What are some facts about the Quran?

·         The term Qur’an itself means recitation.

·         The revelations were recorded and written down on tablets and bones by scribes over a span of 23 years of prophet Muhammad's life.

·         Abu Bakr, prophet Muhammad's caliph or successor, collected the written text of the Qur'an after prophet's death in 632 C.E.

·         'Uthman, the third caliph, was the first to organize a committee to compile an authorized version of the scripture.

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The picture above shows a photocopy of the oldest Quran (1400 years old) preserved in Istanbul.

·         The version has remained same and never a word has been deleted or added.

·         The Qur’an is believed to be "the word of God", exactly as it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad

·         The Qur'an is written in the form of Arabic poetry

·         The Qur'an has a very specific organization. Its chapters are organized by length, starting with the longest ones, except for the opening chapter, the Sura Al-Fatiha.

·         The chapters are not in chronological order.

·         The chapters in Quran can have as little as three ayahs to as many as over 200 ayahs.

·         The Qur'an contains literary structures and devices in order for the verses and chapters to read like a poem.

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·         Surah Rehman is highly artistic and most sublime surah of the Qur An, and the refrain "then which of the favors of your lord will ye deny?" is interspersed 31 times among its 78 verses. In the Surah, the special theme is indicated by the refrain. The rhyme in most cases is in the Dual grammatical form, and the argument implies that though the things are created in pairs, there is an underlying unity, through the creator, in the favors which he bestows, and in the goal to which they are marching.

·         Quran has deeper impact on learners and has unique grammatical characteristics.

Michael Sells, a contemporary exegete of the Qur’an, mentions that the, “First revelations to Muhammad expressed vital existential themes in a language of great lyricism and beauty.” He says, “As the students learn these surahs, they are not simply learning something by rote, but rather interiorising the inner rhythms, sound patterns and textual dynamics-taking it to heart in the deepest manner (Sells, 2005, p. 11). The proclamatory aspect of the early Meccan passages, the strange vocabulary, the semantic gaps and the cosmic perspective establish a distance between text and audience”. However, he further says that, “within the elusive discourse of sound figures that distance is both enhanced and overcome”. (2005, p.28).

·         The Arabic grammarians consider the Qur'an to be a genre unique unto itself, neither poetry (defined as speech with metre and rhyme) nor prose (defined as normal speech or rhymed but non-metrical speech)(Qur’an Encyclopaedia, 2010).

 

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·         Quran has a few words that does not have any meaning. These words are known as Muqatta'at (Arabic: مقطعات‎) meaning abbreviated or shortened. Intense research and academic discussions in Islamic literature and Qur'anic studies still continues to decipher the meaning of these abbreviations.

Muqatta'at are unique letter combinations that appear in the beginning of 29 suras (chapters) of the Qur'an. Muqatta'atliterally means abbreviated or shortened. Their meanings remain unclear and are considered by most Muslims to be divine secrets.

A few examples of Muqatta'at:

Alif Lam Mim (الم) Sura Al Baqarah, SuraAs-Sajda, etc.

Alif Lam Ra (الر) Sura Yunus and Surah Hud

Alif Lam Mim Ra (المر) Sura Ar Raa'd

Kaaf Ha Ya Ain Saad (كهيعص) Sura Maryam

Ya Seen (يس) Sura Ya Seen

Ha Mim (حم) Sura Ha Mim Sajda

Of the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet, exactly one half appear as muqatta'at, either singly or in combinations of two, three, four or five letters. The fourteen letters are: أ ح ر س ص ط ع ق ك ل م ن ه ي (alif, ha, ra, sin, sad, ta, ain, qaf, kaf, lam, mim, nun, ha, ya).

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqatta'at

·         The Qur'an has been translated into many languages. However, Muslims are encouraged to read and recite the Holy Book in Arabic, original language.

·         Majority of Muslims don't support translations of the Qur'an, because of the danger of misinterpretation.

·         Many Arabic words used in Quran have several meanings in other languages depending on the word's context.

·         Non-Arab Muslims learn to recite the Qur'an in Arabic sometimes not knowing what the words fully mean.

·         Even it is hard for Arab speaking men to fully understand the Qur'an.

·         The Qur'an contains beliefs similar to the ones of the Old Testament in the Holy Bible and the Torah.

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·         Undoubtedly, according to Quran, Allah, God, is the one.

·         All-Powerful that created humans and animals and sends messages through prophets to guide humankind.

·         Although Jesus is the son of Mary, according to the Qur'an, he was never crucified, but was taken alive to Heaven.

·         Allah is the One who created Jesus and Allah is the One who took him.

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·         Critics of the Qur'an has pointed out that Quran is harsh towards other religions. Many critics have changed their opinions later and other notable laureates has defended Quran. For example,

Karen Armstrong claims that there are "far more numerous passages in the Qur'an" which speak positively of the Jews and their great prophets, than those which were against the "rebellious Jewish tribes of Medina" (duringMuhammad's time).[102] Sayyid Abul Alabelieves the punishments were not meant for all Jews, and that they were only meant for the Jewish inhabitants that were sinning at the time.[102]

-Wikipedia

·         The Islamic religion has its own principles, but many relate to the Jewish and Christian religion.

·         The Qur’an serves as the basis for the Islamic legal system called the Shari'a.

·         Quran governs the believer's life.

·         The Qur'an is the principle book and guide for the Islamic religion.

·         It is believed that if nothing of the prophet's teaching remains Quran will still guide the mankind.