The
Qur'ân was revealed to the prophet Muhammad (may God's
blessings be upon him) some 1400 hundred years ago.
Muhammad was a man of truth and gentleness and was
trusted and respected by all the tribes of Mecca. When
he was 40 years of age, he started retreating to an
isolated cave in the hills near Mecca to ponder and
meditate. It was here during one of these meditating
sessions, that the angel Gabriel appeared to him with a
word from the Lord, instructing him to
"Recite! In the name of
the Sustainer Who created"
It was
the first verse revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace
be upon him), and he was so shook by the appearance of
this indescribable being that he instantly returned home
shivering and shaking, and asked his wife Khadijah to
cover him with a blanket. He could not understand the
experience he had just gone through, and was very
frightened.
A
worried Khadijah took him over to an early Arab
Christian named Waraqa Bin Naufal who was an elderly and
learned resident of Mecca, to try and understand what
Muhammad had gone through. Waraqa listened to his story,
and assured him that he wasn't possessed, "What you have
heard is the voice of the same spiritual messenger God
sent to Moses. I wish I could be a young man when you
become a prophet! I would like to be alive when your own
people expel you." "Will they expel me?" Muhammad asked.
"Yes," the old man said. "No one has ever brought his
people the news you bring without meeting hostility. If
I live to see the day, I will support you."
Thus
started a series of revelations to Muhammad (Peace be
upon him) which lasted for 23 years and brought about a
revolution in the whole of Arabia and the world. These
revelations form the basis of Islam, and are compiled
together in the Qur'ân. No sooner would a message be
revealed to Muhammad (Peace be upon him) that this would
be recorded down on leaves of date palm, tree bark,
bones etc. at the dictation of the Prophet. All of these
pieces were put into a bag. At the same time, a lot of
the early Muslims committed these passages to memory.
Immediately after the death of the Holy Prophet (peace
be upon him), there was a fear that the Qur'ân could get
contaminated and would get changed from how it was
originally revealed. Therefore Zaid bin Thabit (who had
frequently acted as a secretary to prophet Muhammad and
had learned the Qur'ân directly from him), under the
instructions of the first caliph of Islam - Abu Bakr,
set out on a task to compile an authentic copy of the
Qur'ân. Arrangements were made to collect all the
written pieces of the Qur'ân left over by the Prophet,
as well as those in the possession of his companions,
and they were compared with each other for verification.
Also, help was taken from those companions of the Holy
Prophet (Peace be upon him) who had committed whole or
part of the Qur'ân to memory. Zaid only took down
anything in his manuscript after he had verified it from
all the three sources. Thus was compiled one correct,
authentic and complete copy of the Qur'ân. Later, as an
act of prudence, the third caliph of Islam, Uthman, got
any other copies of the Qur'ân in other dialects of
Arabic destroyed and had the version compiled by Zaid
propagated throughout the Islamic world.
The
Qur'ân that is in use now all over the world, is the
exact same copy of the one compiled by Zaid. It is
exactly the same whether you take a copy in Australia or
get one in Africa, or if you dig up a thousand year old
copy in some library. Muslims believe that God has taken
a responsibility of preserving the Qur'ân in the exact
same form as it was revealed for eternity.
The
Qur'ân is a unique book in that it is a direct word of
God. Sometimes it is addressed to Muhammad (peace be
upon him), sometimes it addresses the Arabs, or
sometimes other audiences or the whole of humanity. But
the message that is contained in the Qur'ân applies
universally to all civilizations for all times. It is
not divided into different chapters dealing with
different subjects separately, but it deals with a host
of different topics throughout; laying down a foundation
stone for the Islamic way of life.
The
Qur'ân was not revealed in its entirety at once though,
and therefore the way it deals with subjects changes
depending on where the Islamic movement was at the
moment. The verses revealed at the time the Prophet
(peace be upon him) lived in Mecca at the start of the
Islamic movement, imparted basic knowledge of Islamic
principles, and invited the people to adopt a right and
moral way of living. Whereas the verses revealed at the
time an Islamic state had been established at Medina
taught them the principles and methods of organizing an
Islamic community. Thus the style of the Koran is not
uniform throughout its length.
The
inspiring spirit of the Qur'ân can never be fully
grasped though unless its message is put into practice.
For the Qur'ân is neither a book of abstract ideas nor
ungrounded theories. Neither is it a book of religious
mysteries and riddles. It is a book sent down to the
people to instruct them towards a way of life that is
going to lead them towards peace and harmony in this
world and in the hereafter.
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