The History and Importance of the Qur'an

The revelation of the Qur'an (610–632)

Qur'an means "recitation" or "that which is read". Muslims believe it is the word of God, revealed through the angel Jibril (Gabriel) to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in Arabic, over about 23 years (610–632).

• First revelation (610). At the age of about 40, the Prophet (pbuh) was meditating in the cave of Hira on Mount Nur near Makka. The angel Jibril appeared and commanded him to "Read" (the opening verses of Sura 96, al-Alaq). He was frightened, and was comforted by his wife Khadijah and her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal. This night is remembered as Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Power) in Ramadan.
• Pause and continuation. There was then a short break (fatrah) before revelations continued. Early Makkan revelations are short and powerful verses on God's oneness, the Last Day and moral behaviour.
• Makkan and Madinan suras. In Makka (610–622) the verses stress faith, Tawhid, the Hereafter and patience. In Madina (622–632) they cover law, family, worship, community and relations with others. Makkan suras are mostly shorter, and Madinan suras longer.
• How it was revealed. Sometimes whole suras came at once, but more often verses came in response to events or questions. The Prophet (pbuh) recited each revelation to the Companions, who memorised it, and he told his scribes where it belonged.
• The last revelation. Revelation continued to the end of his life (632).

How revelation came

• Revelation was not under the Prophet's control. The Qur'an tells him not to hurry his tongue because God would gather and explain it (75:16–19).
• Companions saw signs of its coming: a heavy weight (once a camel could not carry him and a Companion felt his leg would be crushed), sweat on his forehead even on a cold day, and a sound like the ringing of a bell, which he said was the hardest kind. Sometimes the angel came in the shape of a man and spoke to him. He saw the angel in his true form only a few times, once at the Night Journey.
• Aishah and the scribe Zayd ibn Thabit both described these signs. After each revelation the Prophet had the scribe read back what he had written and corrected any mistake.
• The Prophet also told the scribes where each verse belonged. For this reason the arrangement of the suras is not the order of revelation.
• Permission to fight in defence came in Madina (2:190, about 624). The last revelation is said to be 5:3 ("This day I have perfected your religion for you"), at Arafat during the Farewell Pilgrimage.

Why was the Qur'an revealed in parts? To make it easier to carry and to remember (the Qur'an says a mountain would have split if it had been sent down all at once, 59:21), to strengthen the Prophet's heart (25:32), to answer questions and events as they arose, and to give Muslims time to understand and practise each teaching.

Why was it revealed by word, not as a written book? Arabia had a strong oral tradition, so memory was a trusted way of keeping it. The Prophet could not read or write, so he memorised it exactly, and many Companions memorised it too. This protected the text from change.

Structure. The Qur'an has 114 suras (chapters) of varying length, over 6,000 verses (ayat), and is divided into 30 parts (juz) for reading. Sura 1 (al-Fatiha) opens it, and the rest are arranged roughly from the longest to the shortest, not in the order of revelation.

The preservation of the Qur'an in the Prophet's lifetime

• Memory. The Qur'an was passed on first by memorisation: the Prophet (pbuh) and many Companions (called huffaz, singular hafiz) knew it by heart. Every Ramadan Jibril reviewed the Qur'an with the Prophet (pbuh), and in his last year they did so twice.
• Writing. The revelations were also written down by scribes such as Zayd ibn Thabit, Ali, Uthman, Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Mu'awiyah on palm leaves, flat stones, bones, pieces of leather and parchment.
• At his death the Qur'an was complete, memorised by many people, and written in separate pieces, but it was not yet gathered in one volume.

The compilation of the Qur'an under the Rightly Guided Caliphs

More detail on the compilations

• Abu Bakr's collection. Abu Bakr at first refused ("how can I do what the Prophet did not do?") until Umar convinced him. Zayd ibn Thabit was also reluctant and said that moving a mountain would have been easier. A group of Companions who knew the Qur'an by heart helped him. His method was to accept a verse only if it was written down and also confirmed from memory, backed by two witnesses who had heard it from the Prophet, and in the Quraysh dialect. Each sura was written on separate sheets (a mushaf, a name said to have come from Ibn Mas'ud).
• Uthman's copies. Zayd led a committee including Abdur Rahman ibn al-Harith, Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr and Sa'id ibn al-As. Where they differed on a word, the Quraysh dialect was followed. The finished text was read aloud in the Prophet's Mosque so that no one doubted it. Copies were sent with teachers to the chief cities, other versions were burned, and Uthman is called Jami' al-Qur'an ("the one who brought the Qur'an together").
• Why was Uthman right to burn the other copies? Some criticised it as destroying God's word, but his aim was to protect the text from mistakes and quarrels. A wrongly pronounced word in Arabic can change the meaning, and rival versions would have divided the community.
• Why is it important that the Qur'an is a book? There is one standard text, copies can be made without mistakes, parts cannot be lost, people can read it anywhere (including by printing and digital copies), and Muslims everywhere use the same words.
• Principles used by the compilers. They kept to the Quraysh dialect of the original revelation; they checked written copies against memory; and they placed the suras in the order the Prophet had approved, which is roughly from longest to shortest.

Later developments. Diacritical (dot) marks and vowel signs were added under later rulers so that non-Arab Muslims could read the Arabic accurately. The text of the words has not changed.

Why was compilation important? It protected the Qur'an from loss, gave Muslims one agreed text, ended disputes about reading, and preserved the base of Islamic law and belief for all later generations.

The Qur'an and its major themes

The Qur'an teaches about God (his oneness, mercy and justice), prophets and earlier books, the Last Day and judgement, worship (prayer, charity, fasting, pilgrimage), morality (honesty, justice, care for the poor, family life) and history lessons (stories of earlier nations). Chapter 1 covers the themes of the set passages in detail.

The Qur'an in legal thinking

The Qur'an is the first source of Islamic law (Shari'ah). It gives general principles and some specific rules (for example on prayer, inheritance, marriage, theft and interest). For matters it does not detail, scholars use three more sources:

Relationship between the sources. If a question can be answered directly from the Qur'an, the Qur'an is followed. If not, the Hadiths are used; if still unclear, ijma' or qiyas can be applied, but they must never contradict the Qur'an. Ijtihad is the effort of a qualified scholar to find a ruling.

The Qur'an as the first source of law

The Qur'an says it "guides to what is most upright" (17:9). It gives rules about worship, society, crime, trade, marriage, inheritance and food. Examples:

All the other sources get their authority from the Qur'an and never contradict it.

The Qur'an and the Hadiths in law

God commands Muslims to take what the Messenger gives them and refrain from what he forbids (59:7). The Prophet said that he had been given the Book "and something like it with it". The Hadiths explain, fill in and sometimes qualify the Qur'an. Five examples:

1. Zakat. The Qur'an orders zakat together with prayer (2:43) but does not give the amounts. A Hadith gives the minimum (nisab): nothing is due below five awqiyah of silver, five camels or five wasq of grain.
2. Theft. The Qur'an says to cut off the hands of thieves (5:38). The Prophet explained that it is the right hand, up to the wrist.
3. Fasting. The Qur'an says to eat and drink until the white thread is clear from the black thread of dawn (2:187). When Companions did not understand, the Prophet explained that it means the light of day against the darkness of night.
4. Interest. The Qur'an forbids interest (2:275). The Hadiths explain what counts, for example that exchanging goods or money must be done hand to hand.
5. Inheritance. The Qur'an tells people to leave a bequest to parents and relatives (2:180). A Hadith makes an exception: a Muslim does not inherit from a non-Muslim, nor the reverse.

The Prophet was the first interpreter of the Qur'an (tafsir). Muslims who obey the Prophet are also obeying God (4:80), for example when they pray as he prayed. The Hadiths in turn are the base for ijma' and qiyas, which are used only when they are silent.

Ijma' (consensus)

Meaning. Ijma' means "agreement". It is the agreement of the qualified scholars of the community on a new question, when neither the Qur'an nor the Sunnah gives a clear answer.

Basis. The Qur'an calls the community a justly balanced nation and the best of peoples because they enjoin good and forbid evil (2:143, 3:110). The Prophet said that "my community will never agree on an error", and told Muslims to gather the righteous and decide matters by their counsel.

Kinds. Agreement on beliefs held by all Muslims (for example that the Qur'an is the word of God), and agreement on legal rulings.

Who may give it? Scholars have differed: the Companions, the people of Madina, the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the scholars of any generation (the common Sunni view), and for Shi'a Muslims the Imams.

Examples.

• A grandfather inherits in place of a dead father when the grandson dies, although the Qur'an does not say so in these words.
• A man may not marry a grandmother or granddaughter, extending the Qur'an's list (4:23).
• The Prophet used consultation at Uhud and the Trench; after his death, the Companions agreed to collect the Qur'an, Umar arranged tarawih in congregation, and Uthman added a second call (adhan) on Fridays because Madina had grown.
• In modern times scholars have used ijma' on new matters such as IVF for married couples.

Qiyas (analogy)

Meaning. Qiyas means "measuring one thing against another". A ruling from the Qur'an, Sunnah or ijma' (the root, asl) is applied to a new case (far') because they share the same reason ('illah), giving a new ruling (hukm).

Basis. The hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal: sent as judge to Yemen, he said he would judge by the Qur'an, then by the Sunnah, and then use his own reasoned judgement. The Prophet approved. The scholar al-Shafi'i also pointed to the command to face the Ka'bah (2:150): a person who cannot see it must use reason to find the direction.

Examples.

The root must always come from the Qur'an, the Sunnah or ijma'. Qiyas cannot overrule them.

Why some scholars (especially Shi'a) reject it: it depends on personal opinion, different scholars may reach different answers, and it does not have the support of the community's agreement.

Why it matters today. New questions (smoking, drugs, the internet) can be answered without changing the revealed law, so the Qur'an and Sunnah do not become out of date.

The importance of the Qur'an

• It is the final and complete guidance from God and the basis of all thought and action in Islam.
• It is recited in every prayer and during Ramadan, and read for guidance and comfort.
• It shapes belief (Tawhid, prophethood, the Last Day), worship, law, morals and community life.
• It created a common language and sense of unity among Muslims, and led to the growth of learning (grammar, calligraphy, recitation and the study of its meaning).
• Muslims treat the book with great respect: they wash before touching it, and learn parts or all of it by heart.

Translation and interpretation

• Only the Arabic text is the Qur'an. A translation is treated as an explanation of the meaning, with no equal status. It is the Arabic that is recited in prayer.
• The best explanation (tafsir) of the Qur'an is the Qur'an itself (one verse explains another), then the Sunnah, then the sayings of the Companions and qualified scholars who know Arabic and the circumstances of revelation (asbab an-nuzul).
• The Qur'an itself warns (3:7) that some people will twist verses. A famous example is the "verse of the sword" (9:5), which people quote without its context: it concerns polytheists who broke their treaties, and the passage goes on to allow those who repent to go free. The Qur'an also says there is no compulsion in religion (2:256).
• Scholars sometimes differ over a passage. In Sura 108, al-Kawthar is understood as the abundance of blessings, the Qur'an, the river in paradise, or (by Shi'a Muslims) the Prophet's descendants through Fatimah.

Why the Qur'an is unique

The Qur'an confirms the earlier books (2:4, 5:48), but Muslims hold it unique because:

• It exists in its original form, and God promised to guard it (15:9).
• Its language, Arabic, is still spoken by millions.
• It is universal and addressed to all people for all time (39:2), unlike books sent to one people for a time.
• It is complete, covering belief, worship, law and morals (5:3).
• Its text and the circumstances of its revelation are historically recorded.

Hadith qudsi ("sacred hadith") is a report in which the Prophet relates what God said, in the Prophet's own words. It is not part of the Qur'an and is not recited in prayer. Examples: "My mercy overcomes My wrath" and "Pride is My cloak".

Why does the Qur'an stress knowledge? The first word is "Read", and the Qur'an says that God taught by the pen. People need knowledge to understand their duties to God and others and their own potential, so learning and teaching are acts of obedience.

Why is the Qur'an still relevant? Its guidance is universal (for example on honest trade), it links Muslims to God, and the pillars it commands also build responsibility and brotherhood.

Outline. Abu Bakr: after Yamama many huffaz died; Umar's suggestion; Zayd ibn Thabit collected the text, checked with two witnesses; pages kept with Abu Bakr, Umar, then Hafsah. Uthman: different readings in distant lands, Hudhayfah's warning; Zayd and a committee made standard copies in the Quraysh dialect and sent them to major cities; other copies were burned. Importance: one agreed text, unity, no disputes, and the preservation of the Qur'an as it was revealed.