A Brief Introduction to the Qur’an

◌ Technical (Islamic) meaning — In Islamic terminology, the Qur’an is the Divine Book that was revealed as the final link in the long chain of Divine scriptures. The first word with which its revelation began was “Iqra”, meaning “Read!”.

More than 1400 years have passed, and without a single day’s break, this Book has continued to be recited constantly. In the present age, not even a moment of any day or night passes without it being recited somewhere in the world.

At every moment on earth, prayer is being performed somewhere, and within the prayer, it is obligatory to recite some portion of the Qur’an—whether a verse, a passage, or a short or long chapter.

Likewise, Qur’an recitation (i.e., its reading/teaching and tilāwah) continues every moment somewhere.

Thus, this Book is the most widely “read/recited” text in the entire world.

◌ Introduction — The Divine Book, the Qur’an, began to be revealed through the angel Jibrīl (Gabriel) to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in a cave called Hirā on a mountain within the range of hills adjoining the city of Makkah in the Arabian Peninsula.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to stay there for many days and nights for devotion, reflection, and contemplation (tahannuth).

According to circumstances and needs, it continued to be revealed gradually throughout the Prophetic mission of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), until 31 May 632, eight days before his passing.

The total period of revelation is 7,959 days (21 years and 7 months in the solar calendar; 22 years and 5 months in the lunar calendar).

The language of the Qur’an is Arabic, which, even after fifteen centuries, remains highly developed, refined, rich, living, powerful, and possesses a modern style and grammar.

It contains 114 chapters (sūrahs), but its arrangement is not like human-authored books that are organized solely around a specific topic and a fixed title.

Rather, in most chapters, numerous subjects are addressed: commands and instructions, rules and laws, teachings, accounts of earlier nations, arguments in favor of monotheism and against polytheism, and powerful portrayals of Paradise and Hell.

Again and again it calls out to the human conscience, intellect, and reflective capacity, inviting humanity to pure monotheism. It presents a complete way of life that beautifully integrates and balances the two inseparable dimensions of the human personality—spirituality and material life—and urges people to accept and adopt it.

The Qur’an contains a total of 6,233 verses (sentences).

The 30 letters of the Arabic alphabet occur 381,278 times. Zer (the “i” vowel mark) occurs 39,582 times, zabar (the “a” vowel mark) 53,242 times, pesh (the “u” vowel mark) 8,804 times, madd (double or triple “ā” elongation marks) 1,771 times, tashdīd (the sign for a doubled consonant) 1,252 times, and dots (nuqṭe) are 105,684 in number.

“In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.” For ease of recitation, study, and memorization, the whole Book has been divided into 30 parts, and each part has been given a name.

Each part is called a “Pārah (Part).”

◌ Revelation — The Noble Qur’an was revealed upon the heart of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) as Divine Speech, in the form of wahy (Divine Revelation). This revelation began on 17 August 610 CE.

Whenever any portion was revealed to him, his condition would change: sometimes he would perspire heavily; sometimes his weight would feel increased—so much so that if he were on a mount (a she-camel), it would appear as though it was being pressed down by a great burden, and often the she-camel would sit down.

When the revelation ended, both he and the mount would return to their normal state.

◌ Writing — The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) himself was not literate. Whatever portion of the Qur’an was revealed would, by a special Divine arrangement, become memorized by him [Sūrah Al-Qiyāmah (75), verses 17–19].

He would then immediately—or as soon as possible—dictate it to his companions and have it written down. Historically, the number of such scribes (writers of revelation) is recorded as 41.

Their names, their fathers’ names, and their tribes (lineages/clans) are also preserved in historical records.

◌ Compilation — The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) would also instruct the scribes at once: place this verse/portion (according to the Divinely guided order) after or before such-and-such verse/portion.

In this way, the entire Qur’an was arranged and compiled in the Divinely intended order within the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Finally, the angel Jibrīl (Gabriel) recited the entire Qur’an to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) recited it to Jibrīl.

Thus, after passing through this special process and purpose of a “final review,” and under Divine approval, the Qur’an became prepared—at the highest standard of authenticity and reliability—for the eternal guidance of humankind.

◌ Preservation — Since the Qur’an was meant to guide all humanity for as long as the world remains, and it also had to be ensured that the Divine Speech would be fully protected—so that not a single word could be reduced or added, and no human speech could be mixed into it, no external interference, alteration, or modification could occur—several special measures were made for its preservation at both the Divine level and the human level:

One: Because human interference had already caused many additions and omissions in earlier scriptures, Allah took the responsibility of preserving the Qur’an upon Himself.

The Qur’an itself states:

“Indeed, We have sent down the Reminder, and indeed, We will surely guard it.”

(Sūrah Al-Ḥijr 15, verse 9)

Allah made the following arrangements for this:

Two:

At the primary level, Allah caused the Prophet to memorize the entire Book, and this was also affirmed in the Qur’an

(Sūrah 75, verses 17–19).

Three:

Many companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) memorized the Qur’an completely and with full accuracy

Four: The work of compiling the Qur’an was completed within the lifetime of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

Five: After the Prophet’s passing (632 CE), during the rule of his first two successors (the caliphs Abū Bakr and ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with them) in the period 632–644 CE, under their personal supervision, all written materials from the scribes were cross-checked with one another and repeatedly verified against the reciters who had memorized the Qur’an, and then brought together in book form according to the order instructed by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

Later, during the rule of the third caliph ‘Uthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) in the period 644–656 CE, seven copies of this Book were prepared. One copy was sent as an official copy to various parts of the Islamic state (Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Armenia, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran).

Some of those original copies are still present today in museums in Tashkent, Istanbul, and other places.

Six: Allah commanded His Messenger, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and made it obligatory that in the five compulsory daily prayers, some portion of the Qur’an must be recited every day, throughout the twenty-four hours. In addition, it was also prescribed in voluntary prayers.

In the month of Ramadan, reciting and listening to the entire Qur’an in the night prayer (Tarāwīḥ) was established throughout the world as a “great act of virtue.

” Memorizing the entire Qur’an (or some chapters) was described as a “great virtuous deed,” and millions upon millions of people memorized the whole Book, while all Muslims across the world memorized at least some chapters.

(This has continued for more than 1400 years and will continue in the future as well.) In this way, the Qur’an was preserved in its original form (with complete purity, completeness, and reliability).

◌ Dissemination — Before the invention of printing presses, the practice of writing the Qur’an by hand became widely prevalent among Muslims worldwide, and the work of disseminating the Book continued.

People increasingly began to regard this as a great fortune of their lives. Since sculpture and painting are prohibited in Islam, the artistic inclination of Muslims became centered on the “art of writing” the Qur’an. Writing Qur’anic verses on buildings and mosques became common.

Then, after the invention of printing, thousands and millions of centers for printing and publishing the Qur’an were established.

Today, millions of copies of the Qur’an are printed daily across the world and are being distributed to the farthest corners of the earth through a vast global distribution system.

At present, the Qur’an is the only Divine Book in the world that is printed, published, distributed, gifted, purchased, read, and honored more than all other books and scriptures. In nearly 100% of Muslim homes, about 10% of non-Muslim homes, and about 60% of libraries, at least one copy of the Qur’an is present.

Along with this, the Qur’an has also been made available on many websites and on the internet in its original script.

◌ Translation and commentary — Since the Qur’an is pure Divine Speech, no human being can truly translate it, because human speech does not possess its full capacity and power.

However, since this Book is for the guidance of all humankind, and not everyone in the world can be proficient in the Qur’anic (Arabic) language, scholars and experts of Qur’anic Arabic translated the “meanings” of the Qur’an and wrote commentaries explaining its intended sense.

Such translations and commentaries have been produced in hundreds of languages worldwide, including Hindi, Urdu, and English.

In particular, they have been made available to the people of India in all major (regional) languages—such as Manipuri, Assamese, Bengali, Odia, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Gurmukhi, and others.

Along with this, translations of meanings and commentaries of the Qur’an are also available on websites in Hindi, English, and Urdu.

◌ The subject of the Qur’an — The primary subject of the Qur’an is “the human being and God”—that is, the reality of the human being, the reality of God, and the reality of the relationship between the human being and God.

The entire Qur’an is an explanation of these three realities.

Although the Qur’an discusses many subjects connected to numerous fields of knowledge and science, the fundamental purpose of these discussions is not to provide worldly education and information on those subjects in the manner of school textbooks.

Rather, the purpose is to enable humankind—through that knowledge and science—to recognize God and His Divine nature correctly.

As a result of recognizing, understanding, and firmly believing in this, a person also comes to recognize himself, his true reality, the purpose for which he was created, the real relationship between himself and God, his duties toward Him, the rights of God, and God’s greatness, power, and might.

He becomes far more capable and skilled at distinguishing between good and evil; right and wrong; virtue and sin; real benefit and real loss—far beyond what he could achieve merely through his limited intellect, the knowledge gained through his five senses, and his own personal experiences.

In the Qur’an, there is substantial discussion on subjects such as zoology, astronomy, botany, reproduction, anatomy, oceanology, ecology, geography, embryology, history, sociology, economics, humanities, the creation of the universe, and others.

This discussion is not gathered in one place like topic-based books; rather, it is spread throughout the Qur’an, appearing in different places and being mentioned repeatedly.

Through this—Proofs of Allah’s existence are presented.

In a careful and alert style, material is provided to build complete conviction in pure monotheism (absolute oneness of God).

A rational refutation is given of the idea of many gods—that is, the claim that “others” share in Allah’s power, authority, or ability. For this, arguments are drawn from human creation, the structure of the universe, and other fields of knowledge.

On the basis that only One God is the Creator, Lord, Master, and Sustainer, arguments are established that He alone deserves worship, and people are called to live a purely monotheistic life.

By narrating the histories of nations that denied Allah—rebellious, corrupt, and disobedient peoples—the Qur’an describes the worldly consequences they faced and the Divine punishment by which they were destroyed.

Humanity is warned that even if you achieve temporary material “progress” in construction and “civilization” while remaining arrogant toward God, your moral and spiritual collapse will one day ruin you.

Buildings will be demolished, settlements will be wiped out, entire cities will be overturned while inhabited, or sunk deep into the earth.

Allah gives people many chances and delays punishment, but walk through the earth and observe the ruins and the archaeological remains of buried cities brought out by excavations: …this respite is not granted forever, because endless respite would contradict Divine wisdom and justice.

On intellectual and scientific grounds, arguments are presented that giving human beings life and existence again with their earthly bodies (so that, in the Hereafter, their good and bad deeds may be accounted for and they may receive the reward of Paradise or the punishment of Hell) is very easy for Allah.

Even in this world, He continuously brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living. This power of His is widely known and universally recognized.