THE QUR’AN
The Qur’an is the holy scripture
of the Islamic faith. According to the Qur’an, the word of God was first
revealed in the Torah to Moses, the Psalms to David, and the Gospels to Jesus.
However, Muslims believe that these books, on which Judaism and Christianity are
founded, have been corrupted. The Qur’an was then revealed to Muhammad to
correct the errors that were introduced into the original revelations from God.
Thus, it is the final revelation from God, given to Muhammad, the “seal of the
prophets.”
The Qur’an itself proclaims that its words are preserved on an eternal table in
heaven and are uncreated. Gabriel revealed the Qur’an in the Arabic language,
which is said to be the language of God. It is for this reason that many
non-Arabic-speaking Muslims memorize passages from the Qur’an in the original
Arabic for recitation during daily prayer. Many Muslims contend that any
translation of the Qur’an is not truly the Qur’an. Also, because it is considered
to be the exact word of God, any scholarly criticism of the Qur’an is unacceptable.
The first revelation Muhammad received was in 610 while he was meditating on Mount
Hira, just outside his native city of Mecca. The last revelation came in
622 in Medina, where Muhammad fled under persecution and spent the last years
of his life. The Qur’an is composed of 114 chapters, called suras, 6,616
verses (or ayas), and 77,934 words. The content of the Qur’an includes many
stories that are found in the Bible (though with some variations), some traditions
from Jewish and heretical Christian folklore, and instructions on day-to-day living
in the Islamic community.
Though the language of the Qur’an is said to be Arabic, the language of Allah,
there are several words and forms of names that are borrowed from other languages,
such as Harût, Marût, houry, and jinn from Persian; tabût and zakat from Syriac;
pharaoh from an Egyptian language; Azraeland torah from Hebrew; and Injil from
Greek.
There exist some historical inaccuracies in the Qur’an. One of the more
notable errors is found in the Qur’anic references to the lineage of Mary (Maryam).
According to the Qur’an, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was the sister of Aaron, Moses’
brother (19.28), and the daughter of Imran (3.35). It is recorded in Numbers
26:59 that the name of the wife of Amram (the Hebrew form of Imran) was Jochebed,
and she bore Aaron, Moses, and Maryam their sister. This account undoubtedly
describes the Mary to whom Muhammad made reference in Suras 19.28 and 3.35.
However, the Mary who was the mother of Jesus lived some 1570 years after the
one who was the daughter of Imran and the sister of Aaron and Moses.
Nevertheless, the words of the Qur’an that can today be heard from minarets around
the world have been chanted, unchanged, from the dawn of Islam. The holy
book that is reverenced by Muslims today has remained the same since the first
officially codified Qur’an. Until the caliphate of ‘Uthman, Islam’s third
Caliph, many of the revelations were preserved on various materials, including
palm leafs, animal skins and bone fragments. Those who were trained in the
art of memorization passed on much of the revelation orally. In order to
provide one approved version of the Qur’an, ‘Uthman ordered the gathering of all
known collections of revelations. Those determined to be reliable were retained
and all others were burned. Thus, the officially recognized Qur’an was codified
in 652, thirty years after the death of Muhammad.
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