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Facts about the Quran
By Begum A.B.Wakf
Islam is the
religion of God. It contains the code of life which Allah, the Creator and the
Lord of the universe, has revealed for the guidance of mankind.
For a proper reconstruction of Life on this planet man needs two kinds of
things, viz. (a) innumerable substances and resources to maintain life and
fulfill the material needs of the individual and the society: and (2) knowledge
of the principles of individual and social behaviour to maintain justice and
tranquility in society and culture. The Lord of the Universe has provided for
both these needs in full measure. To cater to the material needs of man He has
provided nature with all kinds of resources, which lie at the disposal of man,
who can make use of them as he likes. To provide for his spiritual, social and
cultural needs He raised His Prophets from among humankind and revealed to them
the code of life which can guide man's steps to the Right Path. The Qur'an is
the final Book of Divine Guidance, revealed by Allah through His Last Prophet,
Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Each and every word of this Book is from Allah, the Creator of the Universe.
BASIC FACTS ABOUT QUR'AN
Qur'an laterally means reading or recitation. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did not
receive the whole of it at one stretch. Revelations came to him in fragments
from time to time, covering a period of 23 years. As soon as he received a
revelation the Prophet used to communicate it to his companions and asked them
not only to learn it by heart, - in order to recite it during the prayers - but
also to write it down.
Though the Holy Qur'an was revealed piecemeal, yet the entire revelation is one
organic whole. It is the Word of God, revealed to the last of the Prophets,
Muhammad (pbuh) through the angel Gabriel.
Whenever there was a revelation, the Prophet got it inserted at its proper place
in the text revealed so far. There is indeed perfect evidence, internal as well
as external, that every single word or verse or part of a verse, and every
chapter that was revealed, has been put where it belonged, by the Prophet
himself under divine guidance. The arrangement of the Qur'an was thus a part of
the divine scheme. The Holy Qur'an itself says: "Surely on Us
devolves the collecting of it and the reciting of it" . The Holy Qur'an
thus existed in a complete and ordered form in the memories of numerous
companions in the life-time of the Noble Prophet, and had also been reduced to
writing on such materials as were available for writing purposes in those days.
The Holy Qur'an is divided into 114 chapters, each of which is called a Surah,
meaning literally "eminence" or "high degree". The chapters are of varying
length, the longest comprising one twelfth of the entire Book. All the chapters,
with the exception of the last thirty-five, are divided into sections (ruku),
each section dealing generally with one subject, and the different sections
being inter-related to each other. Each section contains a number of verses. The
total number of verses is 6,240.
Another important division of the Holy Qur'an relates to the Makki and Madani
surahs. The Noble Prophet, after he was raised to the status of prophethood,
lived at Mecca for thirteen years. Then he was forced to migrate to Madinah
where he spent the last ten years of his life. Those surahs of the Holy Qur'an
which were revealed before the Hijrah is called Makki Surahs and they are
ninety-two in number, whereas those revealed after the Hijrah are called Madani
Surahs and are twenty two in number. Again there are certain Makki verses in
Madani Surahs and vice versa.
The Qur'an is addressed to the entire humanity, transcending all barriers and
limitations of race, region or time. Further, it seeks to guide man in all walks
of life, spiritual, temporal, individual and collective. It contains directions
for the conduct of the head of state as well as a simple commoner, of the rich
as well as the poor, for peace as well as for war, for spiritual well-being as
for commercial and material prosperity.
The Qur'an seeks, primarily, to develop the personality of the individual and
then shape them into an ideal society, for ushering in an era when goodness and
virtue may flourish and evil and vice-be eliminated. It declares that every
human being will be personally responsible to his Creator. The method of the
Qur'an is that it not only gives commands, but also tries to educate the people
and convince them about the validity and usefulness of its injunctions. That is
why the 'illah' (undeclining reason) of a command is often given. It appeals to
the reason of man and invites him to exercise his own intellect in order to
understand himself, his station and purpose in life, his conduct with his
fellow-being and above all his relationship with his Sustainer.
The Qur'an adopts various ways and methods for enabling man to understand the
truth. It relates stories and parables and invokes the testimony of history to
show what the right course is, and what doomed the nations in the past. It
teaches man the Attributes of the Divine Being which are manifest from the 99
Names of the Almighty, such as, the One, the Creator, the Nourisher, the
Sustainer, the Powerful, the Just, the Merciful, etc., The Qur'an also points
out what the duties of man are with regard to God, to his fellow-beings and to
his own self. It lays stress on the fact that man has been created to fulfill
the wishes of his creator and lead his individual and collective life in
accordance with the instructions contained in the Holy Book and as taught by the
Noble Prophet (pbuh).
The Qur'an is a comprehensive code of life covering each and every aspect and
phase of human life. This Book of God lays down the best of rules relating to
social life, commerce and economics, marriage and inheritance, penal laws and
international conduct.
The diction and style of the Qur'an are magnificent and appropriate to its
Divine origin. Its recitation stirs the spirit and soars the imagination of even
those who are not so well-versed in the niceties of the Arabic language. Above
all, the Qur'an has by virtue of its claim of Divine origin, challenged man to
produce, even unitedly, just a few lines comparable to those of the Qur'an. The
challenge has remained unanswered to this day.
The words of the Allah are: "And if Ye are in doubt
concerning that which We have revealed into Our bondman (Muhammad), then produce
a surah of the like thereof, and call your witnesses beside Allah if ye are
truthful." (ii:23)
What a challenge the like of which man has never seen and shall never see! For
all those who deny the Qur'an to be the Word of God, this challenge shall, till
eternity, remain as a perpetual source of humiliation and a
proof of their ignorance, prejudice, in competency and
powerlessness.
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