A Simple Guide to ISLAM
The Qur’an
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THE QUR’AN
The Qur’an a medium-sized book as far as its volume is
concerned. It comprises 114 chapters or surahs. The Quran is a
revealed book: it is not authored by a human being. It is the actual
word of God in human language. The Qur’an began to be revealed
to the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, through the
angel Gabriel, in A.D. 610, while the Prophet was sitting in
seclusion in the cave of Hira at the top of the Mountain of Light,
two miles from Makkah. Thus the scriptures were not revealed in
book-form at one point of time. Their various parts were revealed
as the occasion demanded. It was later compiled in Madinah
during the last days of the Prophet. The entire revelation was
completed over a period of 23 years. The last passage was
revealed to the Prophet while he was addressing a gathering at
Mount Arafat after performing his last Hajj in A.D. 622.
Since the Qur’an came into existence prior to the era of the press,
it could be preserved in only two ways: either by committing the
entire text to memory or by writing it on paper or other materials.
That is why there have always been a large number of
hafiz
(those
who committed the entire Qur’an to memory), in every age right
from the moment of revelation of the Qur’an to the present day.
The earliest written copies of the Qur’an are still available in
different museums, one of these being in Tashkent.
The Qur’an, addressed to mankind, tells us of God’s scheme for
human existence: that man is placed on this earth for the purpose
