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Introduction to the Quran
 The
word “Quran” comes from the Arabic verb, qara’a
meaning “to recite”, “to read”. According to Mohammed,
the command given to him, Gabriel three times in the
cave of Hira was “to qara’a” or read. Mohammad
replied, “What shall I read”? Thus, the word for
Mohammad’s revelation is known as the Quran.
The words in the Quran are linked to the 23-years of Mohammad’s call,
from A.D. 610 to his death in 632. The revelations, in
the Quran, according to Islam are from an identical book
located in Heaven, revealed through the angel Gabriel.
What is
the Qu’ran
The Quran, according to Islam, is the very word of Allah, revealed
through Gabriel to the prophet Mohammed. The language
of the Quran is Arabic, the dialect belonging to the
Quraish tribe, the tribe entrusted with the city of
Mecca, and the tribe Mohammad’s family was a part of.
The Quran is divided into 114 chapters, called surah(s), these
chapters, with the exception of the first are generally
arranged according to length. Surah 2, the Cow
is the longest and the last ones the shortest.
The chapters of the Quran also have a title derived from a
word within the text, these titles do not necessarily
have a link to the subject manner in the surah, from
which it is derived. The titles have names such as “The
Cow” (Surah 2), “Women” (Surah 4), “The Bee” 16 (Surah
16).
In the beginning of the Surah is a short introduction prayer,
the Basmalah, which says “In the name of God, the
Compassionate the Merciful”. This prayer is at the
start of every surah except the ninth.
The verses of the Surah, called āyah vary in size (pl,
ayat) , the earliest are the shortest, the longer Surahs
have longer verses with less rhyme. The Quran, in the
Arabic is written in rhyme prose, saj, a style
similar to the prose used by the kāhins, or
soothsayers of Arabia.
The Quran is presented as the speech of God (Allah), who is
speaking, first person through Gabriel to Mohammad.
Allah refers to himself as “We” and Mohammed is the one
told, “to say”. Mohammed, directed to tell the message
Allah has given him is Allah’s final messenger to the
world, the “seal of the prophets”. Here is an example
from the Quran Surah 2, the Cow.
35. And We said: O
Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and eat ye
freely (of the fruits) thereof where ye will; but come
not nigh this tree lest ye become wrongdoers. 36. But
Satan caused them to deflect there from and expelled
them from the (happy) state in which they were; and
We said: Fall down, one of you a foe unto the other!
There shall be for you on earth a habitation and
provision for a tune. Surah 2:35-36
94. Say (unto
them): If the abode of the Hereafter in the providence
of Allah is indeed for you alone and not for othersof
mankind (as ye pretend), then long for death (for ye
must long for death) if ye are truthful. 95. But they
will never long for it, because of that which their own
hands have sent before them. Allah is Aware of
evildoers. Surah 2:94-95
How was
the Quran revealed?
The Quran is the written text, of the revelation, which Mohammad claimed
he received from Allah. The account of how Mohammed
first received the revelation of the Quran is recorded
in the traditions of the prophets, the Hadith
(Traditions) and by early Islamic historians, who
explain the events.
 In
the year A.D. 610, Mohammad was forty-years old and in
the cave of Hera meditaing when he believed he received
his call to prophethood. This prophetic call was the
beginning of the Quran, for it would be the same angelic
force, who spoke to Mohammed in the cave, who would
later reveal to him parts of the Quran, the book in
heaven. Muslim historian Muhammad H. Haykal, who
reports the events of Mohammad’s call, according to
Islamic traditions,
One
day, while Muhammad was asleep in the cave, an angel
approached with a sheet in his hand. The angel said to
Muhammad, "Read." Muhammad answered in surprise, "What
shall I read?" He felt as if the angel had strangled and
then released him and heard once more the command,
"Read." Muhammad's reply was, "What shall I read?" Once
more he felt the angel strangling and then releasing
him, and he heard him repeat the command, "Read." For
the third time Muhammad answered, "What shall I read?"
fearful that this time the strangling would be stronger.
The angel replied, "Read in the name of your Lord, the
Creator, Who created man of a clot of blood. Read! Your
Lord is most gracious. It is He who taught man by the
pen that which he does not know [Qur'an, 96:1-5.],
Muhammad recited these verses, repeating them after the
angel who withdrew after they were permanently carved
upon his memory.
Thus the earliest of the biographies reported, and so
did ibn Ishaq
According to the Haykal, Mohammad was not sure what happened, he thought
the “angel” might have been a demon, who possessed him,
something he always feared.
Stricken
with panic, Muhammad arose and asked himself, "What did
I see? Did possession of the devil which I feared all
along come to pass?" Muhammad looked to his right and
his left but saw nothing. For a while he stood there
trembling with fear and stricken with awe. He feared the
cave might be haunted and that he might run away still
unable to explain what he saw. He walked in the area
around the mountain asking himself who could have
commanded him to read.
Mohammed went home and confided to his wife, Khadija about what just
happened in the cave, he confessed he feared he might
have become possessed, she reassured a scarred Mohammed.
Khadijah then went to hear Christian cousinWaraqah ibn Nawfal, who was in the process of
translating the gospel (Injil) into Arabic, for advice
regarding Mohammad. Upon hearing the events regarding
Mohammad, Waraqah declared him a prophet to the Arabic
people.
As Muhammad entered his house he asked Khadijah to wrap
him in blankets. She could see that her husband was
shivering as if struck with high fever. When he calmed
down, he cast toward his wife the glance of a man in
need of rescue and said, "O Khadijah, what has happened
to me?" He told her of his experience and intimated to
her his fear that his mind had finally betrayed him, and
that he was becoming a seer or a man possessed……….. she
said to him, "Joy to my cousin! Be firm. By him who
dominates Khadijah's soul I pray and hope that you will
be the Prophet of this nation. By God, He will not let
you down. You will be kind to your kin; your speech will
all be true; you will rescue the weary; entertain the
guest and help the truth to prevail. "Reassured,
Muhammad thanked Khadijah and was grateful for her
faith. Exhausted, he fell asleep……..
Khadijah ran to her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal who, as we
saw earlier, had already become a Christian and had
translated part of the Evangel into Arabic. When she
finished telling him what Muhammad had seen and heard
and of her compassionate and hopeful response to her
husband, Waraqah broke into these words: "Holy, Holy! By
Him who dominates Waraqah's soul, if your report is
true, O Khadijah, this must be the Great Spirit that
spoke to Moses. Muhammad must be the Prophet of this
nation.
From
this point forward, the “angel” who appeared to Mohammad
would come back over the remaining 22-years of his life,
from forty to age sixty-two, giving him further
revelations. The 114 Surahs recorded in the Quran, are
linked to the periods in Mohammad’s life, until his
death in A.D. 632. The method of
revelation was not always the same according to Islamic
tradition, over the years to follow, when Mohammad
received revelation of the Quran, he would faint, foam
at the mouth and tremble at times. The book True
Guidance Part IV, records the Hadiths
regarding the manner which Mohammad received his
revelations,
The
authoritative Hadith (Tradition) relate that
Muhammad used to faint whenever revelations came to
him. It is claimed he used to act like a drunkard (See
Al-Sirah al-Nabawiya, by Ibn Hisham; chapter on how the
revelation came). In his book, Al-Quran al-Majid,
Darwaza claims that Muhammad was taken out of this
world. Abu Huraira says that “whenever Muhammad
received revelation, he was overwhelmed by trembling.”
Another account says: “He became distressed, foamng at
the mouth and closing his eyes. At times he snorted like
a young camel” (Ahmad b. Hanbal I, 34, 464, VI. 163)…..Umar
b. al-Khattab said: “When revelation descended upon
Muhammad, one could hear it near his face like the
humming of bees” (Ahmad b. Hanbal, I. 34)
Mohammed and his attempted Suicide during the period of silence (610-613)
Following the first appearance of the “angel” and the
proclamation of his “Call” there was a period of silence
for about three-years. During this period, Mohammad was
distraught and often thought about suicide, wishing to
throw himself off the mountains of Hira or Qubays. Hykal
writes,
Muhammad expected the revelations to guide his path from
day to day, but they subsided. Gabriel did not appear
for some time, and all around him there was nothing but
silence. Muhammad fell into solitude, separated from
himself as well as from the people. His old fears
recurred. It is told that even Khadijah said to him,
"Does it not seem that your Lord is displeased with
you?" Dismayed and frightened, he returned to the
mountain and the cave of Hira'. There, he prayed for God
fervently, seeking assiduously to reach Him.
Particularly, he wanted to ask God about the cause of
this divine displeasure. Khadijah did not dread these
days any less than Muhammad, nor was she any less
fearful. Often Muhammad wished to die, but he would
again feel the call and the command of his Lord which
dispelled such ideas. It was also told that he once
thought of throwing himself down from the top of Mount
Hira' or Mount Abu Qubays, thinking what good was this
life if his greatest hope therein was to be frustrated
and destroyed? Torn between these fears on one hand and
despair on the other, revelation came to him after a
long interval.
History
of the Quran
Mohammad’s death
The Quran was revealed to Mohammad during a 23-year period, A.D. 610 to
632. Mohammad’s death in 632, was not expected, he was
62-years old when he died. Muhammad gave his
revelations orally and did not write them down, the
claim being, he could neither read nor write, the
prophet was mouthpiece of Allah, there was no need to
have written scripture.
In the year 632, Mohammad made his last pilgrimage to Mecca, a few month
later on June 8th, 632 Muhammad died by the
side of his young wife, Aisha who cradled the prophet as
he passed. Muslim traditions as recorded by the
Marmauke Pickthall, blame Mohammed’s death on a
Jewish captive of Kheyber fortress in North Arabia.
It
was at Kheybar that a Jewess prepared for the Prophet
poisoned meat, of which he only tasted a morsel without
swallowing it, then warned his comrades that it was
poisoned. One Muslim, who had already swallowed a
mouthful, died immediately, and the Prophet himself,
from the mere taste of it, derived the illness, which
eventually caused his death. The woman who cooked the
meat was brought before him. When she said that she had
one it on account of the humiliation of her people, he
forgave her.
Collection of the Quran
During Mohammad’s life the revelations were not collected into one
collection but were scattered, written on palm-leaf
stalks, thin white stones bones and the memory of men.
In the year 633, after the death of Mohammad, during
the reign (Caliphate)
of Abu Bakr (A.D. 632-633) the Muslims were involved in
the battle of Yamamah,
where many of the hafiz died on the battlefield.
The hafiz, Muslims who knew the words of Muhammad by
heart, were an important resource for Muslims, because
they kept the Quran. Their death brought concern the
Quran could fade away if those who memorized it died.
Zaid bin Thabit was Mohammed’s scribe, who was appointed
to the task of collecting the scattered Surahs.
Narrated Zaid bin Thabit:
Abu
Bakr As-Siddiq sent for me when the people! of Yamama
had been killed (i.e., a number of the Prophet's
Companions who fought against Musailama). (I went to
him) and found 'Umar bin Al-Khattab sitting with him.
Abu Bakr then said (to me), "Umar has come to me and
said: "Casualties were heavy among the Qurra' of the!
Qur'an (i.e. those who knew the Quran by heart) on the
day of the Battle of Yalmama, and I am afraid that more
heavy casualties may take place among the Qurra' on
other battlefields, whereby a large part of the Qur'an
may be lost. Therefore I suggest, you (Abu Bakr) order
that the Qur'an be collected." I said to 'Umar, "How can
you do something which Allah's Apostle did not do?" 'Umar
said, "By Allah, that is a good project. "Umar kept on
urging me to accept his proposal till Allah opened my
chest for it and I began to realize the good in the idea
which 'Umar had realized." Then Abu Bakr said (to me).
'You are a wise young man and we do not have any
suspicion about you, and you used to write the Divine
Inspiration for Allah's Apostle. So you should search
for (the fragmentary scripts of) the Qur'an and collect
it in one book)." By Allah If they had ordered me to
shift one of the mountains, it would not have been
heavier for me than this ordering me to collect the
Qur'an. Then I said to Abu Bakr, "How will you do
something which Allah's Apostle did not do?" Abu Bakr
replied, "By Allah, it is a good project." Abu Bakr kept
on urging me to accept his idea until Allah opened my
chest for what He had opened the chests of Abu Bakr and
'Umar. So I started looking for the Qur'an and
collecting it from (what was written on) palmed stalks,
thin white stones and also from the men who knew it by
heart,
Al-Bukhari
who died in A.D. 870, collected hadiths regarding
Mohammad and Islam, his collection is the most respected
of the Hadiths in the Muslim world, despite this fact,
many
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Islam’s first five leaders |
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Mohammad (A.D. 610-632) |
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Abu Bakr (632-634) |
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Umar ibn al-Khattāb (634-644) |
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Uthman ibn Affan (644-656) |
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Alī ibn Abī
Ṭālib
(656-661) |
Muslims
still hold to the Muslim orthodox theory that the Quran
was arranged in the current form under the direction of
Gabriel and Mohammad.
The Quran(s) collected and burned
The
work of Zaid bin Thabit was not complete because,
several years later during the reign of the third Caliph
Uthman (644-656), in the Muslim campaign against Armenia
a dispute broke out between the various Muslim groups.
Narrated Anas bin Malik:
Hudhaifa bin Al-Yaman came to Uthman at the time when
the people of Sham and the people of Iraq were Waging
war to conquer Arminya and Adharbijan. Hudhaifa was
afraid of their (the people of Sham and Iraq)
differences in the recitation of the Qur'an, so he said
to 'Uthman, "O chief of the Believers! Save this nation
before they differ about the Book (Quran) as Jews and
the Christians did before." So 'Uthman sent a message to
Hafsa saying, "Send us the manuscripts of the Qur'an so
that we may compile the Qur'anic materials in perfect
copies and return the manuscripts to you." Hafsa sent it
to 'Uthman. 'Uthman then ordered Zaid bin Thabit,
'Abdullah bin AzZubair, Said bin Al-As and 'AbdurRahman
bin Harith bin Hisham to rewrite the manuscripts in
perfect copies. 'Uthman said to the three Quraishi men,
"In case you disagree with Zaid bin Thabit on any point
in the Qur'an, then write it in the dialect of Quraish,
the Qur'an was revealed in their tongue." They did so,
and when they had written many copies, 'Uthman returned
the original manuscripts to Hafsa. 'Uthman sent to every
Muslim province one copy of what they had copied, and
ordered that all the other Qur'anic materials, whether
written in fragmentary manuscripts or whole copies, be
burnt. Said bin Thabit added, "A Verse from Surat Ahzab
was missed by me when we copied the Qur'an and I used to
hear Allah's Apostle reciting it. So we searched for it
and found it with Khuzaima bin Thabit Al-Ansari. (That
Verse was): 'Among the Believers are men who have been
true in their covenant with Allah.' (33.23)
The
point here is important, the Quran by the time of the
third Caliph, already had variations in the text, which
required immediate repair. Therefore, all the copies of
the Quran throughout the Muslim empire were collected,
burned and replaced with a standardized version of the
Quran. This demonstrates point demonstrates not all
Qurans were the same, there was a point in time when the
various Qurans were different.
The
current version of the Arabic Quran, is the Quran
distributed by Uthman, to the various parts of the
Muslim world, after the earlier versions were collected
and burned.
Themes in the Quran
When
reading the Quran, it helps to understand the Surah’s
period of the “revelation”, because this period is
related to the content. The German scholar, Theodore
Noldeke (1860) wrote A History of the Quran,
where he placed the Surahs in their chronological order,
based on their content and historical background. The
periods have been divided into four distinct era’s in
Mohammad’s “calling”.
The
Meccan period from (A.D. 610 to 622) is divided into
three periods; early, middle and late. Only the fourth
period, the Medina period is certain with many of the
Surahs.
Early Meccan
These
Surah tend to be shorter, Mohammad at first did not
attack the Idol worshipers, Mohammad is manly a “Warner”
to the people of Mecca. He describes to them the
destiny of the lost in Hell and the pleasures of
paradise. Mohammad had particular problems with the
wealthy Meccans who rejected his message, and mocked him
as messenger.
Surah 104. Al-Humaza
1. Woe unto every
slandering traducer,
2. Who hath gathered
wealth (of this world) and arranged it.
3. He thinketh that his
wealth will render him immortal.
4. Nay, but verily he
will be flung to the Consuming One.
5. Ah, what will convey
unto thee what the Consuming One is!
6. (It is) the fire of
Allah, kindled,
7. Which leapeth up over
the hearts (of men).
8. Lo! it is closed in on
them
9. In outstretched
columns.
Middle/Late Meccan
After a
period, as Mohammad faced greater opposition, he became
more argumentative and his surahs became longer and
more detailed in content. Biblical characters from the
Old and New Testament, appear which mirror his
rejection. Mohammad associated his suffering and
rejection in Mecca, as a sign of prophet, similar the
biblical prophets, who also suffered rejection.
Surah 17. Al-Israa (Bani Israel) (111 Verses)
1. Glorified be He Who
carried His servant by night from the Inviolable Place
of Worship to the Far Distant Place ofWorship the
neighbourhood whereof We have blessed, that We might
show him of Our tokens! Lo! He, only He, is the Nearer,
the Seer.
2. We gave unto Moses the
Scripture, and We appointed it a guidance for the
Children of Israel, saying: Choose no guardian beside
Me.
3. (They were) the seed
of those whom We carried (in the ship) along with Noah.
Lo! he was a grateful slave.
4. And We decreed for the
Children of Israel in the scripture: Ye verily will work
corruption in the earth twice, andye will become great
tyrants.
Medina (622-630)
In
September of 622, Mohammad arrives in Medina, where his
surah’s take on a much different tone, he becomes the
head of an Islamic state. He is to be obeyed, and
respected, he is no longer just a “Warner”, he is now
Allah’s representative on earth.
Surah 9. At-Tauba
1. Freedom from
obligation (is proclaimed) from Allah and His messenger
toward those of the idolaters with whom
ye made a treaty:
2. Travel freely in the
land four months, and know that ye cannot escape Allah
and that Allah will confound the
disbelievers (in His
guidance).
3. And a proclamation
from Allah and His messenger to all men on the day of
the Greater Pilgrimage that Allah is free
from obligation to the
idolaters, and (so is) His messenger. So, if ye repent,
it will be better for you; but if ye are
averse, then know that ye
cannot escape Allah. Give tidings (O Muhammad) of a
painful doom to those who disbelieve.
Another
clear characteristic of the Medina surahs is the
increasing antagonism between the Jews of Medina and
Mohammad. The Jews reject Mohammad’s claim of prophet,
they are seen as allies of the pagans of Mecca, who work
against Mohammad, and therefore against Allah.
Surah 4. An-Nisaa (177 Verses)
46. Some of those who are
Jews change words from their context and say: "We hear
and disobey; hear thou as one who heareth not" and
"Listen to us!" distorting with their tongues and
slandering religion. If they had said: "We hear and we
obey; hear thou, and look at us" it had been better for
them, and more upright. But Allah hath cursed them for
their disbelief, so they believe not, save a few. 47.
O ye unto whom the Scripture hath been given! Believe in
what We have revealed concerning that which ye possess,
before We destroy countenances so as to confound them,
or curse them as We cursed the Sabbath breakers (of old
time). The commandment of Allah is always executed.
Surah 4: 46-47
Marmaduke
Pickthall, The Meanings of the Holy Quran,
English translation surah 2
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