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قQuranicpediaEncyclopedia of the Glorious Qur’an

Quran الْقُرْآن

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The central religious scripture of Islam, believed by Muslims to be the verbatim, uncreated word of Allah revealed to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in Arabic over twenty-three years (610–632 CE) and preserved unchanged.

Overview

The Quran (Arabic: الْقُرْآن) is the central religious scripture of Islam. Muslims hold it to be the verbatim word of Allah revealed in Arabic to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ through the angel Jibril over twenty-three years, beginning in the Cave of Hira outside Mecca in 610 CE and ending shortly before the Prophet's death in Medina in 632 CE. Its text is divided into 114 chapters (suras) of varying length, comprising 6,236 verses (ayat) by the most widely-followed counting (the Kufan tradition).

Among the central claims Muslims make about the Quran is that it has been preserved unchanged since its revelation — Allah's promise in Surah Al-Hijr 15:9: "Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder, and indeed We will be its guardian." The text has been transmitted in parallel through written copies (the mushaf tradition) and through continuous oral memorisation by communities of memorisers (huffaz) in every generation since the Companions. The science of preservation, called tajwid for recitation rules and qira'at for the canonical readings, is a continuous discipline.

The Quran is the primary source of Islamic doctrine, law, ethics, and worship; the second source is the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, preserved in the hadith literature. It is recited daily in prayer and is the basis of all classical Islamic scholarship — tafsir (exegesis), fiqh (jurisprudence), aqidah (theology), and akhlaq (ethics). Surah Al-Fatihah, recited in every unit of every prayer, is the most-recited passage of any text in human practice.

Etymology and names

The word Qurʾān derives from the Arabic root q-r-ʾ ("to read, to recite"), giving the verbal noun sense "the Recitation". The Quran refers to itself by many names, each highlighting a distinct dimension:

  • al-Qurʾān — "the Recitation" (e.g., 17:9, 17:78)
  • al-Kitāb — "the Book" (e.g., 2:2)
  • al-Furqān — "the Criterion" between truth and falsehood (25:1)
  • adh-Dhikr — "the Reminder" (15:9, 16:44)
  • at-Tanzīl — "that which is sent down" (26:192)
  • al-Hudā — "the Guidance" (2:2, 2:185)
  • an-Nūr — "the Light" (4:174)
  • ash-Shifāʾ — "the Healing" (17:82, 41:44)

Revelation history

The classical scholarly account, drawn from authentic hadith and the foundational works of Quranic sciences (ʿulūm al-Qurʾān) by al-Zarkashi (al-Burhan) and al-Suyuti (al-Itqan), distinguishes two stages of revelation: a single descent from the Lawh al-Mahfūz (the Preserved Tablet) to the lowest heaven (Bayt al-ʿIzzah) on the Night of Decree (Laylat al-Qadr) — Surah Al-Qadr 97:1 — and a piecemeal revelation from the lowest heaven through Jibril to the Prophet ﷺ across twenty-three years.

The piecemeal revelation responded to events, questions, and gradual moral and legal formation:

  • Meccan period (610–622 CE) — short, rhythmic suras emphasising tawhid, the Resurrection, the Day of Judgement, and prophetic narratives. Examples include Al-Alaq, Al-Muddaththir, Al-Fatihah, Al-Ikhlas, Ya-Sin.
  • Medinan period (622–632 CE) — longer suras with detailed legal, social, and military rulings, including Al-Baqarah, Aal Imran, An-Nisa, Al-Maidah, At-Tawbah.

The first revealed verses are Surah Al-Alaq 96:1–5: "Read in the name of your Lord who created…" (Sahih al-Bukhari 3; Sahih Muslim 160). The last verse is debated; the most widely-accepted view, attributed to Ibn Abbas, is Surah Al-Baqarah 2:281: "And fear a Day when you will be returned to Allah." Surah Al-Maidah 5:3 — "This day I have perfected for you your religion" — was revealed on the Day of Arafat during the Farewell Pilgrimage.

Structure

The Quran is organised into 114 surahs, ordered roughly from longest to shortest after the seven-verse Al-Fatihah ("the Opening"). Each surah is composed of verses called ayat ("signs"). For recitation purposes the text is also divided into:

  • 30 juzʾ (parts) of approximately equal length, used for monthly completion in Ramadan
  • 60 ḥizb (halves of a juz)
  • 240 rubʿ (quarters of a hizb)
  • 7 manzil for weekly completion

Each surah other than At-Tawbah opens with the formula Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim ("In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate"). Twenty-nine surahs begin with disconnected letters (al-ḥurūf al-muqaṭṭaʿāt) such as Alif Lām Mīm, the meaning of which the classical scholars have left to Allah's knowledge while offering numerous interpretations.

Surah Al-Fatihah in Arabic

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ۝ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ ۝ مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ ۝ إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ ۝ اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ۝ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ

Compilation and preservation

During the Prophet's lifetime, revelations were both memorised by the Companions and recorded in writing on parchment, palm-stalks, leather, bone, and stone fragments by designated scribes including Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Zayd ibn Thabit, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and others. The Prophet ﷺ would direct the placement of each verse within its surah, and would review what had been revealed with Jibril each Ramadan — twice in the final year (Sahih al-Bukhari 4998).

The compilation of the Quran into a single bound codex proceeded in two stages:

  • Abu Bakr's compilation (11–13 AH) — after the Battle of Yamamah, in which many memorisers of the Quran were killed, Umar urged the caliph Abu Bakr to commission a written collation. Zayd ibn Thabit assembled it, accepting only material attested by both written record and oral memorisation, with two witnesses for each verse (Sahih al-Bukhari 4986). The compiled Suḥuf was kept by Abu Bakr, then Umar, then Umar's daughter Hafsah.
  • Uthman's standardisation (c. 25 AH / 645 CE) — as Islam spread, regional variations in the seven aḥruf (modes) of recitation began to cause disputes. Caliph Uthman commissioned a unified codex from Hafsah's manuscript, copies of which were sent to the major centres (Medina, Mecca, Kufa, Basra, Damascus); divergent manuscripts were retired (Sahih al-Bukhari 4987).

Within the standard Uthmanic rasm (consonantal skeleton), ten canonical readings (qirāʾāt) have been transmitted by mass-transmission (tawātur); the most widespread today is the reading of Ḥafṣ ʿan ʿĀṣim, used in most printed editions, with the reading of Warsh ʿan Nāfiʿ common in West and North Africa.

Quranic self-reference

  • Surah Al-Hijr 15:9 — "Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder, and indeed We will be its guardian." The promise of preservation.
  • Surah Al-Baqarah 2:2 — "This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah."
  • Surah Al-Baqarah 2:23 — "And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our servant, then produce a sura the like of it." The challenge of inimitability.
  • Surah An-Nahl 16:89 — "And We have sent down to you the Book as clarification for all things and as guidance and mercy."
  • Surah Al-Isra 17:88 — "Say: If mankind and the jinn gathered to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like of it."
  • Surah Al-Qadr 97:1 — "Indeed, We sent it down during the Night of Decree."
  • Surah Al-Furqan 25:32 — "And those who disbelieve say: Why was the Quran not revealed to him all at once? Thus it is, that We may strengthen thereby your heart, and We have arranged it in measured sequence." On staged revelation.
  • Surah Yunus 10:37 — "And it was not [possible] for this Quran to be produced by other than Allah, but [it is] a confirmation of what was before it."
  • Surah Al-Maidah 5:3 — "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour upon you." The verse of completion.

Hadith on the virtue of the Quran

Uthman ibn Affan reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "The best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it." — Sahih al-Bukhari 5027
Aishah reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "The one who recites the Quran proficiently is with the noble, virtuous angels; and the one who recites it stumblingly with difficulty has two rewards." — Sahih al-Bukhari 4937; Sahih Muslim 798
Abu Huraira reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever recites a single letter of the Quran will receive a reward, and the reward is multiplied by ten. I do not say that Alif-Lām-Mīm is a single letter, rather Alif is a letter, Lām is a letter, and Mīm is a letter." — Jami at-Tirmidhi 2910 (graded Sahih by al-Albani)
Abu Huraira reported the Prophet ﷺ said: "By the One in whose hand is my soul, Surah Al-Ikhlas is equal to one third of the Quran." — Sahih al-Bukhari 5013

Major themes

Exegesis and translation

The science of tafsir (exegesis) developed early. Foundational classical commentaries include Tafsir al-Tabari (d. 310 AH), Tafsir Ibn Kathir (d. 774 AH), Tafsir al-Qurtubi, and Tafsir al-Baghawi; representative modern works include Maʿarif al-Quran by Mufti Shafiʿ Usmani, Tafhim al-Quran by Sayyid Abul Aʿla Mawdudi, and the linguistically-oriented al-Tahrir wa-al-Tanwir by Ibn Ashur.

The Quran has been translated into nearly every major language. Translations are not considered the Quran itself in the technical sense — the Arabic text is the only Quran, and translation is regarded as tafsir in another language. Widely-used English translations include those of Pickthall (1930), Yusuf Ali (1934), Saheeh International (1997, the project default), Muhammad Asad (1980), Abdel Haleem (Oxford, 2004), and the Clear Quran by Mustafa Khattab (2015).

Significance

The Quran is the most central object in Muslim devotional life. It is recited in every prayer (Surah Al-Fatihah is repeated at least seventeen times across the five daily prayers), studied throughout life — children traditionally begin memorising in early childhood — and traditionally completed (khatm) in Ramadan. Memorising the entire Quran (becoming a ḥafiẓ) is a respected scholarly distinction. The Quran is the source from which every Islamic discipline begins, including jurisprudence, theology, ethics, and Arabic linguistics — the latter often using the Quran as the gold standard of the language.

See also

References

  1. The Quran (Sahih International translation): Surahs Al-Fatihah; Al-Baqarah 2:2, 2:23, 2:281; Al-Hijr 15:9; An-Nahl 16:44, 16:89; Al-Isra 17:9, 17:78, 17:82, 17:88; Al-Mu'minun 23:12–14; Al-Furqan 25:1, 25:32; Ash-Shu'ara 26:192; Fussilat 41:44; An-Nisa 4:174; Al-Maidah 5:3; Al-Qadr 97:1; Yunus 10:37; Al-Alaq 96:1–5.
  2. Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith nos. 3, 4986, 4987, 4998, 5013, 5027, 4937. Trans. M. Muhsin Khan.
  3. Sahih Muslim, hadith nos. 160, 798. Trans. Abdul Hamid Siddiqui.
  4. al-Suyuti, al-Itqan fi ʿUlum al-Qurʾan, ed. Muhammad Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim (Maktabat Dar al-Turath, Cairo).
  5. al-Zarkashi, al-Burhan fi ʿUlum al-Qurʾan, ed. Muhammad Abu al-Fadl Ibrahim (Dar al-Maʿrifah, Beirut).
  6. Ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qurʾan al-ʿAzim, ed. Sami al-Salama (Dar al-Tayyibah, 1999).
  7. al-Tabari, Jamiʿ al-Bayan ʿan Taʾwil ay al-Qurʾan, ed. Ahmad Shakir (Muʾassasat al-Risalah).
  8. M. M. al-A'zami, The History of the Quranic Text from Revelation to Compilation (UK Islamic Academy, 2003).
  9. Yasin Dutton, The Origins of Islamic Law: The Qurʾan, the Muwattaʾ, and Madinan ʿAmal (Curzon Press, 1999).