The Qur’an Lesson Objectives To understand how the Qur’an was revealed To understand why the Qur’an is important to Muslims

What you need to know? You need to remind yourself of how the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad, good to recap on First Revelation as well. You need to know the difference between Meccan and Medinan revelations. Meccan revelations contain lots of warnings in face of severe opposition. Revelations in Medina focused on the community aspect of Islam and catered towards a growing religion. Also revelations on war etc. You definitely need to be able to explain how the Qur’an was collected and compiled; history of Qur’anic compilation. Why is the Qur’an so important? How do Muslims use the Qur’an in their everyday lives?

The Qur’an The Qur’an is the heart of Islam. Muslims believe it to be the literal, uncreated word of God. It is inimitable & untranslatable, an object of veneration & the basis of human understanding of the universe & man’s place in it, says Islam

Quote from Albert C. Moore on its SIGNIFICANCE:- “The Qur’an is the one central miracle of Islam and this miracle of the Divine Word is actualised again and again, not in visual & material form but verbally in recitation……… Its phrases are repeated in cantillations at the mosque, in teaching and memorisation at the mosque school and in the prayers of believers. The book provides the basis for the study of Muslim theology & law. “

Not a new message The message the Qur'an brings is not new. Sura4vs163 says that its message is similar but not identical to earlier revelations. Sura 7vs59-93 tells of a series of prophets in almost identical words, all asserting that there is one God and being rejected.

What happened though? Sura 10vs37 states that the Qur'an is a confirmation (tasdiq) of earlier revelations and a fuller explanation of God's revelation, repeating the essentials of earlier messages. The message brought by Ibrahim had been corrupted by the Jews and Christians and now the Qur'an was restoring it in its pure form. This assertion was strengthened by the revelation that Ibrahim and Ismail (peace be upon them both) had established the sanctuary at Makkah and Ibrahim (pbuh) had prayed there for a community submissive to God and a messenger from among themselves (2vs ). Thus the Jews and Christians are accused of corrupting the message brought to them (20vs79-98, 4vs161).

Revelation From the first revelation on Mt Hira passages of the Qur'an were revealed to Muhammad (pbuh) at frequent intervals (except for one longer interval after the first revelation). Sometimes a revelation would be as short as 12 words. Muhammad (pbuh) began to collect the passages together in suras but the final arrangement was made during the reign of Uthman ( CE).

Revelation There were several different manners (kayfiyyat) of revelation: 1. direct revelation (wahy) 2. from behind a veil (hijab) 3. by a messenger 4.like a bell reverberating in Muhammad's (pbuh) head after which he understood what had been said. Qur'an 42vs51 and 26/ Whichever manner of revelation was used Muhammad (pbuh) always felt certain that he could distinguish between revelation and the product of his consciousness.

The written word… The Qur’an was revealed to the prophet over a period of 23 years. Revelations were memorised off by heart and then written down on materials such as dried out palm leaves, pieces of broken pottery, ribs and shoulder bones of sheep, pieces of leather and flat stones.

Memorised Muslims believe: “The Prophet recited every Year in the month of Ramadan, in the presence of the angel Gabriel (jibrial), the portion of the Quran till then revealed, and that in the last year of his life, Gabriel asked him to recite the whole of it twice. The Prophet concluded thereupon that he was going soon to depart this life.”

Arrangement It is arranged in chapters (suras) and verses (ayyas). The suras are arranged in roughly descending order of length and are usually named after some word of importance within the sura. A sura may discuss a number of different topics and any one topic may recur in several different suras. The Qur'an is written in two very different styles: short inspired passages (these are the older revelations) and longer more prosaic passages

Why Arabic? Muslims believe that Arabic is the sacred language of Islam and is the language that God chose to reveal his words to the people. Therefore Muslims memorize and recite the Qur’an in arabic whether they fully understand it or not. The text itself is viewed as perfect, eternal and unchangeable. The Qur’an is regarded as the only miracle brought by the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) if all men and jinns were to collaborate they could not produce its like (Sura 17.90)

Read Watton and answer the following questions: How was the Qur’an revealed to Muhammad? Describe the first revelation Why do Muslims insist that only someone who can read the Qur’an in Arabic can understand it? Why was Muhammed (pbuh) so overwhelmed by the first revelation?

Homework Using the internet research the difference between the Meccan and Medinan suras. Find a list of the two different suras Identify the key different features