasions. This sura, which consists of seven verses, is the most often recited surah of the Quran:
Other sections of the Quran of choice are also read in daily prayers. Sura Al-Ikhlāṣ is second in frequency of Quran recitation, for according to many early authorities, Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
said that ''Ikhlāṣ'' is equivalent to one-third of the whole Quran.
Respect for the written text of the Quran is an important element of religious faith by many Muslims, and the Quran is treated with reverence. Based on tradition and a literal interpretation of Quran ("none shall touch but those who are clean"), some Muslims believe that they must perform a ritual cleansing with water ( wudu or ghusl) before touching a copy of the Quran, although this view is not universal.
Worn-out and old copies of the Quran are wrapped in a cloth and stored indefinitely in a safe place, buried in a mosque or a Muslim cemetery, or burned and the ashes buried or scattered over water. While praying, the Quran is only recited in Arabic.
In Islam, most intellectual disciplines, including Islamic theology, philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
, mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...
and jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
, have been concerned with the Quran or have their foundation in its teachings. Muslims believe that the preaching or reading of the Quran is rewarded with divine rewards variously called , '' thawab'', or .
In Islamic art
The Quran also inspired Islamic arts and specifically the so-called Quranic arts of calligraphy and illumination. The Quran is never decorated with figurative images, but many Qurans have been highly decorated with decorative patterns in the margins of the page, or between the lines or at the start of suras. Islamic verses appear in many other media, on buildings and on objects of all sizes, such as mosque lamps, metal work, pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
and single pages of calligraphy for muraqqas or albums.
File:Brooklyn Museum - Calligraphy - 3.jpg, Calligraphy, 18th century, Brooklyn Museum.
File:Quran inscriptions on wall, Lodhi Gardens, Delhi.jpg, Quranic inscriptions, Bara Gumbad mosque, Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
, India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
File:Mosque lamp Met 91.1.1534.jpg, Typical mosque lamp, of enamelled glass
Enamelled glass or painted glass is glass which has been decorated with vitreous enamel (powdered glass, usually mixed with a binder) and then fired to glass fusing, fuse the glasses. It can produce brilliant and long-lasting colours, and be tr ...
, with the '' Ayat an-Nur'' or "Verse of Light" (24:35).
File:Muhammad ibn Mustafa Izmiri - Right Side of an Illuminated Double-page Incipit - Walters W5771B - Full Page.jpg, Quran page decoration art, Ottoman period.
File:Mausolées du groupe nord (Shah-i-Zinda, Samarcande) (6016470147).jpg, Quranic verses, Shahizinda mausoleum, Samarkand
Samarkand ( ; Uzbek language, Uzbek and Tajik language, Tajik: Самарқанд / Samarqand, ) is a city in southeastern Uzbekistan and among the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in Central As ...
, Uzbekistan
, image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg
, image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg
, symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem
, national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...
.
File:4.8-17-1990-Guld-koranside-recto-og-verso.jpg, The leaves from Quran written in gold and contoured with brown ink with a horizontal format suited to classical Kufic calligraphy, which became common under the early Abbasid caliphs.
File:Quran rzabasi1.JPG, 9th-century Quran in the Reza Abbasi Museum
File:Shikastah script.jpg, ''Shikasta nastaliq'' script, 18th–19th centuries
Interpretation
'' Tafsir'' ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' (; plural: ). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding and conviction of God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
's will in Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
.
Principally, a ''tafsir'' deals with the issues of linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
, and theology
Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...
. In terms of perspective and approach, ''tafsir'' can be broadly divided into two main categories, namely ''tafsir bi-al-ma'thur'' (lit. received tafsir), which is transmitted from the early days of Islam through the Islamic prophet Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
and his companions, and ''tafsir bi-al-ra'y'' (lit. ''tafsir'' by opinion), which is arrived through personal reflection or independent rational thinking.
There are different characteristics and traditions for each of the ''tafsirs'' representing respective schools and doctrines, such as Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...
, Shia Islam
Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual le ...
, and Sufism. There are also general distinctions between classic ''tafsirs'' compiled by authoritative figures of Muslim scholarship during the formative ages of Islam, and modern ''tafsir'' which seeks to address a wider audience, including the common people.[Mir, Mustansir. (1995). "Tafsīr". In John L. Esposito. ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.]
Exoteric and Esoteric interpretations (''ta'wil'')
Commentaries dealing with the '' zahir'' ('outward aspects') of the text are called , (explanation) and hermeneutic and esoteric commentaries dealing with the '' batin'' are called '' ta'wil'' ('interpretation'). Commentators with an esoteric slant believe that the ultimate meaning of the Quran is known only to God. Esoteric or Sufi
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism.
Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
interpretation relates Quranic verses to the inner or esoteric ('' batin'') and metaphysical dimensions of existence and consciousness. According to Sands, esoteric interpretations are more suggestive than declarative, and are allusions () rather than explanations ('' tafsir''). They indicate possibilities as much as they demonstrate the insights of writers.
Shias and Sunnis as well as some Muslim philosophers believe the meaning of the Quran is not restricted to the literal aspect. In contrast, Bi-la kaifa, Quranic literalism, followed by Salafis and Zahiris, is the belief that the Quran should only be taken at its apparent meaning. Henry Corbin narrates a hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
that goes back to Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
:
The Quran possesses an external appearance and a hidden depth, an exoteric meaning and an esoteric meaning. This esoteric meaning in turn conceals an esoteric meaning. So it goes on for seven esoteric meanings.
According to esoteric interpreters, the inner meaning of the Quran does not eradicate or invalidate its outward meaning. Rather, it is like the soul, which gives life to the body. Corbin considers the Quran to play a part in Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—''falsafa'' (), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, mathematics, and p ...
, because Gnosiology itself goes hand in hand with prophet#Islam, prophetology.
Notable Sufi commentaries
One of the notable authors of esoteric interpretation prior to the 12th century is al-Sulami's (d. 1021) book named ('Truths of Exegesis') is a compilation of commentaries of earlier Sufis. From the 11th century onwards several other works appear, including commentaries by Qushayri (d. 1074), Abd al-Malik al-Daylami, Al-Daylami (d. 1193), Abu Mohammad Shirazi, Al-Shirazi (d. 1209) and Shihab al-Din 'Umar al-Suhrawardi, Al-Suhrawardi (d. 1234). These works include material from Sulami's books plus the author's contributions. Many works are written in Persian such as the works of Qadi Husayn Maybudi, Al-Maybudi (d. 1135) ('the unveiling of the secrets'). Rumi (d. 1273) wrote a vast amount of mystical poetry in his book ''Masnavi, Mathnawi'' which some consider a kind of Sufi interpretation of the Quran. Simnani (d. 1336) tried reconciliation of Incarnation, God's manifestation through and in the physical world notions with the sentiments of Sunni Islam. Ismail Hakki Bursevi's (d. 1725) work ('the Spirit of Elucidation') is a voluminous exegesis written in Arabic, combines the author's own ideas with those of his predecessors (notably Ibn Arabi and Al-Ghazali, Ghazali).
Translations
Translating the Quran has always been problematic and difficult. Many argue that the Quranic text cannot be reproduced in another language or form. An Arabic word may have a Polysemy, range of meanings depending on the context, making an accurate translation difficult. Moreover, one of the biggest difficulties in understanding the Quran for those who do not know Ancient Arabic, its language in the face of shifts in linguistics, linguistic usage over the centuries is semantic translations (meanings) that include the translator's contributions to the relevant text instead of literal ones. Although the author's contributions are often bracketed and shown separately, the author's individual tendencies may also come to the fore in making sense of the main text. These studies contain reflections and even distortions caused by the region, Islamic sects, sect, education, ideology and knowledge of the people who made them, and efforts to reach the real content are drowned in the details of volumes of commentaries. These distortions can manifest themselves in many areas of belief and practices.
Islamic tradition also holds that translations were made for Negus of Abyssinia and Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, as both Muhammad's letters to the Heads-of-State, received letters by Muhammad containing verses from the Quran. In early centuries, the permissibility of translations was not an issue, but whether one could use translations in prayer. The Quran has been translation, translated into most African, Asian, and European languages. The first translator of the Quran was Salman the Persian, who translated surat ''al-Fatiha'' into Persian language, Persian during the seventh century. Another translation of the Quran was completed in 884 in Alwar (Sindh, India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, now Pakistan) by the orders of Abdullah bin Umar bin Abdul Aziz on the request of the Hindu Raja Mehruk.
The first fully attested complete translations of the Quran were done between the 10th and 12th centuries in Persian language, Persian. The Samanid Empire, Samanid king, Mansur I (961–976), ordered a group of scholars from Greater Khorasan, Khorasan to translate the Tafsir al-Tabari, originally in Arabic, into Persian. Later in the 11th century, one of the students of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Abu Mansur Abdullah al-Ansari wrote a complete '' tafsir'' of the Quran in Persian. In the 12th century, Abu Hafs Omar al-Nasafi, Najm al-Din Abu Hafs al-Nasafi translated the Quran into Persian. The manuscripts of all three books have survived and have been published several times. In 1936, translations in 102 languages were known. In 2010, the ''Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review'' reported that the Quran was presented in 112 languages at the 18th International Quran Exhibition in Tehran.
Robert of Ketton's 1143 translation of the Quran for Peter the Venerable, ''Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete'', was the first into a Western language (Latin).
Alexander Ross (writer), Alexander Ross offered the first English version in 1649, from the French translation of (1647) by Andre du Ryer. In 1734, George Sale produced the first scholarly translation of the Quran into English; another was produced by Richard Bell (Arabist), Richard Bell in 1937, and yet another by Arthur John Arberry in 1955. While all these translators were non-Muslims, there have been numerous translations by Muslims: popular modern English translations by Muslims include The Oxford World Classics translation by Muhammad Abdel Haleem, The Clear Quran by Mustafa Khattab, Sahih International's translation, among various others. As with translations of the Bible, the English translators have sometimes favored archaic English words and constructions over their more modern or conventional equivalents; for example, two widely read translators, Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Marmaduke Pickthall, use the plural and singular ''ye'' and ''thou'' instead of the more common ''you''.
The oldest Gurmukhi Gurmukhi version of the Quran, translation of the Quran Sharif has been found in village Lande, Punjab, Lande of Moga district of Indian Punjab which was printed in 1911.
Page from the Qur'an of Sultan Ibrahim (TKS EH 209).jpg, 1091 Quranic text in bold script with Persian translation and commentary in a lighter script
File:Ilkhanid Quran.jpg, Arabic Quran with interlinear Persian translation from the Ilkhanate, Ilkhanid Era
File:Alcoran de Mahomet 1647.jpg, The first printed Quran in a European vernacular language: , André du Ryer, 1647
File:Koran by Megerlein 1772.jpg, Title page of the first German translation (1772) of the Quran
File:Chinese quran.jpg, Verses 33 and 34 of surat Ya Sin, Yā Sīn in this Chinese translation of the Quran
Recitation
Rules of recitation
The proper recitation of the Quran is the subject of a separate discipline named ''tajwid'' which determines in detail how the Quran should be recited, how each individual syllable is to be pronounced, the need to pay attention to the places where there should be a pause, to elisions, where the pronunciation should be long or short, where letters should be sounded together and where they should be kept separate, etc. It may be said that this discipline studies the laws and methods of the proper recitation of the Quran and covers three main areas: the proper pronunciation of consonants and vowels (the articulation of the Quranic phonemes), the rules of pause in recitation and of resumption of recitation, and the musical and melodious features of recitation.[:]
In order to avoid incorrect pronunciation, reciters follow a program of training with a qualified teacher. The two most popular texts used as references for rules are Matn al-Jazariyyah by Ibn al-Jazari and Tuhfat al-Atfal by Sulayman al-Jamzuri.
The recitations of a few Egyptian reciters, like El Minshawy, Al-Hussary, Abdul Basit 'Abd us-Samad, Abdul Basit, Mustafa Ismail, were highly influential in the development of current styles of recitation. Southeast Asia is well known for world-class recitation, evidenced in the popularity of the woman reciters such as Maria Ulfah of Jakarta. Today, crowds fill auditoriums for public International Quran Recital Competition, Quran recitation competitions.[
There are generally two types of recitation (based on pace of recitation):
# is a recitation at moderate pace, used for study and practice.
# ''Mujawwad'' refers to a slower recitation that deploys heightened technical artistry and melodic modulation, as in public performances by trained experts. It is directed to and dependent upon an audience for the reciter seeks to involve the listeners.]
Variant readings
The variant readings of the Quran are one type of textual variant. According to Melchert (2008), the majority of disagreements have to do with vowels to supply, most of them in turn not conceivably reflecting dialectal differences and about one in eight disagreements has to do with whether to place dots above or below the line. Nasser categorizes variant readings into various subtypes, including internal vowels, long vowels, gemination (''shaddah''), Assimilation (linguistics), assimilation and Alternation (linguistics), alternation.
It is generally stated that there are small differences between readings. However, these small changes may also include differences that may lead to serious differences in Islam, ranging from the definition of God to practices such as the wudu, formal conditions of ablution.
The first Quranic manuscripts lacked marks, enabling multiple possible recitations to be conveyed by the same written text. The 10th-century Muslim scholar from Baghdad, Abu Bakr Ibn Mujāhid, Ibn Mujāhid, is famous for establishing seven acceptable textual readings of the Quran. He studied various readings and their trustworthiness and chose seven 8th-century readers from the cities of Mecca, Medina, Kufa, Basra and Damascus. Ibn Mujahid did not explain why he chose seven readers, rather than six or ten, but this may be related to a prophetic tradition (Muhammad's saying) reporting that the Quran had been revealed in seven ''ahruf''. Today, the most popular readings are those transmitted by Hafs, Ḥafṣ (d. 796) and Warsh (d. 812) which are according to two of Ibn Mujahid's reciters, Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud (Kufa, d. 745) and Nafiʽ al-Madani (Medina, d. 785), respectively. The influential standard History of the Quran#1924 Cairo edition, Quran of Cairo uses an elaborate system of modified vowel-signs and a set of additional symbols for minute details and is based on ʻAsim's recitation, the 8th-century recitation of Kufa. This edition has become the standard for modern printings of the Quran. Occasionally, an early Quran shows compatibility with a particular reading. A Syrian manuscript from the 8th century is shown to have been written according to the reading of Ibn Amir ad-Dimashqi. Another study suggests that this manuscript bears the vocalization of homs, himsi region.
According to Ibn Taymiyyah vocalization markers indicating specific vowel sounds (Arabic diacritics, ''tashkeel'') were introduced into the text of the Quran during the lifetimes of the last Companions of the Prophet, Sahabah.
Writing and printing
Writing
Before printing was widely adopted in the 19th century, the Quran was transmitted in manuscripts made by Islamic calligraphy, calligraphers and copyists. The earliest manuscripts were written in ''Hijazi script, Ḥijāzī''-typescript. The ''Hijazi'' style manuscripts nevertheless confirm that transmission of the Quran in writing began at an early stage. Probably in the ninth century, scripts began to feature thicker strokes, which are traditionally known as ''Kufic'' scripts. Toward the end of the ninth century, new scripts began to appear in copies of the Quran and replace earlier scripts. The reason for discontinuation in the use of the earlier style was that it took too long to produce and the demand for copies was increasing. Copyists would therefore choose simpler writing styles. Beginning in the 11th century, the styles of writing employed were primarily the ''Naskh (script), naskh'', ''muhaqqaq'', ''rayḥānī'' and, on rarer occasions, the ''thuluth'' script. ''Naskh'' was in very widespread use. In North Africa and Iberia, the ''Maghrebi script, Maghribī'' style was popular. More distinct is the ''Bihari'' script which was used solely in the north of India. ''Nastaʿlīq script, Nastaʻlīq'' style was also rarely used in Persian world.
In the beginning, the Quran was not written with dots or Arabic diacritics, tashkeel. These features were added to the text during the lifetimes of the last of the Companions of the Prophet, Sahabah. Since it would have been too costly for most Muslims to purchase a manuscript, copies of the Quran were held in mosques in order to make them accessible to people. These copies frequently took the form of a series of 30 parts or ''juzʼ''. In terms of productivity, the Ottoman copyists provide the best example. This was in response to widespread demand, unpopularity of printing methods and for aesthetic reasons.
Whilst the majority of Islamic scribes were men, some women also worked as scholars and copyists; one such woman who made a copy of this text was the Moroccan jurist, Amina, bint al-Hajj ʿAbd al-Latif.
File:Brooklyn Museum - Folio from the "Blue" Qur'an.jpg, Folio from the Blue Quran, "Blue" Quran at the Brooklyn Museum
File:Folio from a Koran (8th-9th century).jpg, ''Kufic'' script, eighth or ninth century
File:Qur'anic Manuscript - Maghribi script.jpg, Maghrebi script, ''Maghribi'' script, 13th–14th centuries
File:Muhaqqaq script.gif, ''Muhaqqaq'' script, 14th–15th centuries
Printing
Woodcut, Wood-block printing of extracts from the Quran is on record as early as the 10th century.
Arabic movable type printing was ordered by Pope Julius II () for distribution among Middle Eastern Christians. The first complete Quran printed with movable type was produced in Venice in 1537–1538 for the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman market by Paganino Paganini and Alessandro Paganini. But this Quran was not used as it contained a large number of errors. Two more editions include the Hinckelmann edition published by the pastor Abraham Hinckelmann in Hamburg in 1694, and the edition by the Italian priest Louis Maracci, Ludovico Maracci in Padua in 1698 with Latin translation and commentary.
Printed copies of the Quran during this period met with strong opposition from Ulama, Muslim legal scholars: printing anything in Arabic was prohibited in the Ottoman empire between 1483 and 1726—initially, even on penalty of death. The Ottoman ban on printing in Arabic script was lifted in 1726 for non-religious texts only upon the request of Ibrahim Muteferrika, who printed his first book in 1729. Except for books in Hebrew and European languages, which were unrestricted, very few books, and no religious texts, were printed in the Ottoman Empire for another century.
In 1786, Catherine the Great of Russia, sponsored a printing press for "Tatar and Turkish orthography" in Saint Petersburg, with one Mullah Osman Ismail responsible for producing the Arabic types. A Quran was printed with this press in 1787, reprinted in 1790 and 1793 in Saint Petersburg, and in 1803 in Kazan Governorate, Kazan. The first edition printed in Iran appeared in Qajar Iran, Tehran (1828), a translation in Turkish was printed in Cairo in 1842, and the first officially sanctioned Ottoman edition was finally printed in Constantinople between 1875 and 1877 as a two-volume set, during the First Constitutional Era.
Gustav Leberecht Flügel, Gustav Flügel published an Flügel edition, edition of the Quran in 1834 in Leipzig, which remained authoritative in Europe for close to a century, until Cairo's Al-Azhar University published an 1924 Cairo edition, edition of the Quran in 1924. This edition was the result of a long preparation, as it standardized Quranic orthography, and it remains the basis of later editions.
Criticism
Regarding the claim of divine origin, critics refer to pre-existing sources, not only taken from the Bible, supposed to be older revelations of God, but also from Heresy in Christianity, heretic, Apocryphia, Apocryphic and talmudic sources, such as the Syriac Infancy Gospel and Gospel of James. The Quran acknowledges that accusations of borrowing popular ancient fables were being made against Muhammad.
Relationship with other literature
Some non-Muslim groups such as the Baháʼí Faith and Druze view the Quran as holy. In the Baháʼí Faith, the Quran is accepted as authentic revelation from God along with the revelations of the other world religions, Islam being viewed as a stage within the divine process of Progressive revelation (Baháʼí), progressive revelation. Baháʼu'lláh, Bahá'u'lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith, wrote about the Quran. Unitarian Universalism, Unitarian Universalists may also seek inspiration from the Quran. It has been suggested that the Quran has some narrative similarities to the Diatessaron, Gospel of James, Protoevangelium of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Syriac Infancy Gospel, Arabic Infancy Gospel. One scholar has suggested that the Diatessaron, as a gospel harmony, may have led to the conception that the Christian Gospel is one text.
Relationship with The Bible
The Quran attributes its relationship with former books (the Torah and the Gospels) to their unique origin, saying all of them have been revealed by the God, through it asserts that Jews and Christians have corrupted it through falsification and alteration (Tahrif, ''Taḥrīf'').
According to Christoph Luxenberg (in ''The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran'') the Quran's language was similar to the Syriac language. The Quran recounts stories of many of the people and events recounted in Judaism, Jewish and Christianity, Christian sacred books (Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, Bible) and devotional literature (Apocrypha, Midrash), although it differs in many details. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Hud (prophet), Eber, Shelah (son of Judah), Shelah, Abraham, Lot (biblical person), Lot, Ishmael
In the Bible, biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs.
Within Isla ...
, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (Genesis), Joseph, Job (biblical figure), Job, Jethro (biblical figure), Jethro, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Aaron, Moses, Zechariah (New Testament figure), Zechariah, John the Baptist and Jesus are mentioned in the Quran as prophets of God (see Prophets and messengers in Islam, Prophets of Islam). In fact, Moses is mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual. Jesus is mentioned more often in the Quran than Muhammad (by name—Muhammad is often alluded to as "The Prophet" or "The Apostle"), while Mary is mentioned in the Quran more than in the New Testament.
Relationship with Arab writing
After the Quran, and the general rise of Islam, the Arabic alphabet developed rapidly into an art form. The Arabic grammarian Sibawayh wrote one of the earliest books on Arabic grammar, referred to as "Al-Kitab", which relied heavily on the language in the Quran. Wadad Kadi, Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
, and Mustansir Mir, Professor of Islamic studies at Youngstown State University, state that the Quran exerted a particular influence on Arabic literature's diction, themes, metaphors, motifs and symbols and added new expressions and new meanings to old, pre-Islamic words that would become ubiquitous.
See also
* List of chapters in the Quran
* List of translations of the Quran
* Quran translations
* Historical reliability of the Quran
* Quran and miracles
* Quran code
* Criticism of the Quran
* Violence in the Quran
* Women in the Quran
* Digital Quran
* ''The True Furqan''
* Qira'at
* Hadith
* Hadith al-Thaqalayn
* Islamic schools and branches
* Schools of Islamic theology
* Attempted imitations of the Quran
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
Introductory texts
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Traditional Quranic commentaries (tafsir)
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Topical studies
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Literary criticism
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Encyclopedias
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Academic journals
* ''Journal of Qur'anic Studies'' (), published by the School of Oriental and African Studies
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Journal of Qur'anic Research and Studies
', published by King Fahd Qur'an Printing Complex
External links
Reference material
The British Library: Discovering Sacred Texts – Islam
Manuscripts
Several digitised Qurans in the Cambridge University Digital Library
Digitised Manuscripts Sorted by Verses at Corpus Coranicum
Quran browsers and translation
Quran Pdf
Al-Quran.info
Quran Archive – Texts and Studies on the Quran
Quran text and translation
at Tufts University
Tanzil – Online Quran Navigator
Quran.com
Previous.quran.com
– By clicking Settings and selecting The Bridges’ translation by Fadel Soliman, words that have significant variants among the ten canonical qira'at are highlighted in red, together with a footnote listing the readers or transmitters and an English translation for each of the variant readings
Multilingual Quran (Arabic, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian)
Latin script transliterated Qur'an. Hans Zirker. University of Frankfurt.
{{Authority control
Quran
7th-century books
Islamic theology
Islamic texts
Medieval literature
Religious texts
Islamic terminology
Literature about literature
Miracles attributed to Muhammad
7th-century Arabic-language books