“The Holy Qur’an: A Beginner’s Look”
by Rakibul Islam
Christianity has the Bible. Judaism has the Torah. Islam has the Holy Qur’an, our answer to the main texts of the other two monotheistic religions. As one of the three religions “of the book,” Muslims learn everything about Islam and its laws and customs from the Qur’an, which we believe was sent down from the heavens to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) in the lunar Islamic month of Ramadan. Although I cannot claim to know much about the Bible or the Torah, I have picked up enough small things over the years to get a basic idea of each text’s structure, and specifically how the Qur’an compares to the texts of its monotheistic brothers. There are more similarities than one would think, but as one can probably guess, there are a lot of differences. The following are some facts about the Qur’an:
- The Qur’an has basis on the Bible and Torah: What may surprise a lot of people is that the Qur’an is a descendant of the other two major texts. Muslims believe that major Judaic and Christian persons such as Abraham, Moses, Noah, and Jesus are prophets of Islam and were spreading the message of our God, Allah (Subhana-Wa-Ta’alla). Of course, we know them by different names (Prophets Ibrahim, Moosa, Nuh, and Isa, respectively). However, the messages they had were incomplete, and so were their texts, the Torah and Bible. The Qur’an was the full and complete text of Allah (SWT), and added major parts to the Torah and Bible. That explains why the Qur’an was the last text to arrive in the world, since it was “based” on the other two monotheistic texts.
- There are 114 Surah, or chapters: The Qur’an is divided into 114 Surah, each covering a different topic. Some are very long and stretch over many pages, while others are just a couple of Ayah, or verses/sentences, long. The longest Surah is Al-Baqara (The Cow), which is the 2nd Surah in the Qur’an. At 286 Ayah, it is 80 Ayah longer than the next-largest Surah. The shortest is An-Nasr (The Help), the 110th Surah, which is just 3 Ayah long. The Surah cover multiple topics in Islam, everything from Man (Al-Insan) and resurrection (Al-Qiyamah) to earthquakes (Az-Zalzalah) and the Romans (Ar-Rum). Showing that it is indeed a descendant of the Torah and the Bible, the Qur’an has Surah on Abraham (Al-Ibrahim), Noah (Al-Nuh), and Jonah (Al-Yunus), among others.
- The first Surah of the Qur’an was not the first Surah revealed: Another surprising fact is that when Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) received the Qur’an from the heavens, he did not receive the opening Surah, Al-Fateha (literally, The Opening), first. On that day during Ramadan (it was never revealed exactly what day that was), the first Surah he received was Al-Alaq (The Clot). The first word of this Surah, in English, is “Proclaim!” or “Read!” The sentence reads “Proclaim/read in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher.” Since Allah (SWT) wanted Muhammad (PBUH) to hear him, He used the 96th Surah to call out to his contact on Earth. The rest of the Surah came in a random order, and had to be reassembled by Muhammad (PBUH) into the correct text of the Qur’an.
- Some “random” Surah are among the most important: Obviously every
Surah in the Qur’an is very valuable and should be read, but there
are some Surah that are very important and are frequently memorized
by Muslims. One is Ar-Rahman (The Most Beneficent), the 55th Surah.
This one describes the different things Allah (SWT) does for the people
on Earth: what He created, what He can do, His benevolence, His ability
to destroy, etc. Repeated throughout this Surah is the notable Ayah,
which reads, “Then which of the favors of the Lord will you deny?”
Another important Surah is Ya-Sin, the 36th Surah, which describes
what could happen if mankind falls to sin and follows Satan. While
these are over 50 Ayah long, another important Surah is just 4 Ayah
long and can be read in just a few seconds. This is Al-Ikhlas (The
Purity), the 112th Surah, which basically says that Allah (SWT) is
the one and only God, and is unique. While very simple, it has been
decreed that reading Al-Ikhlas three times is equivalent to reading
the entire Qur’an once, simply because of the power of its message.
The Qur’an is a unique and powerful text that describes everything about Islam. It is meant to be read only in its native language of Arabic, and every Muslim attempts to read the text in that form at least once. While it has been translated into many different languages, including English, these are meant to only help in understanding the meaning of the Qur’an, and cannot be used for actual reading and recitation. Many people, both of the Islamic faith and of other faiths, have read and studied the Holy Qur’an, and it continues to be one of the most important books in the world.
