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Quran

The Quran (/kʊrˈɑːn/, kuurr-AHN;[i] vocalized Arabic: اَلْقُرْآنُ, Quranic Arabic: ٱلۡقُرۡءَانُ al-Qurʾān [alqurˈʔaːn],[ii] 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran,[iii] is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God.[11] It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: سور suwar, sing.: سورة sūrah), which consist of verses (pl.: آيات ʾāyāt, sing.: آية ʾāyah, cons.: ʾāyat). In addition to its religious significance, it is widely regarded as the finest work in Arabic literature,[12][13][14] and has significantly influenced the Arabic language.

The Quran
القرآن al-Qurʾān
Information
ReligionIslam
LanguageClassical Arabic
Period610–632 CE
Chapters114 (list)
Full text
The Quran at Arabic Wikisource
Quran at English Wikisource

Muslims believe that the Quran was orally revealed by God to the final prophet, Muhammad, through the archangel Gabriel[15][16] incrementally over a period of some 23 years, beginning in the month of Ramadan,[17] when Muhammad was 40; and concluding in 632, the year of his death.[11][18][19] Muslims regard the Quran as Muhammad's most important miracle; a proof of his prophethood;[20] and the culmination of a series of divine messages starting with those revealed to Adam, including the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel. The word Quran occurs some 70 times in the text itself, and other names and words are also said to refer to the Quran.[21]

The Quran is believed by Muslims to be not simply divinely inspired, but the literal word of God.[22] Muhammad did not write it as he did not know how to write. According to tradition, several of Muhammad's companions served as scribes, recording the revelations.[23] Shortly after the prophet's death, the Quran was compiled by the companions, who had written down or memorized parts of it.[24] 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 mostly minor differences in meaning.[23]

The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Biblical and apocryphal scriptures. It summarizes some, dwells at length on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events.[25][26] The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance for humankind ( 2:185). It sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence.[27] 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,[28][iv] are hadiths—oral and written traditions believed to describe words and actions of Muhammad.[v][28] During prayers, the Quran is recited only in Arabic.[29]

Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz. Ideally, verses are recited with a special kind of elocution reserved for this purpose, called tajwid. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers. In order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, Muslims rely on exegesis, or commentary rather than a direct translation of the text.[30]

Etymology and meaning

The word qurʼān appears about 70 times in the Quran itself, assuming various meanings. It is a verbal noun (maṣdar) of the Arabic verb qaraʼa (قرأ) meaning 'he read' or 'he recited'. The Syriac equivalent is qeryānā (ܩܪܝܢܐ), which refers to 'scripture reading' or 'lesson'.[31] While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, the majority of Muslim authorities hold the origin of the word is qaraʼa itself.[11] Regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammad's lifetime.[11] An important meaning of the word is the 'act of reciting', as reflected in an early Quranic passage: "It is for Us to collect it and to recite it (qurʼānahu)."[32]

In other verses, the word refers to 'an individual passage recited [by Muhammad]'. Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example: "So when al-qurʼān is recited, listen to it and keep silent."[33] The word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel.[34]

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 qurʼān in certain contexts. Such terms include kitāb ('book'), āyah ('sign'), and sūrah ('scripture'); the latter two terms also denote units of revelation. In the large majority of contexts, usually with a definite article (al-), the word is referred to as the waḥy ('revelation'), that which has been "sent down" (tanzīl) at intervals.[35][36] Other related words include: dhikr ('remembrance'), used to refer to the Quran in the sense of a reminder and warning; and ḥikmah ('wisdom'), sometimes referring to the revelation or part of it.[11][vi]

The Quran describes itself as 'the discernment' (al-furqān), 'the mother book' (umm al-kitāb), 'the guide' (huda), 'the wisdom' (hikmah), 'the remembrance' (dhikr), and 'the revelation' (tanzīl; 'something sent down', signifying the descent of an object from a higher place to lower place).[37] Another term is al-kitāb ('The Book'), though it is also used in the Arabic language for other scriptures, such as the Torah and the Gospels. The term mus'haf ('written work') is often used to refer to particular Quranic manuscripts but is also used in the Quran to identify earlier revealed books.[11]

History

Prophetic era

Islamic tradition relates that Muhammad received his first revelation in the Cave of Hira during one of his isolated retreats to the mountains. Thereafter, he received revelations over a period of 23 years. According to hadith and Muslim history, after Muhammad 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 were in use amongst early Muslims since they are mentioned in numerous sayings by both Sunni 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.[38][39][40] There is agreement among scholars that Muhammad himself did not write down the revelation.[41]

Sahih al-Bukhari narrates Muhammad describing the revelations as, "Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell" and Aisha 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)."[vii] 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,"[43] 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."[39][44] The Islamic studies scholar Welch states in the Encyclopaedia of Islam 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.[45]

 
Muhammad's first revelation, Surah Al-Alaq, later placed 96th in the Qur'anic regulations, in current writing style

The Quran describes Muhammad as "ummi,"[46] 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 Watt prefer the second meaning of ummi—they take it to indicate unfamiliarity with earlier sacred texts.[39][47]

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.

Compilation and preservation

 
The basmala as written on the Birmingham mus'haf manuscript, the oldest surviving copy of the Qur'an. Rasm: "ٮسم الله الرحمں الرحىم".

Following Muhammad's death in 632, a number of his companions who knew the Quran by heart were killed in the Battle of Yamama by Musaylimah. The first caliph, Abu Bakr (d. 634), subsequently decided to collect the book in one volume so that it could be preserved. Zayd ibn Thabit (d. 655) 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 suhuf)[48][ambiguous] 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 ibn Affan, requested the standard copy from her.[49]

In about 650, Uthman (d. 656) began noticing slight differences in pronunciation of the Quran as Islam expanded beyond the Arabian Peninsula into Persia, the Levant, and North Africa. 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.[50][51] Thus, within 20 years of Muhammad's death, the Quran was committed to written form.[anachronism] 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.[50][52][53][54] The present form of the Quran text is accepted by Muslim scholars to be the original version compiled by Abu Bakr.[39][40][viii]

 
Quran − in Mashhad, Iran − said to be written by Ali

According to Shia, Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661) compiled a complete version of the Quran shortly after Muhammad's death. The order of this text differed from that gathered later during Uthman's era in that this version had been collected in chronological order. Despite this, he made no objection against the standardized Quran and accepted the Quran in circulation. 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.[11][50][56]

The Quran most likely existed in scattered written form during Muhammad's lifetime. Several sources indicate that during Muhammad's lifetime a large number of his companions had memorized the revelations. Early commentaries and Islamic historical sources support the above-mentioned understanding of the Quran's early development.[24] University of Chicago professor Fred Donner states that:[57]

[T]here 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.[58][59] There has been no critical text produced on which a scholarly reconstruction of the Quranic text could be based.[ix] Historically, controversy over the Quran's content has rarely become an issue, although debates continue on the subject.[61][x]

 
The right page of the Stanford '07 binary manuscript. The upper layer is verses 265–271 of the surah Bakara. The double-layer reveals the additions made on the first text of the Qur'an and the differences with today's Qur'an.

In 1972, in a mosque in the city of Sana'a, Yemen, manuscripts were discovered that were later proved to be the most ancient Quranic text known to exist at the time. The Sana'a manuscripts contain palimpsests, a manuscript page 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 (scriptio inferior) is still barely visible and believed to be "pre-Uthmanic" Quranic content, while the text written on top (scriptio superior) is believed to belong to Uthmanic times.[62] Studies using radiocarbon dating indicate that the parchments are dated to the period before 671 CE with a 99 percent probability.[63][64] 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 not published the entirety of his work, but noted unconventional verse orderings, minor textual variations, and rare styles of orthography. He also 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.[65]

In 2015, fragments of a very early Quran, dating back to 1370 years earlier, were discovered in the library of the University of Birmingham, 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.[66] This is possibly the earliest extant exemplar 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.[66] 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.[67] However Joseph E. B. Lumbard of Brandeis University has written in the Huffington Post in support of the dates proposed by the Birmingham scholars. Lumbard notes that the discovery of a Quranic text that may be confirmed by radiocarbon dating as having been written in the first decades of the Islamic era, while presenting a text substantially in conformity with that traditionally accepted, reinforces a growing academic consensus that many Western skeptical and 'revisionist' theories of Quranic origins are now untenable in the light of empirical findings—whereas, on the other hand, counterpart accounts of Quranic origins within classical Islamic traditions stand up well in the light of ongoing scientific discoveries.[68]

Significance in Islam

Muslims believe the Quran to be God's final revelation to humanity, a work of divine guidance revealed to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel.[18][69]

Revered by pious Muslims as "the holy of holies,"[70] whose sound moves some to "tears and ecstasy",[71] it is the physical symbol of the faith, the text often used as a charm on occasions of birth, death, marriage.[citation needed] 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.[70][72]

Traditionally great emphasis was put on children memorizing the 6,200+ verses of the Quran, those succeeding being honored with the title Hafiz. "Millions and millions" of Muslims "refer to the Koran daily to explain their actions and to justify their aspirations,"[xi] and in recent years many consider it the source of scientific knowledge.[74][75]

Revelation in Islamic and Quranic contexts means the act of God addressing an individual, conveying a message for a greater number of recipients. The process by which the divine message comes to the heart of a messenger of God is tanzil ('to send down') or nuzūl ('to come down'). As the Quran says, "With the truth we (God) have sent it down and with the truth it has come down."[76]

The Quran frequently asserts in its text that it is divinely ordained. Some verses in the Quran seem to imply that even those who do not speak Arabic would understand the Quran if it were recited to them.[77] The Quran refers to a written pre-text, "the preserved tablet," that records God's speech even before it was sent down.[78][79]

Muslims believe that the present wording of the Quran corresponds to that revealed to Muhammad, and according to their interpretation of Quran 15:9, it is protected from corruption ("Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardian.").[80] Muslims consider the Quran to be a guide, a sign of the prophethood of Muhammad and the truth of the religion.

The Shīa believe that the Quran was gathered and compiled by Muhammad during his lifetime, rather than being compiled by Uthman ibn Affan. There are other differences in the way Shias interpret the text.[81] Muslims do not agree over whether the Quran was created by God or is eternal and "uncreated." Sunnis (who make up about 85–90% of Muslims) hold that the Quran is uncreated—a doctrine that has been unchallenged among them for many centuries. Shia Twelvers and Zaydi, and the Kharijites—believe the Quran was created.[82] Sufi philosophers view the question as artificial or wrongly framed.[83]: 10 [need quotation to verify]

Inimitability

Inimitability of the Quran (or "I'jaz") is the belief that no human speech can match the Quran in its content and form. The Quran is considered an inimitable miracle by Muslims, effective until the Day of Resurrection—and, thereby, the central proof granted to Muhammad in authentication of his prophetic status. The concept of inimitability originates in the Quran where in five different verses opponents are challenged to produce something like the Quran: "If men and jinn banded together to produce the like of this Quran they would never produce its like not though they backed one another."[84] From the ninth century, numerous works appeared which studied the Quran and examined its style and content. Medieval Muslim scholars including al-Jurjani (d. 1078) and al-Baqillani (d. 1013) have written treatises on the subject, discussed its various aspects, and used linguistic approaches to study the Quran. Others argue that the Quran contains noble ideas, has inner meanings, maintained its freshness through the ages and has caused great transformations at the individual level and in history. Some scholars state that the Quran contains scientific information that agrees with modern science. 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.[56][85]

In worship

 
While standing in prayers, worshipers recite the first chapter of the Quran, al-Fatiha, followed by any other section.

The first surah of the Quran is repeated in daily prayers and on other occasions. This surah, which consists of seven verses, is the most often recited surah of the Quran:[11]

Other sections of the Quran of choice are also read in daily prayers.

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 56:79 ("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.[11] Worn-out 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.[86]

In Islam, most intellectual disciplines, including Islamic theology, philosophy, mysticism and jurisprudence, have been concerned with the Quran or have their foundation in its teachings.[11] Muslims believe that the preaching or reading of the Quran is rewarded with divine rewards variously called ajr, thawab, or hasanat.[87]

In Islamic art

The Quran also inspired Islamic arts and specifically the so-called Quranic arts of calligraphy and illumination.[11] 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 and single pages of calligraphy for muraqqas or albums.

Text and arrangement

 
First sura of the Quran, Al-Fatiha, consisting of seven verses.

The Quran consists of 114 chapters of varying lengths, each known as a sūrah. 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. However, a sūrah classified as Medinan may contain Meccan verses in it and vice versa. Sūrah titles are derived from a name or quality discussed 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. Some scholars argue the sūrahs are arranged according to a certain pattern.[88] Each sūrah except the ninth starts with the Bismillah (بِسْمِ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ), an Arabic phrase meaning 'In the name of God.' There are, however, still 114 occurrences of the Bismillah in the Quran, due to its presence in Quran 27:30 as the opening of Solomon's letter to the Queen of Sheba.[89]

Each sūrah consists of several 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;[xii] however, the number varies if the bismillahs are counted separately.

In addition to and independent of the division into chapters, there are various ways of dividing the Quran into parts of approximately equal length for convenience in reading. The 30 juz' (plural ajzāʼ) can be used to read through the entire Quran in a month. Some of these parts are known by names—which are the first few words by which the juzʼ begins. A juz' is sometimes further divided into two ḥizb (plural aḥzāb), and each hizb subdivided into four rubʻ al-ahzab. The Quran is also divided into seven approximately equal parts, manzil (plural manāzil), for it to be recited in a week.[11]

A different structure is provided by semantic units resembling paragraphs and comprising roughly ten āyāt each. Such a section is called a rukū`.

The Muqattaʿat (Arabic: حروف مقطعات ḥurūf muqaṭṭaʿāt, 'disjoined letters, disconnected letters';[92] also 'mysterious letters')[93] 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.[93] The letters are also known as fawātih (فواتح), or 'openers', as they form the opening verse of their respective suras. Four surahs are named for their muqatta'at: Ṭāʾ-Hāʾ, Yāʾ-Sīn, Ṣād, and Qāf. The original significance of the letters is unknown. Tafsir (exegesis) has interpreted them as abbreviations for either names or qualities of God or for the names or content of the respective surahs. According to Rashad Khalifa, those letters are Quranic initials for a hypothetical mathematical code in the Quran, namely the Quran code or known as Code 19.[94]

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.[95]

Contents

The Quranic content is concerned with basic Islamic beliefs including the existence of God and the resurrection. Narratives of the early prophets, ethical and legal subjects, historical events of Muhammad's time, charity and prayer 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. Verses pertaining to natural phenomena have been interpreted by Muslims as an indication of the authenticity of the Quranic message.[96] 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."[97]

Monotheism

The central theme of the Quran is monotheism. God is depicted as living, eternal, omniscient and omnipotent (see, e.g., Quran 2:20, 2:29, 2:255). 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 13:16, 2:253, 50:38, 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.[39][96]

 
A 12th-century Quran manuscript at Reza Abbasi Museum.

The Quran uses cosmological and contingency arguments in various verses without referring to the terms to prove the existence of God. Therefore, the universe 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?"[98][99]

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.[39] 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.[100] There is a reference to the afterlife on most pages of the Quran and belief in the afterlife is often referred to in conjunction with belief in God as in the common expression: "Believe in God and the last day."[101] A number of suras such as 44, 56, 75, 78, 81 and 101 are directly related to the afterlife and its preparations. Some suras indicate the closeness of the event and warn people to be prepared for the imminent day. For instance, the first verses of Sura 22, which deal with the mighty earthquake and the situations of people on that day, represent this style of divine address: "O People! Be respectful to your Lord. The earthquake of the Hour is a mighty thing."[102]

The Quran is often vivid in its depiction of what will happen at the end time. Watt describes the Quranic view of End Time:[39]

The climax of history, when the present world comes to an end, is 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' (when the good are separated from the evil), 'the Day of the Gathering' (of men to the presence of God) or 'the Day of the Meeting' (of men with God). The Hour comes suddenly. It is heralded by a shout, by a thunderclap, or by the blast of a trumpet. A cosmic upheaval then takes place. The mountains dissolve into dust, the seas boil up, the sun is darkened, the stars fall and the sky is rolled up. God appears as Judge, but his presence is hinted at rather than described.… The central interest, of course, is in the gathering of all mankind before the Judge. Human beings of all ages, restored to life, join the throng. To the scoffing objection of the unbelievers that former generations had been dead a long time and were now dust and mouldering bones, the reply is that God is nevertheless able to restore them to life.

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.[103]

Prophets

According to the Quran, God communicated with man and made his will known through signs and revelations. Prophets, or 'Messengers of God', received revelations and delivered them to humanity. The message has been identical and for all humankind. "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."[104] The revelation does not come directly from God to the prophets. Angels acting as God's messengers deliver the divine revelation to them. This comes out in Quran 42:51, in which it is stated: "It is not for any mortal that God should speak to them, except by revelation, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger to reveal by his permission whatsoever He will."[52][103]

Ethico-religious concepts

 
Verse about the month of Ramadan, second sura, verse 185. from a Quran manuscript dated to 1510

Belief is a fundamental aspect of morality in the Quran, and scholars have tried to determine the semantic contents of "belief" and "believer" in the Quran.[105] The ethico-legal concepts and exhortations dealing with righteous conduct are linked to a profound awareness of God, thereby emphasizing the importance of faith, accountability, and the belief in each human's ultimate encounter with God. People are invited to perform acts of charity, especially for the needy. Believers who "spend of their wealth by night and by day, in secret and in public" are promised that they "shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."[106] It also affirms family life by legislating on matters of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. A number of practices, such as usury and gambling, are prohibited. The Quran is one of the fundamental sources of Islamic law (sharia). Some formal religious practices receive significant attention in the Quran including the formal prayers (salat) and fasting in the month of Ramadan. As for the manner in which the prayer is to be conducted, the Quran refers to prostration.[24][103] The term for charity, zakat, literally means purification. Charity, according to the Quran, is a means of self-purification.[78][107]

Encouragement for the sciences

The astrophysicist Nidhal Guessoum, while being highly critical of pseudo-scientific claims made about the Quran, has highlighted the encouragement for sciences that the Quran provides by developing "the concept of knowledge." He writes:[108]: 174 

The Qur'an draws attention to the danger of conjecturing without evidence (And follow not that of which you have not the (certain) knowledge of... 17:36) and in several different verses asks Muslims to require proofs (Say: Bring your proof if you are truthful 2:111), both in matters of theological belief and in natural science.

Guessoum cites Ghaleb Hasan on the definition of "proof" according to the Quran being "clear and strong... convincing evidence or argument." Also, such a proof cannot rely on an argument from authority, citing verse 5:104. Lastly, both assertions and rejections require a proof, according to verse 4:174.[108]: 56  Ismail al-Faruqi and Taha Jabir Alalwani are of the view that any reawakening of the Muslim civilization must start with the Quran; however, the biggest obstacle on this route is the "centuries old heritage of tafseer (exegesis) and other classical disciplines" which inhibit a "universal, epidemiological and systematic conception" of the Quran's message.[108]: 117–8  The philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, considered the Quran's methodology and epistemology to be empirical and rational.[108]: 58–9 

There are around 750 verses[which?] in the Quran dealing with natural phenomena. In many of these verses the study of nature is "encouraged and highly recommended", and historical Islamic scientists like Al-Biruni and Al-Battani derived their inspiration from verses of the Quran.[additional citation(s) needed] Mohammad Hashim Kamali has stated that "scientific observation, experimental knowledge and rationality" are the primary tools with which humanity can achieve the goals laid out for it in the Quran.[108]: 63  Ziauddin Sardar built a case for Muslims having developed the foundations of modern science, by highlighting the repeated calls of the Quran to observe and reflect upon natural phenomenon.[108]: 75 

The physicist Abdus Salam, in his Nobel Prize banquet address, quoted a well known verse from the Quran (67:3–4) and then stated: "This in effect is the faith of all physicists: the deeper we seek, the more is our wonder excited, the more is the dazzlement of our gaze."[108]: 131  One of Salam's core beliefs was that there is no contradiction between Islam and the discoveries that science allows humanity to make about nature and the universe. Salam also held the opinion that the Quran and the Islamic spirit of study and rational reflection was the source of extraordinary civilizational development.[108]: 132  Salam highlights, in particular, the work of Ibn al-Haytham and Al-Biruni as the pioneers of empiricism who introduced the experimental approach, breaking with Aristotle's influence and thus giving birth to modern science. Salam was also careful to differentiate between metaphysics and physics, and advised against empirically probing certain matters on which "physics is silent and will remain so," such as the doctrine of "creation from nothing" which in Salam's view is outside the limits of science and thus "gives way" to religious considerations.[108]: 134 

Literary style

 
Boys studying the Quran in Touba, Senegal

The Quran's message is conveyed with various literary structures and devices. In the original Arabic, the suras and verses employ phonetic and thematic structures that assist the audience's efforts to recall the message of the text. Muslims[who?] assert (according to the Quran itself) that the Quranic content and style is inimitable.[109]

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.[110][111]

The Quranic text seems to have no beginning, middle, or end, its nonlinear structure being akin to a web or net.[11] The textual arrangement is sometimes considered to exhibit lack of continuity, absence of any chronological or thematic order and repetitiousness.[xiii][xiv] 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.[114][115] 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 (tanzil), remembrance (dhikr), news (naba'), criterion (furqan) 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?"),[116] 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.[117]

Interpretation

 
An early interpretation of Sura 108 of the Quran

The Quran has sparked much commentary and explication (tafsir), aimed at explaining the "meanings of the Quranic verses, clarifying their import and finding out their significance."[118]

Tafsir is one of the earliest academic activities of Muslims. According to the Quran, Muhammad was the first person who described the meanings of verses for early Muslims.[119] Other early exegetes included a few Companions of Muhammad, such as Abu Bakr, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, 'Uthman ibn 'Affan, ʻAli ibn Abi Talib, 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ood, ʻAbdullah ibn Abbas, Ubayy ibn Kaʻb, Zayd ibn Thaabit, Abu Moosaa al-Ash’ari, and ‘Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr.[120] Exegesis in those days was confined to the explanation of literary aspects of the verse, the background of its revelation and, occasionally, interpretation of one verse with the help of the other. If the verse was about a historical event, then sometimes a few traditions (hadith) of Muhammad were narrated to make its meaning clear.[118]

Because the Quran is spoken in classical Arabic, many of the later converts to Islam (mostly non-Arabs) did not always understand the Quranic Arabic, they did not catch allusions that were clear to early Muslims fluent in Arabic and they were concerned with reconciling apparent conflict of themes in the Quran. Commentators erudite in Arabic explained the allusions, and perhaps most importantly, explained which Quranic verses had been revealed early in Muhammad's prophetic career, as being appropriate to the very earliest Muslim community, and which had been revealed later, canceling out or "abrogating" (nāsikh) the earlier text (mansūkh).[121][122] Other scholars, however, maintain that no abrogation has taken place in the Quran.[123]

There have been several commentaries of the Quran by scholars of all denominations, popular ones include Tafsir ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Jalalayn, Tafsir Al Kabir, Tafsir al-Tabari. More modern works of Tafsir include Ma'ariful Qur'an written by Mufti Muhammad Shafi and Risale-i Nur by Bediüzzaman Said Nursi.

Esoteric interpretation

Esoteric or Sufi interpretation attempts to unveil the inner meanings of the Quran. Sufism moves beyond the apparent (zahir) point of the verses and instead relates Quranic verses to the inner or esoteric (batin) and metaphysical dimensions of consciousness and existence.[124] According to Sands, esoteric interpretations are more suggestive than declarative, they are allusions (isharat) rather than explanations (tafsir). They indicate possibilities as much as they demonstrate the insights of each writer.[125]

Sufi interpretation, according to Annabel Keeler, also exemplifies the use of the theme of love, as for instance can be seen in Qushayri's interpretation of the Quran:

When Moses came at the appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he asked, “My Lord! Reveal Yourself to me so I may see You.” Allah answered, “You cannot see Me! But look at the mountain. If it remains firm in its place, only then will you see Me.” When his Lord appeared to the mountain, He levelled it to dust and Moses collapsed unconscious. When he recovered, he cried, “Glory be to You! I turn to You in repentance and I am the first of the believers.”

—  Quran 7:143

Moses, in 7:143, comes the way of those who are in love, he asks for a vision but his desire is denied, he is made to suffer by being commanded to look at other than the Beloved while the mountain is able to see God. The mountain crumbles and Moses faints at the sight of God's manifestation upon the mountain. In Qushayri's words, Moses came like thousands of men who traveled great distances, and there was nothing left to Moses of Moses. In that state of annihilation from himself, Moses was granted the unveiling of the realities. From the Sufi point of view, God is the always the beloved and the wayfarer's longing and suffering lead to realization of the truths.[126]

 
Men reading the Quran at the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus, Syria

Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei says that according to the popular explanation among the later exegetes, ta'wil indicates the particular meaning a verse is directed towards. The meaning of revelation (tanzil), as opposed to ta'wil, is clear in its accordance to the obvious meaning of the words as they were revealed. But this explanation has become so widespread that, at present, it has become the primary meaning of ta'wil, which originally meant 'to return' or 'the returning place'. In Tabatabaei's view, what has been rightly called ta'wil, or hermeneutic interpretation of the Quran, is not concerned simply with the denotation of words. Rather, it is concerned with certain truths and realities that transcend the comprehension of the common run of men; yet it is from these truths and realities that the principles of doctrine and the practical injunctions of the Quran issue forth. Interpretation is not the meaning of the verse—rather it transpires through that meaning, in a special sort of transpiration. There is a spiritual reality—which is the main objective of ordaining a law, or the basic aim in describing a divine attribute—and then there is an actual significance that a Quranic story refers to.[127][128]

 
Shia Muslim girls reciting the Quran placed atop folding lecterns (rehal) during Ramadan in Qom, Iran

According to Shia beliefs, those who are firmly rooted in knowledge like Muhammad and the imams know the secrets of the Quran. According to Tabatabaei, the statement "none knows its interpretation except God" remains valid, without any opposing or qualifying clause.[129] Therefore, so far as this verse is concerned, the knowledge of the Quran's interpretation is reserved for God. But Tabatabaei uses other verses and concludes that those who are purified by God know the interpretation of the Quran to a certain extent.[128]

According to Tabatabaei, there are acceptable and unacceptable esoteric interpretations. Acceptable ta'wil refers to the meaning of a verse beyond its literal meaning; rather the implicit meaning, which ultimately is known only to God and can't be comprehended directly through human thought alone. The verses in question here refer to the human qualities of coming, going, sitting, satisfaction, anger and sorrow, which are apparently attributed to God. Unacceptable ta'wil is where one "transfers" the apparent meaning of a verse to a different meaning by means of a proof; this method is not without obvious inconsistencies. Although this unacceptable ta'wil has gained considerable acceptance, it is incorrect and cannot be applied to the Quranic verses. The correct interpretation is that reality a verse refers to. It is found in all verses, the decisive and the ambiguous alike; it is not a sort of a meaning of the word; it is a fact that is too sublime for words. God has dressed them with words to bring them a bit nearer to our minds; in this respect they are like proverbs that are used to create a picture in the mind, and thus help the hearer to clearly grasp the intended idea.[128][130]

History of Sufi commentaries

One of the notable authors of esoteric interpretation prior to the 12th century is Sulami (d. 1021) without whose work the majority of very early Sufi commentaries would not have been preserved. Sulami's major commentary is a book named Haqaiq al-Tafsir ('Truths of Exegesis') which is a compilation of commentaries of earlier Sufis. From the 11th century onwards several other works appear, including commentaries by Qushayri (d. 1074), Daylami (d. 1193), Shirazi (d. 1209) and 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 Maybudi (d. 1135) kashf al-asrar ('the unveiling of the secrets').[124] Rumi (d. 1273) wrote a vast amount of mystical poetry in his book Mathnawi. Rumi makes heavy use of the Quran in his poetry, a feature that is sometimes omitted in translations of Rumi's work. A large number of Quranic passages can be found in Mathnawi, which some consider a kind of Sufi interpretation of the Quran. Rumi's book is not exceptional for containing citations from and elaboration on the Quran, however, Rumi does mention Quran more frequently.[131] Simnani (d. 1336) wrote two influential works of esoteric exegesis on the Quran. He reconciled notions of God's manifestation through and in the physical world with the sentiments of Sunni Islam.[132] Comprehensive Sufi commentaries appear in the 18th century such as the work of Ismail Hakki Bursevi (d. 1725). His work ruh al-Bayan ('the Spirit of Elucidation') is a voluminous exegesis. Written in Arabic, it combines the author's own ideas with those of his predecessors (notably Ibn Arabi and Ghazali).[132]

Levels of meaning

 
9th-century Quran in Reza Abbasi Museum
 
An 11th-century North African Quran at the British Museum

Unlike the Salafis and Zahiri, Shias and Sufis as well as some other Muslim philosophers believe the meaning of the Quran is not restricted to the literal aspect.[83]: 7  For them, it is an essential idea that the Quran also has inward aspects. Henry Corbin narrates a hadith that goes back to Muhammad:

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 (this depth possesses a depth, after the image of the celestial Spheres, which are enclosed within each other). So it goes on for seven esoteric meanings (seven depths of hidden depth).[83]: 7 

According to this view, it has also become evident that 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.[133] Corbin considers the Quran to play a part in Islamic philosophy, because gnosiology itself goes hand in hand with prophetology.[83]: 13 

Commentaries dealing with the zahir ('outward aspects') of the text are called tafsir, and hermeneutic and esoteric commentaries dealing with the batin are called ta'wil ('interpretation' or 'explanation'), which involves taking the text back to its beginning. Commentators with an esoteric slant believe that the ultimate meaning of the Quran is known only to God.[11] In contrast, Quranic literalism, followed by Salafis and Zahiris, is the belief that the Quran should only be taken at its apparent meaning.[citation needed]

Reappropriation

Reappropriation is the name of the hermeneutical style of some ex-Muslims who have converted to Christianity. Their style or reinterpretation can sometimes be geared towards apologetics, with less reference to the Islamic scholarly tradition that contextualizes and systematizes the reading (e.g., by identifying some verses as abrogated). This tradition of interpretation draws on the following practices: grammatical renegotiation, renegotiation of textual preference, retrieval, and concession.[134]

Translations

Translating the Quran has always been problematic and difficult. Many argue that the Quranic text cannot be reproduced in another language or form.[135] Furthermore, an Arabic word may have a range of meanings depending on the context, making an accurate translation even more difficult.[136]

Nevertheless, the Quran has been translated into most African, Asian, and European languages.[56] The first translator of the Quran was Salman the Persian, who translated surat al-Fatiha into Persian during the seventh century.[137] Another translation of the Quran was completed in 884 in Alwar (Sindh, India, now Pakistan) by the orders of Abdullah bin Umar bin Abdul Aziz on the request of the Hindu Raja Mehruk.[138]

The first fully attested complete translations of the Quran were done between the 10th and 12th centuries in Persian. The Samanid king, Mansur I (961–976), ordered a group of scholars from Khorasan to translate the Tafsir al-Tabari, originally in Arabic, into Persian. Later in the 11th century, one of the students of Abu Mansur Abdullah al-Ansari wrote a complete tafsir of the Quran in Persian. In the 12th century, Najm al-Din Abu Hafs al-Nasafi translated the Quran into Persian.[139] The manuscripts of all three books have survived and have been published several times.[citation needed]

Islamic tradition also holds that translations were made for Emperor Negus of Abyssinia and Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, as both received letters by Muhammad containing verses from the Quran.[136] In early centuries, the permissibility of translations was not an issue, but whether one could use translations in prayer.[citation needed]

In 1936, translations in 102 languages were known.[136] 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.[140]

Robert of Ketton's 1143 translation of the Quran for Peter the Venerable, Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete, was the first into a Western language (Latin).[141]Alexander Ross offered the first English version in 1649, from the French translation of L'Alcoran de Mahomet (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 in 1937, and yet another by Arthur John Arberry in 1955. All these translators were non-Muslims. There have been numerous translations by Muslims. Popular modern English translations by Muslims include The Oxford World Classic's translation by Muhammad Abdel Haleem, The Clear Quran by Dr 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.[142]

The oldest Gurmukhi translation of the Quran Sharif has been found in village Lande of Moga district of Punjab which was printed in 1911.[143]

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.[145]

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 tajwid rules are Matn al-Jazariyyah by Ibn al-Jazari[146] and Tuhfat al-Atfal by Sulayman al-Jamzuri.

The recitations of a few Egyptian reciters, like El Minshawy, Al-Hussary, Abdul Basit, Mustafa Ismail, were highly influential in the development of current styles of recitation.[147][148][149]: 83  Southeast Asia is well known for world-class recitation, evidenced in the popularity of the woman reciters such as Maria Ulfah of Jakarta.[145] Today, crowds fill auditoriums for public Quran recitation competitions.[150][14]

There are two types of recitation:

  1. Murattal is at a slower pace, used for study and practice.
  2. Mujawwad refers to a slow 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 mujawwad reciter seeks to involve the listeners.[151]

Variant readings

 
Page of the Quran with vocalization marks

Vocalization markers indicating specific vowel sounds (tashkeel) were introduced into the text of the Qur'an during the lifetimes of the last Sahabah.[152] The first Quranic manuscripts lacked these marks, enabling multiple possible recitations to be conveyed by the same written text. The 10th-century Muslim scholar from Baghdad, 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 (meaning seven letters or modes). Today, the most popular readings are those transmitted by 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 Nafi‘ al-Madani (Medina, d. 785), respectively. The influential standard 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.[52][58]

The variant readings of the Quran are one type of textual variant.[153][154] 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.[155]

Nasser categorizes variant readings into various subtypes, including internal vowels, long vowels, gemination (shaddah), assimilation and alternation.[156]

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.[157] Another study suggests that this manuscript bears the vocalization of himsi region.[158]

Writing and printing

Writing

Before printing was widely adopted in the 19th century, the Quran was transmitted in manuscripts made by calligraphers and copyists. The earliest manuscripts were written in 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, muhaqqaq, rayḥānī and, on rarer occasions, the thuluth script. Naskh was in very widespread use. In North Africa and Iberia, the Maghribī style was popular. More distinct is the Bihari script which was used solely in the north of India. Nastaʻlīq style was also rarely used in Persian world.[159][160]

In the beginning, the Quran was not written with dots or tashkeel. These features were added to the text during the lifetimes of the last of the Sahabah.[152] 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.[161][162]

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. [163]

Printing

 
Quran divided into 6 books. Published by Dar Ibn Kathir, Damascus-Beirut

Wood-block printing of extracts from the Quran is on record as early as the 10th century.[164]

Arabic movable type printing was ordered by Pope Julius II (r. 1503–1512) for distribution among Middle Eastern Christians.[165] The first complete Quran printed with movable type was produced in Venice in 1537–1538 for the Ottoman market by Paganino Paganini and Alessandro Paganini.[166][167] But this Quran was not used as it contained a large number of errors.[168] Two more editions include those published by the pastor Abraham Hinckelmann in Hamburg in 1694,[169] and by Italian priest Ludovico Maracci in Padua in 1698 with Latin translation and commentary.[170]

Printed copies of the Quran during this period met with strong opposition from Muslim legal scholars: printing anything in Arabic was prohibited in the Ottoman empire between 1483 and 1726—initially, even on penalty of death.[171][162][172] 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.[xv]

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.[xvi] The first edition printed in Iran appeared in 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.[175][176]

Gustav Flügel published an 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 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.[159]

Criticism

Regarding the claim of divine origin, critics refer to preexisting sources, not only taken from the Bible, supposed to be older revelations of God, but also from heretic, apocryphic and talmudic sources, such as The Syriac Infancy Gospel and Gospel of James. However the Bible was not translated into Arabic until after the completion of the Quran with other Judeo-Christian sources being translated even later.[177] Due to rejection of Crucifixion of Jesus in the Quran, some scholars also suspect Manichaean, a dualistic religion believing in two eternal forces, influences on the Quran.

The Tafsir'ilmi believe the Quran predicts scientific knowledge, relating the author to non-human origin. Critics argue, verses which allegedly explain modern scientific facts, about subjects such as biology, evolution of the earth, and human life, contain fallacies and are unscientific.[178][179][180] Most claims of predictions rely on the ambiguity of the Arabic language, another point of criticism. Despite calling itself a clear book, the Quranic language lacks clarity.[184]

Other criticisms point at the moral attitude asserted by the Quran. Examples include the Sword Verse, which some interpret as promoting violence against "pagans", and An-Nisa, 34, which some view as excusing domestic violence.

Relationship with other literature

 
Page from a Quran ('Umar-i Aqta'). Iran, Afghanistan, Timurid dynasty, c. 1400. Opaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper in the Muqaqqaq script. 170 by 109 centimetres (67 in × 43 in). Historical region: Uzbekistan.

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 a stage within in the divine process of progressive revelation. Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith, testified to the validity of the Quran, writing, "Say: Perused ye not the Qur’án? Read it, that haply ye may find the Truth, for this Book is verily the Straight Path. This is the Way of God unto all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth."[185] Unitarian Universalists may also seek inspiration from the Quran. It has been suggested that the Quran has some narrative similarities to the Diatessaron, Protoevangelium of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Arabic Infancy Gospel.[186][187] One scholar has suggested that the Diatessaron, as a gospel harmony, may have led to the conception that the Christian Gospel is one text.[188]

The Bible

He has revealed to you ˹O Prophet˺ the Book in truth, confirming what came before it, as He revealed the Torah and the Gospel previously, as a guide for people, and ˹also˺ revealed the Standard ˹to distinguish between right and wrong˺.[189]

—  3:3-4

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 one God.[190]

According to Christoph Luxenberg (in The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran) the Quran's language was similar to the Syriac language.[191] The Quran recounts stories of many of the people and events recounted in Jewish and Christian sacred books (Tanakh, Bible) and devotional literature (Apocrypha, Midrash), although it differs in many details. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Eber, Shelah, Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Jethro, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Aaron, Moses, Zechariah, John the Baptist and Jesus are mentioned in the Quran as prophets of God (see Prophets of Islam). In fact, Moses is mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual.[192] 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.[193]

Arab writing

After the Quran, and the general rise of Islam, the Arabic alphabet developed rapidly into an art form.[56] 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, 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.[194]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ The English pronunciation varies: /kəˈrɑːn/, /-ˈræn/, /kɔː-/, /k-/;[1] especially with the spelling quran /kʊrˈɑːn/, /-ˈræn/;[2] especially in British English /kɒrˈɑːn/.[3][4]
  2. ^ The Arabic pronunciation can be transcribed phonemically as /al.qurˈʔaːn/. The actual pronunciation in Literary Arabic varies regionally. The first vowel varies from [o] to [ʊ], while the second vowel varies from [æ] to [a] to [ɑ]. For example, the pronunciation in Egypt is [qorˈʔɑːn] and in Central East Arabia [qʊrˈʔæːn].
  3. ^ (English spelling) The form Alcoran (and its variants) was usual before the 19th century when it became obsolete.[5][6] The form Koran was most predominant from the second half of the 18th century till the 1980s, when it has been superseded by either Qur'an or Quran.[6][7][8][9] Other transliterations include al-Coran, Coran, Kuran and al-Qur'an. The adjectives vary as well and include Koranic, Quranic and Qur'anic (sometimes in lowercase).[10]
  4. ^ In a small number of denominations, only the Quran is used as a source, an approach called Quranism.
  5. ^ Hadith are primarily from Muhammad but some are from those closest to him. Muslim scholars have worked carefully to authenticate them.
  6. ^ According to Welch in the Encyclopedia of Islam, the verses pertaining to the usage of the word hikma should probably be interpreted in the light of IV, 105, where it is said that "Muhammad is to judge (tahkum) mankind on the basis of the Book sent down to him."
  7. ^ "God's Apostle replied, 'Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell, this form of Inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and I grasp whatever he says.' ʻAisha added: Verily 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)."[42]
  8. ^ "Few have failed to be convinced that … the Quran is … the words of Muhammad, perhaps even dictated by him after their recitation."[55]
  9. ^ For both the claim that variant readings are still transmitted and the claim that no such critical edition has been produced, see Gilliot, C., "Creation of a fixed text" [60]
  10. ^ "Few have failed to be convinced that the Quran is the words of Muhammad, perhaps even dictated by him after their recitation."[55]
  11. ^ professor emeritus of Islamic thought at the University of Paris, Algerian Mohammed Arkoun.[73]
  12. ^ Scholars disagree on the exact number but this is a disagreement over "the placing of the divisions between the verese, not on the text itself."[90][91]
  13. ^ "The final process of collection and codification of the Quran text was guided by one over-arching principle: God's words must not in any way be distorted or sullied by human intervention. For this reason, no serious attempt, apparently, was made to edit the numerous revelations, organize them into thematic units, or present them in chronological order... This has given rise in the past to a great deal of criticism by European and American scholars of Islam, who find the Quran disorganized, repetitive and very difficult to read."[112]
  14. ^ Samuel Pepys: "One feels it difficult to see how any mortal ever could consider this Quran as a Book written in Heaven, too good for the Earth; as a well-written book, or indeed as a book at all; and not a bewildered rhapsody; written, so far as writing goes, as badly as almost any book ever was!" [113]
  15. ^ "the major Ottoman printing houses published a combined total of only 142 books in more than a century of printing between 1727 and 1838. When taken in conjunction with the fact that only a minuscule number of copies of each book were printed, this statistic demonstrates that the introduction of the printing press did not transform Ottoman cultural life until the emergence of vibrant print media in the middle of the nineteenth century" [173]
  16. ^ "at imperial expense, a 'Tatar and Turkish Typography' was established in St. Petersburg; a domestic scholar, Mullah Osman Ismail, was responsible for the manufacture of the types. One of the first products of this printing house was the Qur'ān. Through the doctor and writer, Johann Georg v. Zimmermann (d. 1795), who was befriended by Catherine II, a copy of the publication arrived in the Göttingen University library. Its director, the philologist Christian Gottlob Heyne (d. 1812), presented the work immediately in the Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen (28 July 1788); therein he pointed especially to the beauty of the Arabic types. To the Arabic text marginal glosses have been added that consist predominantly of reading variants. The imprint was reproduced unchanged in 1790 and 1793 in St. Petersburg (cf. Schnurrer, Bibliotheca arabica, no. 384); later, after the transfer of the printing house to Kazan, editions appeared in different formats and with varying presentation [174] For the 1803 Kazan edition: Chauvin, V.C. Bib. des ouvrages arabes, vol. X, 95; Schnurrer, C.F. von. Bibliotheca Arabica, 385. Original held by Bayerische Staatsbibliothek – Munich, Germany, shelfmark BSB A.or.554.
  17. ^ Gerd Puin is quoted in the Atlantic Monthly, January 1999:«The Koran claims for itself that it is 'mubeen' or 'clear'. But if you look at it, you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn't make sense... the fact is that a fifth of the Koranic text is just incomprehensible...«[65]

Citations

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    Since the word of God seemed threatened with alteration, the [third] caliph ordered that five of the qurrā’ from amongst the companions, (one of them being Zayd ibn Thābit who had compiled the first volume), produce other copies from the first volume which had been prepared on the orders of the first caliph and which had been kept with Ḥafṣah, the wife of the Prophet and daughter of the second caliph.

    The other copies, already in the hands of Muslims in other areas, were collected and sent to Medina where, on orders of the Caliph, they were burnt (or, according to some histtorians, were destroyed by boiling). Thus several copies were made, one being kept in Medina, one in Mecca, and one each sent to Sham (a territory now divided into Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan), Kufa and Basra.

    It is said that beside these five, one copy was also sent to Yemen and one to Bahrein. These copies were called the Imam copies and served as original for all future copies. The only difference of order between these copies and the first volume was that the chapters "Spirits of War" and "Immunity" were written in one place between "The Heights" and "Jonah."

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  193. ^ Esposito, John L (2010). The Future of Islam. USA: Oxford University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-19-516521-0. Christians are often surprised to discover that Jesus is mentioned by name in the Quran more than Muhammad and that Mary is mentioned more times in the Quran than in the New Testament. Both Jesus and Mary play important roles not only in the Quran but also in Muslim piety and spirituality.
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Sources

Further reading

Introductory texts

Traditional Quranic commentaries (tafsir)

Topical studies

  • McAuliffe, Jane Dammen (1991). Qurʼānic Christians: an analysis of classical and modern exegesis. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36470-6.
  • Siljander, Mark D.; Mann, John David (2008). A Deadly Misunderstanding: a Congressman's Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide. New York: Harper One. ISBN 978-0-06-143828-8.
  • Stowasser, Barbara Freyer (1 June 1996). Women in the Qur'an, Traditions and Interpretation (Reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511148-4.

Literary criticism

Encyclopedias

Academic journals

External links

Reference material

  • The British Library: Discovering Sacred Texts – Islam

Manuscripts

  • Several digitised Qurans in the Cambridge University Digital Library
  • 2017-232-1 al-Qurʼān. / القرآن at OPenn

Quran browsers and translation

  • Al-Quran.info
  • Quran Archive – Texts and Studies on the Quran
  • Quran text and translation at Tufts University
  • Tanzil – Online Quran Navigator
  • Quran.com
  • Multilingual Quran (Arabic, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian)

quran, this, article, about, central, religious, text, islam, other, uses, disambiguation, ɑː, kuurr, vocalized, arabic, آن, arabic, ٱل, ان, qurʾān, alqurˈʔaːn, recitation, also, romanized, koran, central, religious, text, islam, believed, muslims, revelation,. This article is about the central religious text of Islam For other uses see Quran disambiguation The Quran k ʊr ˈ ɑː n kuurr AHN i vocalized Arabic ا ل ق ر آن Quranic Arabic ٱل ق ر ء ان al Qurʾan alqurˈʔaːn ii the recitation also romanized Qur an or Koran iii is the central religious text of Islam believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God 11 It is organized in 114 chapters pl سور suwar sing سورة surah which consist of verses pl آيات ʾayat sing آية ʾayah cons ʾayat In addition to its religious significance it is widely regarded as the finest work in Arabic literature 12 13 14 and has significantly influenced the Arabic language The Quranالقرآن al QurʾanInformationReligionIslamLanguageClassical ArabicPeriod610 632 CEChapters114 list Full textThe Quran at Arabic WikisourceQuran at English WikisourceMuslims believe that the Quran was orally revealed by God to the final prophet Muhammad through the archangel Gabriel 15 16 incrementally over a period of some 23 years beginning in the month of Ramadan 17 when Muhammad was 40 and concluding in 632 the year of his death 11 18 19 Muslims regard the Quran as Muhammad s most important miracle a proof of his prophethood 20 and the culmination of a series of divine messages starting with those revealed to Adam including the Torah the Psalms and the Gospel The word Quran occurs some 70 times in the text itself and other names and words are also said to refer to the Quran 21 The Quran is believed by Muslims to be not simply divinely inspired but the literal word of God 22 Muhammad did not write it as he did not know how to write According to tradition several of Muhammad s companions served as scribes recording the revelations 23 Shortly after the prophet s death the Quran was compiled by the companions who had written down or memorized parts of it 24 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 mostly minor differences in meaning 23 The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Biblical and apocryphal scriptures It summarizes some dwells at length on others and in some cases presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events 25 26 The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance for humankind 2 185 It sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence 27 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 28 iv are hadiths oral and written traditions believed to describe words and actions of Muhammad v 28 During prayers the Quran is recited only in Arabic 29 Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz Ideally verses are recited with a special kind of elocution reserved for this purpose called tajwid During the month of Ramadan Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers In order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse Muslims rely on exegesis or commentary rather than a direct translation of the text 30 Contents 1 Etymology and meaning 2 History 2 1 Prophetic era 2 2 Compilation and preservation 3 Significance in Islam 3 1 Inimitability 3 2 In worship 3 3 In Islamic art 4 Text and arrangement 5 Contents 5 1 Monotheism 5 2 Eschatology 5 3 Prophets 5 4 Ethico religious concepts 5 5 Encouragement for the sciences 6 Literary style 7 Interpretation 7 1 Esoteric interpretation 7 1 1 History of Sufi commentaries 7 2 Levels of meaning 7 3 Reappropriation 8 Translations 9 Recitation 9 1 Rules of recitation 9 2 Variant readings 10 Writing and printing 10 1 Writing 10 2 Printing 11 Criticism 12 Relationship with other literature 12 1 The Bible 12 2 Arab writing 13 See also 14 References 14 1 Notes 14 2 Citations 14 3 Sources 15 Further reading 15 1 Introductory texts 15 2 Traditional Quranic commentaries tafsir 15 3 Topical studies 15 4 Literary criticism 15 5 Encyclopedias 15 6 Academic journals 16 External links 16 1 Reference material 16 2 Manuscripts 16 3 Quran browsers and translationEtymology and meaningThe word qurʼan appears about 70 times in the Quran itself assuming various meanings It is a verbal noun maṣdar of the Arabic verb qaraʼa قرأ meaning he read or he recited The Syriac equivalent is qeryana ܩܪܝܢܐ which refers to scripture reading or lesson 31 While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac the majority of Muslim authorities hold the origin of the word is qaraʼa itself 11 Regardless it had become an Arabic term by Muhammad s lifetime 11 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 qurʼanahu 32 In other verses the word refers to an individual passage recited by Muhammad Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages for example So when al qurʼan is recited listen to it and keep silent 33 The word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel 34 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 qurʼan in certain contexts Such terms include kitab book ayah sign and surah scripture the latter two terms also denote units of revelation In the large majority of contexts usually with a definite article al the word is referred to as the waḥy revelation that which has been sent down tanzil at intervals 35 36 Other related words include dhikr remembrance used to refer to the Quran in the sense of a reminder and warning and ḥikmah wisdom sometimes referring to the revelation or part of it 11 vi The Quran describes itself as the discernment al furqan the mother book umm al kitab the guide huda the wisdom hikmah the remembrance dhikr and the revelation tanzil something sent down signifying the descent of an object from a higher place to lower place 37 Another term is al kitab The Book though it is also used in the Arabic language for other scriptures such as the Torah and the Gospels The term mus haf written work is often used to refer to particular Quranic manuscripts but is also used in the Quran to identify earlier revealed books 11 HistoryMain article History of the Quran Prophetic era Islamic tradition relates that Muhammad received his first revelation in the Cave of Hira during one of his isolated retreats to the mountains Thereafter he received revelations over a period of 23 years According to hadith and Muslim history after Muhammad 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 were in use amongst early Muslims since they are mentioned in numerous sayings by both Sunni 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 38 39 40 There is agreement among scholars that Muhammad himself did not write down the revelation 41 Sahih al Bukhari narrates Muhammad describing the revelations as Sometimes it is revealed like the ringing of a bell and Aisha 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 vii 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 43 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 39 44 The Islamic studies scholar Welch states in the Encyclopaedia of Islam 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 45 Muhammad s first revelation Surah Al Alaq later placed 96th in the Qur anic regulations in current writing style The Quran describes Muhammad as ummi 46 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 Watt prefer the second meaning of ummi they take it to indicate unfamiliarity with earlier sacred texts 39 47 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 Compilation and preservation See also Sanaa manuscript and Birmingham Quran manuscript The basmala as written on the Birmingham mus haf manuscript the oldest surviving copy of the Qur an Rasm ٮسم الله الرحمں الرحىم Following Muhammad s death in 632 a number of his companions who knew the Quran by heart were killed in the Battle of Yamama by Musaylimah The first caliph Abu Bakr d 634 subsequently decided to collect the book in one volume so that it could be preserved Zayd ibn Thabit d 655 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 suhuf 48 ambiguous 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 ibn Affan requested the standard copy from her 49 In about 650 Uthman d 656 began noticing slight differences in pronunciation of the Quran as Islam expanded beyond the Arabian Peninsula into Persia the Levant and North Africa 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 50 51 Thus within 20 years of Muhammad s death the Quran was committed to written form anachronism 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 50 52 53 54 The present form of the Quran text is accepted by Muslim scholars to be the original version compiled by Abu Bakr 39 40 viii Quran in Mashhad Iran said to be written by Ali According to Shia Ali ibn Abi Talib d 661 compiled a complete version of the Quran shortly after Muhammad s death The order of this text differed from that gathered later during Uthman s era in that this version had been collected in chronological order Despite this he made no objection against the standardized Quran and accepted the Quran in circulation 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 11 50 56 The Quran most likely existed in scattered written form during Muhammad s lifetime Several sources indicate that during Muhammad s lifetime a large number of his companions had memorized the revelations Early commentaries and Islamic historical sources support the above mentioned understanding of the Quran s early development 24 University of Chicago professor Fred Donner states that 57 T here was a very early attempt to establish a uniform consonantal text of the Qurʾan 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 58 59 There has been no critical text produced on which a scholarly reconstruction of the Quranic text could be based ix Historically controversy over the Quran s content has rarely become an issue although debates continue on the subject 61 x The right page of the Stanford 07 binary manuscript The upper layer is verses 265 271 of the surah Bakara The double layer reveals the additions made on the first text of the Qur an and the differences with today s Qur an In 1972 in a mosque in the city of Sana a Yemen manuscripts were discovered that were later proved to be the most ancient Quranic text known to exist at the time The Sana a manuscripts contain palimpsests a manuscript page 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 scriptio inferior is still barely visible and believed to be pre Uthmanic Quranic content while the text written on top scriptio superior is believed to belong to Uthmanic times 62 Studies using radiocarbon dating indicate that the parchments are dated to the period before 671 CE with a 99 percent probability 63 64 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 not published the entirety of his work but noted unconventional verse orderings minor textual variations and rare styles of orthography He also 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 65 In 2015 fragments of a very early Quran dating back to 1370 years earlier were discovered in the library of the University of Birmingham 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 66 This is possibly the earliest extant exemplar 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 66 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 67 However Joseph E B Lumbard of Brandeis University has written in the Huffington Post in support of the dates proposed by the Birmingham scholars Lumbard notes that the discovery of a Quranic text that may be confirmed by radiocarbon dating as having been written in the first decades of the Islamic era while presenting a text substantially in conformity with that traditionally accepted reinforces a growing academic consensus that many Western skeptical and revisionist theories of Quranic origins are now untenable in the light of empirical findings whereas on the other hand counterpart accounts of Quranic origins within classical Islamic traditions stand up well in the light of ongoing scientific discoveries 68 Significance in IslamMuslims believe the Quran to be God s final revelation to humanity a work of divine guidance revealed to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel 18 69 Revered by pious Muslims as the holy of holies 70 whose sound moves some to tears and ecstasy 71 it is the physical symbol of the faith the text often used as a charm on occasions of birth death marriage citation needed 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 70 72 Traditionally great emphasis was put on children memorizing the 6 200 verses of the Quran those succeeding being honored with the title Hafiz Millions and millions of Muslims refer to the Koran daily to explain their actions and to justify their aspirations xi and in recent years many consider it the source of scientific knowledge 74 75 Revelation in Islamic and Quranic contexts means the act of God addressing an individual conveying a message for a greater number of recipients The process by which the divine message comes to the heart of a messenger of God is tanzil to send down or nuzul to come down As the Quran says With the truth we God have sent it down and with the truth it has come down 76 The Quran frequently asserts in its text that it is divinely ordained Some verses in the Quran seem to imply that even those who do not speak Arabic would understand the Quran if it were recited to them 77 The Quran refers to a written pre text the preserved tablet that records God s speech even before it was sent down 78 79 Muslims believe that the present wording of the Quran corresponds to that revealed to Muhammad and according to their interpretation of Quran 15 9 it is protected from corruption Indeed it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed We will be its guardian 80 Muslims consider the Quran to be a guide a sign of the prophethood of Muhammad and the truth of the religion The Shia believe that the Quran was gathered and compiled by Muhammad during his lifetime rather than being compiled by Uthman ibn Affan There are other differences in the way Shias interpret the text 81 Muslims do not agree over whether the Quran was created by God or is eternal and uncreated Sunnis who make up about 85 90 of Muslims hold that the Quran is uncreated a doctrine that has been unchallenged among them for many centuries Shia Twelvers and Zaydi and the Kharijites believe the Quran was created 82 Sufi philosophers view the question as artificial or wrongly framed 83 10 need quotation to verify Inimitability Main article I jaz Inimitability of the Quran or I jaz is the belief that no human speech can match the Quran in its content and form The Quran is considered an inimitable miracle by Muslims effective until the Day of Resurrection and thereby the central proof granted to Muhammad in authentication of his prophetic status The concept of inimitability originates in the Quran where in five different verses opponents are challenged to produce something like the Quran If men and jinn banded together to produce the like of this Quran they would never produce its like not though they backed one another 84 From the ninth century numerous works appeared which studied the Quran and examined its style and content Medieval Muslim scholars including al Jurjani d 1078 and al Baqillani d 1013 have written treatises on the subject discussed its various aspects and used linguistic approaches to study the Quran Others argue that the Quran contains noble ideas has inner meanings maintained its freshness through the ages and has caused great transformations at the individual level and in history Some scholars state that the Quran contains scientific information that agrees with modern science 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 56 85 In worship See also Salah While standing in prayers worshipers recite the first chapter of the Quran al Fatiha followed by any other section The first surah of the Quran is repeated in daily prayers and on other occasions This surah which consists of seven verses is the most often recited surah of the Quran 11 ب س م ٱلل ه ٱلر ح م ن ٱلر ح يم ٱل ح م د ل ل ه ر ب ٱل ع ل م ين ٱلر ح م ن ٱلر ح يم م ل ك ي و م ٱلد ين إ ي اك ن ع ب د و إ ي اك ن س ت ع ين ٱه د ن ا ٱلص ر ط ٱل م س ت ق يم ص ر ط ٱل ذ ين أ ن ع م ت ع ل ي ه م لا٥ غ ي ر ٱل م غ ض وب ع ل ي ه م و ل ا ٱلض آل ين In the Name of Allah the Entirely Merciful the Especially Merciful All praise is due to Allah Lord of the worlds The Entirely Merciful the Especially Merciful Sovereign of the Day of Recompense It is You we worship and You we ask for help Guide us to the straight path The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor not of those who have evoked Your anger or of those who are astray Quran 1 1 7 Sahih International English translationOther sections of the Quran of choice are also read in daily prayers 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 56 79 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 11 Worn out 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 86 In Islam most intellectual disciplines including Islamic theology philosophy mysticism and jurisprudence have been concerned with the Quran or have their foundation in its teachings 11 Muslims believe that the preaching or reading of the Quran is rewarded with divine rewards variously called ajr thawab or hasanat 87 In Islamic art The Quran also inspired Islamic arts and specifically the so called Quranic arts of calligraphy and illumination 11 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 and single pages of calligraphy for muraqqas or albums Calligraphy 18th century Brooklyn Museum Quranic inscriptions Bara Gumbad mosque Delhi India Typical mosque lamp of enamelled glass with the Ayat an Nur or Verse of Light 24 35 Quranic verses Shahizinda mausoleum Samarkand Uzbekistan Quran page decoration art Ottoman period The leaves from this Quran written in gold and contoured with brown ink have a horizontal format This is admirably suited to classical Kufic calligraphy which became common under the early Abbasid caliphs Manuscript of the Quran at the Brooklyn MuseumText and arrangementMain articles Surah and Ayah First sura of the Quran Al Fatiha consisting of seven verses The Quran consists of 114 chapters of varying lengths each known as a surah 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 However a surah classified as Medinan may contain Meccan verses in it and vice versa Surah titles are derived from a name or quality discussed in the text or from the first letters or words of the surah Chapters are not arranged in chronological order rather the chapters appear to be arranged roughly in order of decreasing size Some scholars argue the surahs are arranged according to a certain pattern 88 Each surah except the ninth starts with the Bismillah ب س م ٱلل ه ٱلر ح م ن ٱلر ح يم an Arabic phrase meaning In the name of God There are however still 114 occurrences of the Bismillah in the Quran due to its presence in Quran 27 30 as the opening of Solomon s letter to the Queen of Sheba 89 Each surah consists of several verses known as ayat which originally means a sign or evidence sent by God The number of verses differs from surah to surah 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 xii however the number varies if the bismillahs are counted separately In addition to and independent of the division into chapters there are various ways of dividing the Quran into parts of approximately equal length for convenience in reading The 30 juz plural ajzaʼ can be used to read through the entire Quran in a month Some of these parts are known by names which are the first few words by which the juzʼ begins A juz is sometimes further divided into two ḥizb plural aḥzab and each hizb subdivided into four rubʻ al ahzab The Quran is also divided into seven approximately equal parts manzil plural manazil for it to be recited in a week 11 A different structure is provided by semantic units resembling paragraphs and comprising roughly ten ayat each Such a section is called a ruku The Muqattaʿat Arabic حروف مقطعات ḥuruf muqaṭṭaʿat disjoined letters disconnected letters 92 also mysterious letters 93 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 93 The letters are also known as fawatih فواتح or openers as they form the opening verse of their respective suras Four surahs are named for their muqatta at Ṭaʾ Haʾ Yaʾ Sin Ṣad and Qaf The original significance of the letters is unknown Tafsir exegesis has interpreted them as abbreviations for either names or qualities of God or for the names or content of the respective surahs According to Rashad Khalifa those letters are Quranic initials for a hypothetical mathematical code in the Quran namely the Quran code or known as Code 19 94 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 95 ContentsMain articles God in Islam Prophets and messengers in Islam Islamic attitudes towards science Biblical and Quranic narratives and Historical reliability of the Quran The Quranic content is concerned with basic Islamic beliefs including the existence of God and the resurrection Narratives of the early prophets ethical and legal subjects historical events of Muhammad s time charity and prayer 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 Verses pertaining to natural phenomena have been interpreted by Muslims as an indication of the authenticity of the Quranic message 96 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 97 Monotheism The central theme of the Quran is monotheism God is depicted as living eternal omniscient and omnipotent see e g Quran 2 20 2 29 2 255 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 13 16 2 253 50 38 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 39 96 A 12th century Quran manuscript at Reza Abbasi Museum The Quran uses cosmological and contingency arguments in various verses without referring to the terms to prove the existence of God Therefore the universe 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 98 99 Eschatology Main article Islamic 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 39 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 100 There is a reference to the afterlife on most pages of the Quran and belief in the afterlife is often referred to in conjunction with belief in God as in the common expression Believe in God and the last day 101 A number of suras such as 44 56 75 78 81 and 101 are directly related to the afterlife and its preparations Some suras indicate the closeness of the event and warn people to be prepared for the imminent day For instance the first verses of Sura 22 which deal with the mighty earthquake and the situations of people on that day represent this style of divine address O People Be respectful to your Lord The earthquake of the Hour is a mighty thing 102 The Quran is often vivid in its depiction of what will happen at the end time Watt describes the Quranic view of End Time 39 The climax of history when the present world comes to an end is 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 when the good are separated from the evil the Day of the Gathering of men to the presence of God or the Day of the Meeting of men with God The Hour comes suddenly It is heralded by a shout by a thunderclap or by the blast of a trumpet A cosmic upheaval then takes place The mountains dissolve into dust the seas boil up the sun is darkened the stars fall and the sky is rolled up God appears as Judge but his presence is hinted at rather than described The central interest of course is in the gathering of all mankind before the Judge Human beings of all ages restored to life join the throng To the scoffing objection of the unbelievers that former generations had been dead a long time and were now dust and mouldering bones the reply is that God is nevertheless able to restore them to life 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 103 Prophets According to the Quran God communicated with man and made his will known through signs and revelations Prophets or Messengers of God received revelations and delivered them to humanity The message has been identical and for all humankind 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 104 The revelation does not come directly from God to the prophets Angels acting as God s messengers deliver the divine revelation to them This comes out in Quran 42 51 in which it is stated It is not for any mortal that God should speak to them except by revelation or from behind a veil or by sending a messenger to reveal by his permission whatsoever He will 52 103 Ethico religious concepts Verse about the month of Ramadan second sura verse 185 from a Quran manuscript dated to 1510 Belief is a fundamental aspect of morality in the Quran and scholars have tried to determine the semantic contents of belief and believer in the Quran 105 The ethico legal concepts and exhortations dealing with righteous conduct are linked to a profound awareness of God thereby emphasizing the importance of faith accountability and the belief in each human s ultimate encounter with God People are invited to perform acts of charity especially for the needy Believers who spend of their wealth by night and by day in secret and in public are promised that they shall have their reward with their Lord on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve 106 It also affirms family life by legislating on matters of marriage divorce and inheritance A number of practices such as usury and gambling are prohibited The Quran is one of the fundamental sources of Islamic law sharia Some formal religious practices receive significant attention in the Quran including the formal prayers salat and fasting in the month of Ramadan As for the manner in which the prayer is to be conducted the Quran refers to prostration 24 103 The term for charity zakat literally means purification Charity according to the Quran is a means of self purification 78 107 Encouragement for the sciencesThe astrophysicist Nidhal Guessoum while being highly critical of pseudo scientific claims made about the Quran has highlighted the encouragement for sciences that the Quran provides by developing the concept of knowledge He writes 108 174 The Qur an draws attention to the danger of conjecturing without evidence And follow not that of which you have not the certain knowledge of 17 36 and in several different verses asks Muslims to require proofs Say Bring your proof if you are truthful 2 111 both in matters of theological belief and in natural science Guessoum cites Ghaleb Hasan on the definition of proof according to the Quran being clear and strong convincing evidence or argument Also such a proof cannot rely on an argument from authority citing verse 5 104 Lastly both assertions and rejections require a proof according to verse 4 174 108 56 Ismail al Faruqi and Taha Jabir Alalwani are of the view that any reawakening of the Muslim civilization must start with the Quran however the biggest obstacle on this route is the centuries old heritage of tafseer exegesis and other classical disciplines which inhibit a universal epidemiological and systematic conception of the Quran s message 108 117 8 The philosopher Muhammad Iqbal considered the Quran s methodology and epistemology to be empirical and rational 108 58 9 There are around 750 verses which in the Quran dealing with natural phenomena In many of these verses the study of nature is encouraged and highly recommended and historical Islamic scientists like Al Biruni and Al Battani derived their inspiration from verses of the Quran additional citation s needed Mohammad Hashim Kamali has stated that scientific observation experimental knowledge and rationality are the primary tools with which humanity can achieve the goals laid out for it in the Quran 108 63 Ziauddin Sardar built a case for Muslims having developed the foundations of modern science by highlighting the repeated calls of the Quran to observe and reflect upon natural phenomenon 108 75 The physicist Abdus Salam in his Nobel Prize banquet address quoted a well known verse from the Quran 67 3 4 and then stated This in effect is the faith of all physicists the deeper we seek the more is our wonder excited the more is the dazzlement of our gaze 108 131 One of Salam s core beliefs was that there is no contradiction between Islam and the discoveries that science allows humanity to make about nature and the universe Salam also held the opinion that the Quran and the Islamic spirit of study and rational reflection was the source of extraordinary civilizational development 108 132 Salam highlights in particular the work of Ibn al Haytham and Al Biruni as the pioneers of empiricism who introduced the experimental approach breaking with Aristotle s influence and thus giving birth to modern science Salam was also careful to differentiate between metaphysics and physics and advised against empirically probing certain matters on which physics is silent and will remain so such as the doctrine of creation from nothing which in Salam s view is outside the limits of science and thus gives way to religious considerations 108 134 Literary style Boys studying the Quran in Touba Senegal The Quran s message is conveyed with various literary structures and devices In the original Arabic the suras and verses employ phonetic and thematic structures that assist the audience s efforts to recall the message of the text Muslims who assert according to the Quran itself that the Quranic content and style is inimitable 109 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 110 111 The Quranic text seems to have no beginning middle or end its nonlinear structure being akin to a web or net 11 The textual arrangement is sometimes considered to exhibit lack of continuity absence of any chronological or thematic order and repetitiousness xiii xiv 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 114 115 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 tanzil remembrance dhikr news naba criterion furqan 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 116 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 117 InterpretationMain article Tafsir An early interpretation of Sura 108 of the Quran The Quran has sparked much commentary and explication tafsir aimed at explaining the meanings of the Quranic verses clarifying their import and finding out their significance 118 Tafsir is one of the earliest academic activities of Muslims According to the Quran Muhammad was the first person who described the meanings of verses for early Muslims 119 Other early exegetes included a few Companions of Muhammad such as Abu Bakr Umar ibn al Khattab Uthman ibn Affan ʻAli ibn Abi Talib Abdullah ibn Mas ood ʻAbdullah ibn Abbas Ubayy ibn Kaʻb Zayd ibn Thaabit Abu Moosaa al Ash ari and Abdullah ibn al Zubayr 120 Exegesis in those days was confined to the explanation of literary aspects of the verse the background of its revelation and occasionally interpretation of one verse with the help of the other If the verse was about a historical event then sometimes a few traditions hadith of Muhammad were narrated to make its meaning clear 118 Because the Quran is spoken in classical Arabic many of the later converts to Islam mostly non Arabs did not always understand the Quranic Arabic they did not catch allusions that were clear to early Muslims fluent in Arabic and they were concerned with reconciling apparent conflict of themes in the Quran Commentators erudite in Arabic explained the allusions and perhaps most importantly explained which Quranic verses had been revealed early in Muhammad s prophetic career as being appropriate to the very earliest Muslim community and which had been revealed later canceling out or abrogating nasikh the earlier text mansukh 121 122 Other scholars however maintain that no abrogation has taken place in the Quran 123 There have been several commentaries of the Quran by scholars of all denominations popular ones include Tafsir ibn Kathir Tafsir al Jalalayn Tafsir Al Kabir Tafsir al Tabari More modern works of Tafsir include Ma ariful Qur an written by Mufti Muhammad Shafi and Risale i Nur by Bediuzzaman Said Nursi Esoteric interpretation Main article Esoteric interpretation of the Quran Esoteric or Sufi interpretation attempts to unveil the inner meanings of the Quran Sufism moves beyond the apparent zahir point of the verses and instead relates Quranic verses to the inner or esoteric batin and metaphysical dimensions of consciousness and existence 124 According to Sands esoteric interpretations are more suggestive than declarative they are allusions isharat rather than explanations tafsir They indicate possibilities as much as they demonstrate the insights of each writer 125 Sufi interpretation according to Annabel Keeler also exemplifies the use of the theme of love as for instance can be seen in Qushayri s interpretation of the Quran When Moses came at the appointed time and his Lord spoke to him he asked My Lord Reveal Yourself to me so I may see You Allah answered You cannot see Me But look at the mountain If it remains firm in its place only then will you see Me When his Lord appeared to the mountain He levelled it to dust and Moses collapsed unconscious When he recovered he cried Glory be to You I turn to You in repentance and I am the first of the believers Quran 7 143 Moses in 7 143 comes the way of those who are in love he asks for a vision but his desire is denied he is made to suffer by being commanded to look at other than the Beloved while the mountain is able to see God The mountain crumbles and Moses faints at the sight of God s manifestation upon the mountain In Qushayri s words Moses came like thousands of men who traveled great distances and there was nothing left to Moses of Moses In that state of annihilation from himself Moses was granted the unveiling of the realities From the Sufi point of view God is the always the beloved and the wayfarer s longing and suffering lead to realization of the truths 126 Men reading the Quran at the Umayyad Mosque Damascus Syria Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei says that according to the popular explanation among the later exegetes ta wil indicates the particular meaning a verse is directed towards The meaning of revelation tanzil as opposed to ta wil is clear in its accordance to the obvious meaning of the words as they were revealed But this explanation has become so widespread that at present it has become the primary meaning of ta wil which originally meant to return or the returning place In Tabatabaei s view what has been rightly called ta wil or hermeneutic interpretation of the Quran is not concerned simply with the denotation of words Rather it is concerned with certain truths and realities that transcend the comprehension of the common run of men yet it is from these truths and realities that the principles of doctrine and the practical injunctions of the Quran issue forth Interpretation is not the meaning of the verse rather it transpires through that meaning in a special sort of transpiration There is a spiritual reality which is the main objective of ordaining a law or the basic aim in describing a divine attribute and then there is an actual significance that a Quranic story refers to 127 128 Shia Muslim girls reciting the Quran placed atop folding lecterns rehal during Ramadan in Qom Iran According to Shia beliefs those who are firmly rooted in knowledge like Muhammad and the imams know the secrets of the Quran According to Tabatabaei the statement none knows its interpretation except God remains valid without any opposing or qualifying clause 129 Therefore so far as this verse is concerned the knowledge of the Quran s interpretation is reserved for God But Tabatabaei uses other verses and concludes that those who are purified by God know the interpretation of the Quran to a certain extent 128 According to Tabatabaei there are acceptable and unacceptable esoteric interpretations Acceptable ta wil refers to the meaning of a verse beyond its literal meaning rather the implicit meaning which ultimately is known only to God and can t be comprehended directly through human thought alone The verses in question here refer to the human qualities of coming going sitting satisfaction anger and sorrow which are apparently attributed to God Unacceptable ta wil is where one transfers the apparent meaning of a verse to a different meaning by means of a proof this method is not without obvious inconsistencies Although this unacceptable ta wil has gained considerable acceptance it is incorrect and cannot be applied to the Quranic verses The correct interpretation is that reality a verse refers to It is found in all verses the decisive and the ambiguous alike it is not a sort of a meaning of the word it is a fact that is too sublime for words God has dressed them with words to bring them a bit nearer to our minds in this respect they are like proverbs that are used to create a picture in the mind and thus help the hearer to clearly grasp the intended idea 128 130 History of Sufi commentaries One of the notable authors of esoteric interpretation prior to the 12th century is Sulami d 1021 without whose work the majority of very early Sufi commentaries would not have been preserved Sulami s major commentary is a book named Haqaiq al Tafsir Truths of Exegesis which is a compilation of commentaries of earlier Sufis From the 11th century onwards several other works appear including commentaries by Qushayri d 1074 Daylami d 1193 Shirazi d 1209 and 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 Maybudi d 1135 kashf al asrar the unveiling of the secrets 124 Rumi d 1273 wrote a vast amount of mystical poetry in his book Mathnawi Rumi makes heavy use of the Quran in his poetry a feature that is sometimes omitted in translations of Rumi s work A large number of Quranic passages can be found in Mathnawi which some consider a kind of Sufi interpretation of the Quran Rumi s book is not exceptional for containing citations from and elaboration on the Quran however Rumi does mention Quran more frequently 131 Simnani d 1336 wrote two influential works of esoteric exegesis on the Quran He reconciled notions of God s manifestation through and in the physical world with the sentiments of Sunni Islam 132 Comprehensive Sufi commentaries appear in the 18th century such as the work of Ismail Hakki Bursevi d 1725 His work ruh al Bayan the Spirit of Elucidation is a voluminous exegesis Written in Arabic it combines the author s own ideas with those of his predecessors notably Ibn Arabi and Ghazali 132 Levels of meaning 9th century Quran in Reza Abbasi Museum An 11th century North African Quran at the British Museum Unlike the Salafis and Zahiri Shias and Sufis as well as some other Muslim philosophers believe the meaning of the Quran is not restricted to the literal aspect 83 7 For them it is an essential idea that the Quran also has inward aspects Henry Corbin narrates a hadith that goes back to Muhammad 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 this depth possesses a depth after the image of the celestial Spheres which are enclosed within each other So it goes on for seven esoteric meanings seven depths of hidden depth 83 7 According to this view it has also become evident that 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 133 Corbin considers the Quran to play a part in Islamic philosophy because gnosiology itself goes hand in hand with prophetology 83 13 Commentaries dealing with the zahir outward aspects of the text are called tafsir and hermeneutic and esoteric commentaries dealing with the batin are called ta wil interpretation or explanation which involves taking the text back to its beginning Commentators with an esoteric slant believe that the ultimate meaning of the Quran is known only to God 11 In contrast Quranic literalism followed by Salafis and Zahiris is the belief that the Quran should only be taken at its apparent meaning citation needed Reappropriation Reappropriation is the name of the hermeneutical style of some ex Muslims who have converted to Christianity Their style or reinterpretation can sometimes be geared towards apologetics with less reference to the Islamic scholarly tradition that contextualizes and systematizes the reading e g by identifying some verses as abrogated This tradition of interpretation draws on the following practices grammatical renegotiation renegotiation of textual preference retrieval and concession 134 TranslationsMain article Quran translations See also List of translations of the Quran Translating the Quran has always been problematic and difficult Many argue that the Quranic text cannot be reproduced in another language or form 135 Furthermore an Arabic word may have a range of meanings depending on the context making an accurate translation even more difficult 136 Nevertheless the Quran has been translated into most African Asian and European languages 56 The first translator of the Quran was Salman the Persian who translated surat al Fatiha into Persian during the seventh century 137 Another translation of the Quran was completed in 884 in Alwar Sindh India now Pakistan by the orders of Abdullah bin Umar bin Abdul Aziz on the request of the Hindu Raja Mehruk 138 The first fully attested complete translations of the Quran were done between the 10th and 12th centuries in Persian The Samanid king Mansur I 961 976 ordered a group of scholars from Khorasan to translate the Tafsir al Tabari originally in Arabic into Persian Later in the 11th century one of the students of Abu Mansur Abdullah al Ansari wrote a complete tafsir of the Quran in Persian In the 12th century Najm al Din Abu Hafs al Nasafi translated the Quran into Persian 139 The manuscripts of all three books have survived and have been published several times citation needed Islamic tradition also holds that translations were made for Emperor Negus of Abyssinia and Byzantine Emperor Heraclius as both received letters by Muhammad containing verses from the Quran 136 In early centuries the permissibility of translations was not an issue but whether one could use translations in prayer citation needed In 1936 translations in 102 languages were known 136 In 2010 the Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review reported that the Quran was presented in 112 languages at the 18th International Quran Exhibition in Tehran 140 Robert of Ketton s 1143 translation of the Quran for Peter the Venerable Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete was the first into a Western language Latin 141 Alexander Ross offered the first English version in 1649 from the French translation of L Alcoran de Mahomet 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 in 1937 and yet another by Arthur John Arberry in 1955 All these translators were non Muslims There have been numerous translations by Muslims Popular modern English translations by Muslims include The Oxford World Classic s translation by Muhammad Abdel Haleem The Clear Quran by Dr 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 142 The oldest Gurmukhi translation of the Quran Sharif has been found in village Lande of Moga district of Punjab which was printed in 1911 143 1091 Quranic text in bold script with Persian translation and commentary in a lighter script 144 Arabic Quran with interlinear Persian translation from the Ilkhanid Era The first printed Quran in a European vernacular language L Alcoran de Mahomet Andre du Ryer 1647 Title page of the first German translation 1772 of the Quran Verses 33 and 34 of surat Ya Sin in this Chinese translation of the Quran RecitationRules of recitation See also Tajwid 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 145 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 tajwid rules are Matn al Jazariyyah by Ibn al Jazari 146 and Tuhfat al Atfal by Sulayman al Jamzuri The recitations of a few Egyptian reciters like El Minshawy Al Hussary Abdul Basit Mustafa Ismail were highly influential in the development of current styles of recitation 147 148 149 83 Southeast Asia is well known for world class recitation evidenced in the popularity of the woman reciters such as Maria Ulfah of Jakarta 145 Today crowds fill auditoriums for public Quran recitation competitions 150 14 There are two types of recitation Murattal is at a slower pace used for study and practice Mujawwad refers to a slow 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 mujawwad reciter seeks to involve the listeners 151 Variant readings See also Qiraʼat Ahruf Seven readers and Ten recitations Page of the Quran with vocalization marks Vocalization markers indicating specific vowel sounds tashkeel were introduced into the text of the Qur an during the lifetimes of the last Sahabah 152 The first Quranic manuscripts lacked these marks enabling multiple possible recitations to be conveyed by the same written text The 10th century Muslim scholar from Baghdad Ibn Mujahid 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 meaning seven letters or modes Today the most popular readings are those transmitted by 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 Nafi al Madani Medina d 785 respectively The influential standard 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 52 58 The variant readings of the Quran are one type of textual variant 153 154 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 155 Nasser categorizes variant readings into various subtypes including internal vowels long vowels gemination shaddah assimilation and alternation 156 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 157 Another study suggests that this manuscript bears the vocalization of himsi region 158 Writing and printingWriting Main article Islamic calligraphy Before printing was widely adopted in the 19th century the Quran was transmitted in manuscripts made by calligraphers and copyists The earliest manuscripts were written in Ḥijazi 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 muhaqqaq rayḥani and on rarer occasions the thuluth script Naskh was in very widespread use In North Africa and Iberia the Maghribi style was popular More distinct is the Bihari script which was used solely in the north of India Nastaʻliq style was also rarely used in Persian world 159 160 In the beginning the Quran was not written with dots or tashkeel These features were added to the text during the lifetimes of the last of the Sahabah 152 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 161 162 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 163 Folio from the Blue Quran Brooklyn Museum kufic script Eighth or ninth century maghribi script 13th 14th centuries muhaqqaq script 14th 15th centuries shikasta nastaliq script 18th 19th centuries Printing Quran divided into 6 books Published by Dar Ibn Kathir Damascus Beirut Wood block printing of extracts from the Quran is on record as early as the 10th century 164 Arabic movable type printing was ordered by Pope Julius II r 1503 1512 for distribution among Middle Eastern Christians 165 The first complete Quran printed with movable type was produced in Venice in 1537 1538 for the Ottoman market by Paganino Paganini and Alessandro Paganini 166 167 But this Quran was not used as it contained a large number of errors 168 Two more editions include those published by the pastor Abraham Hinckelmann in Hamburg in 1694 169 and by Italian priest Ludovico Maracci in Padua in 1698 with Latin translation and commentary 170 Printed copies of the Quran during this period met with strong opposition from Muslim legal scholars printing anything in Arabic was prohibited in the Ottoman empire between 1483 and 1726 initially even on penalty of death 171 162 172 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 xv 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 xvi The first edition printed in Iran appeared in 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 175 176 Gustav Flugel published an 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 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 159 CriticismMain article Criticism of the Quran Regarding the claim of divine origin critics refer to preexisting sources not only taken from the Bible supposed to be older revelations of God but also from heretic apocryphic and talmudic sources such as The Syriac Infancy Gospel and Gospel of James However the Bible was not translated into Arabic until after the completion of the Quran with other Judeo Christian sources being translated even later 177 Due to rejection of Crucifixion of Jesus in the Quran some scholars also suspect Manichaean a dualistic religion believing in two eternal forces influences on the Quran The Tafsir ilmi believe the Quran predicts scientific knowledge relating the author to non human origin Critics argue verses which allegedly explain modern scientific facts about subjects such as biology evolution of the earth and human life contain fallacies and are unscientific 178 179 180 Most claims of predictions rely on the ambiguity of the Arabic language another point of criticism Despite calling itself a clear book the Quranic language lacks clarity 184 Other criticisms point at the moral attitude asserted by the Quran Examples include the Sword Verse which some interpret as promoting violence against pagans and An Nisa 34 which some view as excusing domestic violence Relationship with other literature Page from a Quran Umar i Aqta Iran Afghanistan Timurid dynasty c 1400 Opaque watercolor ink and gold on paper in the Muqaqqaq script 170 by 109 centimetres 67 in 43 in Historical region Uzbekistan Some non Muslim groups such as the Bahaʼi Faith and Druze view the Quran as holy In the Bahaʼi Faith the Quran is accepted as authentic revelation from God along with the revelations of the other world religions Islam being a stage within in the divine process of progressive revelation Baha u llah the Prophet Founder of the Bahaʼi Faith testified to the validity of the Quran writing Say Perused ye not the Qur an Read it that haply ye may find the Truth for this Book is verily the Straight Path This is the Way of God unto all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth 185 Unitarian Universalists may also seek inspiration from the Quran It has been suggested that the Quran has some narrative similarities to the Diatessaron Protoevangelium of James Infancy Gospel of Thomas Gospel of Pseudo Matthew and the Arabic Infancy Gospel 186 187 One scholar has suggested that the Diatessaron as a gospel harmony may have led to the conception that the Christian Gospel is one text 188 The Bible He has revealed to you O Prophet the Book in truth confirming what came before it as He revealed the Torah and the Gospel previously as a guide for people and also revealed the Standard to distinguish between right and wrong 189 3 3 4 See also Biblical and Quranic narratives 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 one God 190 According to Christoph Luxenberg in The Syro Aramaic Reading of the Koran the Quran s language was similar to the Syriac language 191 The Quran recounts stories of many of the people and events recounted in Jewish and Christian sacred books Tanakh Bible and devotional literature Apocrypha Midrash although it differs in many details Adam Enoch Noah Eber Shelah Abraham Lot Ishmael Isaac Jacob Joseph Job Jethro David Solomon Elijah Elisha Jonah Aaron Moses Zechariah John the Baptist and Jesus are mentioned in the Quran as prophets of God see Prophets of Islam In fact Moses is mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual 192 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 193 Arab writing After the Quran and the general rise of Islam the Arabic alphabet developed rapidly into an art form 56 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 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 194 See alsoCriticism of the Quran Digital Quran Hadith of the Quran and Sunnah Historical reliability of the Quran Islamic schools and branches List of chapters in the Quran List of translations of the Quran Quran and miracles Quran code Quran translations Schools of Islamic theology Violence in the Quran Women in the Quran The True Furqan Portals Islam Book Middle AgesReferencesNotes The English pronunciation varies k e ˈ r ɑː n ˈ r ae n k ɔː k oʊ 1 especially with the spelling quran k ʊr ˈ ɑː n ˈ r ae n 2 especially in British English k ɒ r ˈ ɑː n 3 4 The Arabic pronunciation can be transcribed phonemically as al qurˈʔaːn The actual pronunciation in Literary Arabic varies regionally The first vowel varies from o to ʊ while the second vowel varies from ae to a to ɑ For example the pronunciation in Egypt is qorˈʔɑːn and in Central East Arabia qʊrˈʔaeːn English spelling The form Alcoran and its variants was usual before the 19th century when it became obsolete 5 6 The form Koran was most predominant from the second half of the 18th century till the 1980s when it has been superseded by either Qur an or Quran 6 7 8 9 Other transliterations include al Coran Coran Kuran and al Qur an The adjectives vary as well and include Koranic Quranic and Qur anic sometimes in lowercase 10 In a small number of denominations only the Quran is used as a source an approach called Quranism Hadith are primarily from Muhammad but some are from those closest to him Muslim scholars have worked carefully to authenticate them According to Welch in the Encyclopedia of Islam the verses pertaining to the usage of the word hikma should probably be interpreted in the light of IV 105 where it is said that Muhammad is to judge tahkum mankind on the basis of the Book sent down to him God s Apostle replied Sometimes it is revealed like the ringing of a bell this form of Inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes off after I have grasped what is inspired Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and I grasp whatever he says ʻAisha added Verily 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 42 Few have failed to be convinced that the Quran is the words of Muhammad perhaps even dictated by him after their recitation 55 For both the claim that variant readings are still transmitted and the claim that no such critical edition has been produced see Gilliot C Creation of a fixed text 60 Few have failed to be convinced that the Quran is the words of Muhammad perhaps even dictated by him after their recitation 55 professor emeritus of Islamic thought at the University of Paris Algerian Mohammed Arkoun 73 Scholars disagree on the exact number but this is a disagreement over the placing of the divisions between the verese not on the text itself 90 91 The final process of collection and codification of the Quran text was guided by one over arching principle God s words must not in any way be distorted or sullied by human intervention For this reason no serious attempt apparently was made to edit the numerous revelations organize them into thematic units or present them in chronological order This has given rise in the past to a great deal of criticism by European and American scholars of Islam who find the Quran disorganized repetitive and very difficult to read 112 Samuel Pepys One feels it difficult to see how any mortal ever could consider this Quran as a Book written in Heaven too good for the Earth as a well written book or indeed as a book at all and not a bewildered rhapsody written so far as writing goes as badly as almost any book ever was 113 the major Ottoman printing houses published a combined total of only 142 books in more than a century of printing between 1727 and 1838 When taken in conjunction with the fact that only a minuscule number of copies of each book were printed this statistic demonstrates that the introduction of the printing press did not transform Ottoman cultural life until the emergence of vibrant print media in the middle of the nineteenth century 173 at imperial expense a Tatar and Turkish Typography was established in St Petersburg a domestic scholar Mullah Osman Ismail was responsible for the manufacture of the types One of the first products of this printing house was the Qur an Through the doctor and writer Johann Georg v Zimmermann d 1795 who was befriended by Catherine II a copy of the publication arrived in the Gottingen University library Its director the philologist Christian Gottlob Heyne d 1812 presented the work immediately in the Gottingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen 28 July 1788 therein he pointed especially to the beauty of the Arabic types To the Arabic text marginal glosses have been added that consist predominantly of reading variants The imprint was reproduced unchanged in 1790 and 1793 in St Petersburg cf Schnurrer Bibliotheca arabica no 384 later after the transfer of the printing house to Kazan editions appeared in different formats and with varying presentation 174 For the 1803 Kazan edition Chauvin V C Bib des ouvrages arabes vol X 95 Schnurrer C F von Bibliotheca Arabica 385 Original held by Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Munich Germany shelfmark BSB A or 554 Gerd Puin is quoted in the Atlantic Monthly January 1999 The Koran claims for itself that it is mubeen or clear But if you look at it you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn t make sense the fact is that a fifth of the Koranic text is just incomprehensible 65 Citations dictionary reference com koran dictionary reference com quran Cambridge dictionary koran Cambridge dictionary quran Alcoran Oxford English Dictionary Vol 1 1st ed Oxford University Press 1888 p 210 a b Google Books Ngram Viewer Google Books Retrieved 16 February 2021 Koran Oxford English Dictionary Vol 5 1st ed Oxford University Press 1901 p 753 Koran Oxford English Dictionary Online ed Oxford University Press Subscription or participating institution membership required Quran Oxford English Dictionary Online ed Oxford University Press Subscription or participating institution membership required Koran Merriam Webster Dictionary a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Nasr 2007 Arberry Arthur 1956 The Koran Interpreted London p 191 ISBN 0684825074 It may be affirmed that within the literature of the Arabs wide and fecund as it is both in poetry and in elevated prose there is nothing to compare with it Toropov Brandon Buckles Luke 2004 Complete Idiot s Guide to World Religions Alpha p 126 ISBN 978 1 59257 222 9 Muslims believe that Muhammad s many divine encounters during his years in Mecca and Medina inspired the remainder of the Qur an which nearly fourteen centuries later remains the Arabic language s preeminent masterpiece a b Esposito John 2010 Islam The Straight Path 4th ed Oxford University Press p 21 ISBN 978 0 19 539600 3 Throughout history many Arab Christians as well have regarded it as the perfection of the Arabic language and literature Lambert Gray 2013 The Leaders Are Coming WestBow Press p 287 ISBN 978 1 4497 6013 7 Roy H Williams Michael R Drew 2012 Pendulum How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future Vanguard Press p 143 ISBN 978 1 59315 706 7 Shaikh Fazlur Rehman 2001 Chronology of Prophetic Events Ta Ha Publishers Ltd p 50 Quran 17 105 Arberry tr a b Fisher Mary Pat 1997 Living Religions An Encyclopaedia of the World s Faiths Rev ed London I B Tauris Publishers p 338 Quran 17 106 Peters F E 2003 The Words and Will of God Princeton University Press pp 12 13 ISBN 978 0 691 11461 3 Wheeler Brannon M 2002 Prophets in the Quran An Introduction to the Quran and Muslim Exegesis A amp C Black p 2 ISBN 978 0 8264 4957 3 Carroll Jill The Quran amp Hadith World Religions Retrieved 10 July 2019 a b Donner Fred 2006 The historical context In McAuliffe Jane Dammen ed The Cambridge Companion to the Qur an Cambridge University Press pp 31 33 a b c Campo Juan E 2009 Encyclopedia of Islam Facts On File pp 570 574 ISBN 978 0 8160 5454 1 Nigosian Solomon A 2004 Islam Its History Teaching and Practices New ed Indiana University Press pp 65 80 ISBN 978 0 253 21627 4 Wheeler Brannon M 2002 Prophets in the Quran an introduction to the Quran and Muslim exegesis Continuum p 15 ISBN 978 0 8264 4956 6 Nasr 2003 p 42 a b Sandikci Ozlem Rice Gillian 2011 Handbook of Islamic Marketing p 38 ISBN 9781849800136 Street Brian V 2001 Literacy and Development Ethnographic Perspectives p 193 Brown Norman O 1991 Apocalypse And or Metamorphosis University of California Press p 81 ISBN 0520072987 The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion Archived from the original on 18 October 2017 Retrieved 31 August 2013 Quran 75 17 Quran 7 204 See kur an al Encyclopedia of Islam Online and 9 111 Quran 20 2 cf Quran 25 32 cf Jaffer Abbas Jaffer Masuma 2009 Quranic Sciences ICAS press pp 11 15 ISBN 978 1 904063 30 8 Tabatabae 1988 p 98 a b c d e f g Richard Bell Revised and Enlarged by W Montgomery Watt 1970 Bell s introduction to the Qur an Univ Press pp 31 51 ISBN 978 0 85224 171 4 a b P M Holt Ann K S Lambton and Bernard Lewis 1970 The Cambridge history of Islam Reprint ed Cambridge Univ Press p 32 ISBN 978 0 521 29135 4 Denffer Ahmad von 1985 Ulum al Qur an an introduction to the sciences of the Qur an Repr ed Islamic Foundation p 37 ISBN 978 0 86037 132 8 Translation of Sahih Bukhari Book 1 Center for Muslim Jewish Engagement University of Southern California Archived from the original on 10 January 2012 Quran 53 5 Quran 53 6 9 Buhl Fr 2012 1913 1936 Muhammad In Houtsma M Th Arnold T W Basset R Hartmann R eds Encyclopedia of Islam 1 ed doi 10 1163 2214 871X ei1 SIM 4746 ISBN 9789004082656 Quran 7 157 Gunther Sebastian 2002 Muhammad the Illiterate Prophet An Islamic Creed in the Quran and Quranic Exegesis Journal of Quranic Studies 4 1 1 26 doi 10 3366 jqs 2002 4 1 1 Roslan Abdul Rahim December 2017 Demythologizing the Qur an Rethinking Revelation Through Naskh al Qur an Global Journal Al Thaqafah 7 2 62 doi 10 7187 GJAT122017 2 ISSN 2232 0474 Wat is de Koran Koran nl in Dutch 18 February 2016 a b c Tabatabae 1988 p 99 Since the word of God seemed threatened with alteration the third caliph ordered that five of the qurra from amongst the companions one of them being Zayd ibn Thabit who had compiled the first volume produce other copies from the first volume which had been prepared on the orders of the first caliph and which had been kept with Ḥafṣah the wife of the Prophet and daughter of the second caliph The other copies already in the hands of Muslims in other areas were collected and sent to Medina where on orders of the Caliph they were burnt or according to some histtorians were destroyed by boiling Thus several copies were made one being kept in Medina one in Mecca and one each sent to Sham a territory now divided into Syria Lebanon Palestine and Jordan Kufa and Basra It is said that beside these five one copy was also sent to Yemen and one to Bahrein These copies were called the Imam copies and served as original for all future copies The only difference of order between these copies and the first volume was that the chapters Spirits of War and Immunity were written in one place between The Heights and Jonah al Bukhari Muhammad Sahih Bukhari volume 6 book 61 narrations number 509 and 510 sahih bukhari com Retrieved 16 February 2018 a b c Rippin 2006 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 Francois Deroche pp 172 87 For recitation see Recitation by Anna M Gade pp 481 93 Yusuff Mohamad K Zayd ibn Thabit and the Glorious Qur an Cook 2000 p 117 24harvnb error no target CITEREFCook2000 help a b Peters 1991 p 3 5 a b c d Leaman Oliver ed 2006 The Qur an an Encyclopedia New York Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 32639 1 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 Donner Fred M 2014 Review Textual Criticism and Qurʾan Manuscripts by Keith E Small Journal of Near Eastern Studies 73 1 166 169 doi 10 1086 674909 a b Melchert Christopher 2000 Ibn Mujahid and the Establishment of Seven Qur anic Readings Studia Islamica 91 5 22 doi 10 2307 1596266 JSTOR 1596266 Ibn Warraq Which Koran Variants Manuscript Linguistics p 45 Prometheus Books 2011 ISBN 1591024307 Gilliot C 2006 Creation of a fixed text In McAuliffe Jane Dammen ed The Cambridge Companion to the Qur an Cambridge University Press p 52 Warraq I et al Warraq I ed The Origins of the Koran Classic Essays on Islam s Holy Book The Christian response to the Muslim debate Summarised by Sharon Morad Leeds Archived from the original on 18 May 2011 Retrieved 15 March 2011 The Qur an Text Interpretation and Translation Third Biannual SOAS Conference 16 17 October 2003 Journal of Qur anic Studies 6 1 143 145 April 2004 doi 10 3366 jqs 2004 6 1 143 Bergmann 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the Koran Atlantic Retrieved 8 April 2019 Guessoum Nidhal June 2008 ThE QUR AN SCIENCE AND THE RELATED CONTEMPORARY MUSLIM DISCOURSE Zygon 43 2 411 doi 10 1111 j 1467 9744 2008 00925 x ISSN 0591 2385 Retrieved 15 April 2019 SARDAR ZIAUDDIN 21 August 2008 Weird science New Statesman Retrieved 15 April 2019 See Corbin 1993 p 12 Wild Stefan 1996 The Quʼran as Text Leiden Brill pp 137 138 141 147 ISBN 978 90 04 09300 3 Quran 2 97 17 105 Jenssen H 2001 Arabic Language In McAuliffe Jane Dammen ed Encyclopedia of the Qurʾan Vol 1 Leiden Brill pp 127 35 a b Sonn Tamara 2010 Islam a brief history Second ed Wiley Blackwell ISBN 978 1 4051 8093 1 Quran 85 22 Mir Sajjad Ali Zainab Rahman 2010 Islam and Indian Muslims Kalpaz Publications p 21 ISBN 978 8178358055 Shirazi Muhammad 2001 The Qur an When was it compiled London UK Fountain Books Glasse Cyril Smith Huston 2002 The New Encyclopedia of Islam revised reprinted ed Rowman Altamira p 268 ISBN 978 0 7591 0190 6 Retrieved 7 September 2015 a b c d 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Quran The Mail Archive Retrieved 29 October 2012 a b Saeed Abdullah 2008 The Qurʼan an introduction London Routledge p 62 ISBN 978 0 415 42124 9 Crone Patricia 10 June 2008 What do we actually know about Mohammed Open Democracy Retrieved 3 October 2019 Quran 67 3 Saritoprak Zeki 2006 Allah In Leaman Oliver ed The Qur an an Encyclopedia New York Routledge pp 33 40 ISBN 978 0 415 32639 1 Buck C 2006 Discovering final destination In Rippin A et al eds The Blackwell Companion to the Qur an 2a reimpr ed Blackwell p 30 ISBN 978140511752 4 Haleem Muhammad Abdel 2005 Understanding the Qur an themes and style I B Tauris p 82 ISBN 978 1 86064 650 8 Saritoprak Zeki 2006 Eschatology In Leaman Oliver ed The Qur an an Encyclopedia New York Routledge pp 194 99 ISBN 978 0 415 32639 1 a b c Esack Farid 2003 Martin Richard C ed Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world Online Ausg ed Macmillan Reference pp 568 562 ISBN 978 0 02 865603 8 Quran 41 43 Izutsu Toshihiko 6 June 2007 2002 Ethico religious concepts in the Qur an Repr ed McGill Queen s University Press p 184 ISBN 978 0 7735 2427 9 Quran 2 274 Quran 9 103 a b c d e f g h i Nidhal 2011harvnb error no target CITEREFNidhal2011 help Boullata Issa J 2002 Literary Structure of Quran in McAuliffe Jane Dammen ed Encyclopedia of the Qurʾan vol 3 Leiden Brill pp 192 204 ISBN 9004123547 Mir M 2006 Language In Rippin A et al eds The Blackwell Companion to the Qur an 2a reimpr ed Blackwell p 93 ISBN 978140511752 4 Rosenthal Herman Waldstein A S Korner Moses B Eliezer Jewish Encyclopedia Retrieved 15 August 2022 Approaches to the Asian Classics Irene Blomm William Theodore De Bary Columbia University Press 1990 p 65 Peterson Daniel C 1990 Editor s Introduction By What Measure Shall We Mete FARMS Review of Books The Neal A Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at BYU Archived from the original on 4 March 2008 Retrieved 30 September 2013 Sells Michael 1999 Approaching the Qur an White Cloud Press Brown Norman O Winter 1983 1984 The Apocalypse of Islam Social Text Duke University Press 3 8 155 71 doi 10 2307 466329 JSTOR 466329 Quran 21 50 Wild Stefan ed 2006 Self referentiality in the Qur an Wiesbaden Harrassowitz ISBN 978 3 447 05383 9 a b An Exegesis of the Holy Qur an Tafsir Al Mizan Tawheed Institute Australia Quran 2 151 بازمول محمد التهذيب والترتيب الاتقان في علوم القرآن p 525 How can there be abrogation in the Quran Archived from the original on 8 June 2008 Are the verses of the Qur an Abrogated and or Substituted mostmerciful com Archived from the original on 1 May 2008 Islahi Amin Ahsan Abrogation in the Qur an Renaissance Journal Retrieved 26 April 2013 a b Godlas Alan 2008 No tile given The Blackwell companion to the Qur an Paperback ed Wiley Blackwell pp 350 362 ISBN 978 1 4051 8820 3 Sands Kristin Zahra 2006 Sufi commentaries on the Qur an in classical Islam 1 publ transferred to digital print ed Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 36685 4 Keeler Annabel 2006 Sufi tafsir as a Mirror al Qushayri the murshid in 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Arabic The Bible in Arabic The Scriptures of the People of the Book in the Language of Islam Princeton University Press pp 127 154 ISBN 978 0 691 15082 6 JSTOR j ctt28550z 9 Cook The Koran 2000 p 30 see also Ruthven Malise 2002 A Fury For God London Granta p 126 Secular Web Kiosk The Koran Predicted the Speed of Light Not Really Archived from the original on 9 February 2008 Leirvik Oddbjorn 2010 Images of Jesus Christ in Islam 2nd Edition 2 ed New York Bloomsbury Academic pp 33 66 ISBN 978 1 4411 8160 2 Wansbrough John 1977 Quranic Studies Sources and Methods of Scriptural Interpretation Geisler Norman L 1999 Qur an Alleged Divine Origin of Baker encyclopedia of Christian apologetics Grand Rapids MI Baker Books 181 xvii 182 183 The Kitab i Iqan Baha i Reference Library Retrieved 6 August 2021 Griffith Signey 2008 Christian Lore and the Arabic Qur an In Reynolds Gabriel S ed The Qurʼan in its Historical Context Psychology Press p 112 ISBN 9780203939604 New Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 7 Washington DC The Catholic University of America 1967 p 677 Rawandi Ibn 2002 On pre Islamic Christian strophic poetical texts in the Koran In Warraq Ibn ed What the Koran Really Says Language Text and Commentary Prometheus Books ISBN 978 1 57392 945 5 3 3 نزل عليك الكتاب بالحق مصدقا لما بين يديه وانزل التوراة والانجيل Quran 2 285 Luxenberg Christoph 2007 The Syro Aramaic reading of the Koran a contribution to the decoding of the language of the Koran Berlin H Schiler ISBN 978 3 89930 088 8 Keeler Annabel 2005 Moses from a Muslim Perspective In Solomon Norman Harries Richard Winter Tim eds Abraham s children Jews Christians and Muslims in conversation T amp T Clark pp 55 66 ISBN 9780567081711 Esposito John L 2010 The Future of Islam USA Oxford University Press p 40 ISBN 978 0 19 516521 0 Christians are often surprised to discover that Jesus is mentioned by name in the Quran more than Muhammad and that Mary is mentioned more times in the Quran than in the New Testament Both Jesus and Mary play important roles not only in the Quran but also in Muslim piety and spirituality Kadi Wadad Mir Mustansir 2002 Literature and the Quran In McAuliffe Jane Dammen ed Encyclopedia of the Qurʾan Vol 3 Leiden Brill pp 213 216 ISBN 9004123547 Sources Guessoum Nidhal 2011 Islam s Quantum Question Reconciling Muslim Tradition and Modern Science I B Tauris p 174 ISBN 978 1 84885 517 5 Cook Michael 2000 The Koran A Very Short Introduction Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 285344 8 Retrieved 24 September 2019 Allen Roger 2000 An Introduction to Arabic literature Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 77657 8 Corbin Henry 1993 1964 in French History of Islamic Philosophy Translated by Sherrard Liadain Sherrard Philip London Kegan Paul International in association with Islamic Publications for The Institute of Ismaili Studies ISBN 978 0 7103 0416 2 Esposito John Haddad Yvonne Yazbeck 2000 Muslims on the Americanization Path Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 513526 8 Nasr Seyyed Hossein 2003 Islam Religion History and Civilization San Francisco Harper ISBN 978 0 06 050714 5 Kugle Scott Alan 2006 Rebel Between Spirit And Law Ahmad Zarruq Sainthood And Authority in Islam Indiana University Press ISBN 978 0 253 34711 4 Peters Francis E August 1991 The Quest of the Historical Muhammad International Journal of Middle East Studies 23 3 291 315 doi 10 1017 S0020743800056312 S2CID 162433825 2003 The Monotheists Jews Christians and Muslims in Conflict and Competition Princeton University Press ISBN 978 0 691 12373 8 Further readingIntroductory texts Bell Richard Watt William Montgomery 1970 Bell s introduction to the Qurʼan Edinburgh University Press ISBN 978 0 7486 0597 2 Hawting G R 1993 Approaches to the Qur an 1 ed Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 05755 4 Hixon Lex 2003 The heart of the Qurʼan an introduction to Islamic spirituality 2 ed Quest ISBN 978 0 8356 0822 0 Nasr Seyyed Hossein 2007 Qurʾan Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Retrieved 4 November 2007 Rahman Fazlur 2009 1989 Major Themes of the Qur an Second ed University Of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 226 70286 5 Rippin Andrew et al eds 2006 The Blackwell companion to the Qur an Blackwell ISBN 978 1 4051 1752 4 Robinson Neal 2002 Discovering the Qur an Georgetown University Press ISBN 978 1 58901 024 6 Sells Michael 15 November 1999 Approaching the Qur an The Early Revelations Book amp CD ed White Cloud Press ISBN 978 1 883991 26 5 Tabatabae Mohammad Hosayn 1988 The Qur an in Islam Its Impact and Influence on the Life of Muslims Routledge ISBN 978 0 7103 0266 3 Wild Stefan 1996 The Quʼran as Text Leiden Brill ISBN 978 90 04 09300 3 Traditional Quranic commentaries tafsir Main article List of tafsir works Al Tabari 1987 Cairo 1955 69 Jamiʻ al bayan ʻan taʼwil al qurʼan The Commentary on the Qurʼan transl J Cooper ed Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 920142 6 Tabatabae Sayyid Mohammad Hosayn Tafsir al Mizan Topical studies McAuliffe Jane Dammen 1991 Qurʼanic Christians an analysis of classical and modern exegesis New York Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 36470 6 Siljander Mark D Mann John David 2008 A Deadly Misunderstanding a Congressman s Quest to Bridge the Muslim Christian Divide New York Harper One ISBN 978 0 06 143828 8 Stowasser Barbara Freyer 1 June 1996 Women in the Qur an Traditions and Interpretation Reprint ed Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 511148 4 Literary criticism M M Al Azami 2003 The History of The Qur anic Text From Revelation to Compilation A Comparative Study with the Old and New Testaments First ed UK Islamic Academy ISBN 978 1 872531 65 6 Boullata Issa J ed 2000 Literary Structures of Religious Meaning in the Qur an Curzon Press ISBN 0700712569 Luling Gunter 2003 A challenge to Islam for reformation the rediscovery and reliable reconstruction of a comprehensive pre Islamic Christian hymnal hidden in the Koran under earliest Islamic reinterpretations New Delhi Motilal Banarsidass ISBN 978 81 208 1952 8 Luxenberg Christoph 2007 2004 The Syro Aramaic Reading of the Koran a contribution to the decoding of the language of the Koran Berlin Verlag Hans Schiler ISBN 978 3 89930 088 8 Puin Gerd R 1996 Observations on Early Quran Manuscripts in Sana a In Wild Stefan ed The Qurʾan as Text Leiden E J Brill pp 107 11 Wansbrough John 1977 Quranic Studies Oxford University Press Encyclopedias McAuliffe JD et al eds 2001 Encyclopaedia of the Qur an First ed Brill Academic Publishers ISBN 978 90 04 11465 4 Leaman O et al eds 2005 The Qur an An Encyclopedia First ed Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 77529 8 Iqbal M et al eds 2013 The Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qur an First ed Center for Islamic Sciences ISBN 978 1 926620 00 8 Academic journals Journal of Qur anic Studies ISSN 1465 3591 published by the School of Oriental and African Studies Journal of Qur anic Research and Studies published by King Fahd Qur an Printing ComplexExternal linksQuran at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Resources from Wikiversity Reference material The British Library Discovering Sacred Texts IslamManuscripts Several digitised Qurans in the Cambridge University Digital Library 2017 232 1 al Qurʼan القرآن at OPennQuran browsers and translation Al Quran info Quran Archive Texts and Studies on the Quran Quran text and translation at Tufts University Tanzil Online Quran Navigator Quran com Multilingual Quran Arabic English French German Dutch Spanish Italian Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Quran amp oldid 1135678261, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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