Qur'an

The Qur'an (also Koran and Quran; from the Arabic, meaning “to read” or “to recite”) is the foremost sacred writing in Islam. According to Muslim belief, the Qur'an contains the words of Allah (God) as transmitted to the prophet Muhammad over a short span of time, from 610 to 632 CE (or BH 12 to AH 10, referring to the year of the Hegira, in which Muhammad went to Medina); it is Allah's final revelation to humanity. As such, the Qur'an cannot be changed or altered over time. The Qur'an consists of 114 chapters, called suras (singular, sura or surah), which are composed of 6,239 verses called ay at (singular, ay a)

The development of the Qur'an is intertwined with the life of Muhammad. He was born and raised in the city of Mecca (in present-day Saudi Arabia). In the early 600s, he began to leave the city periodically and go into the mountainous area surrounding Mecca to pray. In the year 610, while in a cave in Mt Hira, Muhammad heard the voice of an angel say “recite.” Muhammad protested. The command happened again, and again Muhammad [Page 1079]protested. At the third time the angel said, “Recite in the name of the Lord who created, created man from clots of blood! Recite: Your lord is the most generous, who teaches by the pen; teaches man what he knew not” (96:1–3).

Muslims consider this interaction the beginning of the Qur'an and refer to this incident as the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr), which is the holiest night of the year for Muslims. Over the next 22 years, Muhammad reported hearing the voice of the angel Gabriel (or another angel) relaying the word of Allah to him. He remembered these words and taught them to others. Most scholars believe Muhammad was illiterate, so some of the revelations were written down by other followers, and some revelations were memorized. Altogether, these revelations form the Qur'an.

Muslims celebrate the initial revelation each year during the month of Ramadan; this practice is mandated in the Qur'an (2:183–185). During this month, Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and sexual relations between sunrise and sunset.

The compilation of the Qur'an began after the death of Muhammad. The first Muslim leader after Muhammad, Caliph Abu Bakr, ordered that the Qur'an be compiled and recorded. The task involved collecting the various portions of the Qur'an that people had written down along with interviewing many who had memorized portions of Qur'an. Under the third Caliph, Uthman, the Qur'an was collected into one book.

The earthly Qur'an itself is believed to be a copy of the heavenly Qur'an. This is spoken of in 43:2–3: “We have revealed the Qur'an in the Arabic tongue that you may grasp its meaning. It is a transcript of our eternal book, sublime, and full of wisdom.” Muhammad is understood to have received the Qur'an piece by piece over a 22 year period.

To Muslims, therefore, the Qur'an is the word of Allah. (Some exceptions do occur. Sura 1 consists of a prayer of man, plus Muhammad or angels speak in several places throughout the Qur'an.) As such, the Qur'an should not be translated into another language without guidance; translation yields errors, because not all words in one language have a direct one-to-one correlated word in another language. If the Qur'an is to be translated, a commentary at the bottom of the page should be included along with the

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