The Quran - source of wisdom and authority

What is a key quote about the Quran being unmatched and what does it show?

• ‘Man will never be able to match the Holy Book in terms of eloquence, beauty or wisdom.’ - Turner

• Shows it is unmatched, unique, definitely from God.

What does Quran mean?

• Quran means to recite

What is the significance of Prophet Muhammad in Islam regarding the Quran?

• The greatest importance of Prophet Muhammad in Islam is that he delivered the Quran to the world.

• The Quran is considered to be the pure word of God (proves it is a source of authority) directly revealed to the whole world through a humble and illiterate Prophet - showing he cannot change it.

What other names doe the Quran have?

• The Quran has many other names including the blessing, the light.

What does the Quran tell/teach Muslims about?

• God has revealed his word to people in the Quran which tells Muslims everything they need to know about God, religion and how to live their lives.

• For Muslims the Quran is also a holy book about:

• Science, history, prophecy, poetry, philosophy, law, ethics, economics, theology.

What are some key aspects of the Qurans structure, preservation and significance?

• The Quran is not written in the same order in which the revelations were given.

• The Quran must not be changed, translated versions are not considered official versions.

• An ‘earthly’ copy of a heavenly original.

• It is considered a miracle.

• It is memorised (hafiz) from cover-to-cover in Arabic by millions of people, even if they don’t speak Arabic.

How was the Quran revealed to Prophet Muhammad?

• Muhamad did not receive the Quran all at once but from the night of power until his death 23 years later.

How is the Quran compared to the Torah and Bible?

• Islamic scholars have often compared the Quran to the holy writings of Judaism and Christianity.

• The Quran is the final revelation of Gods word to the whole world.

• Unlike the Torah which was written specifically for the Jewish people, the Quran is universal.

• The Quran has a very different history from the Bible.

• It was all revealed to one person, written down within 23 years.

• The Bible was revealed to many people over a period of 1500 years, did not achieve its final written form until 300 years after the final revelation.

How is the Quran compared to the Gospels?

• The Quran is complete, without contradiction and cannot be changed.

• Unlike the Gospels which often contradict each other and were written some time after Jesus’ death.

• The Quran is the pure revelation of Allah and written during Muhammad’s lifetime.

What is a key revelation/quote from the Quran regarding it not having mistakes?

And what is the underlying message of this revelation?

• ‘Do they not reflect upon the Quran? Were it from anyone other than Allah they would have found many inconsistencies.’

• It is clearly from God, people cannot doubt it because it is flawless.

Why is there so much emphasis placed on comparing the Quran to other holy books?

And what does it say about the Quran about a source of wisdom and authority?

• To show it is special and unique and strengthens Muslims faith, stops them from returning to Jahiliya.

In order to understand the Quran it is important to go back to the beginnings of the earth - what happened?

• According to Islam God created humans as his vice regents/stewards.

• Adam was God’s first prophet whose task was to look after the world in the way God wanted.

• For this to happen Adam was given instructions from God (Gods word.)

• Unfortunately future generations distorted the word, so other messengers had to be given the word again.

According to Islam what are the four written books of the word of God?

• The torah - Moses/Musa

• Psalms - David/Dawud

• Gospel - Jesus/Isa

• Ibrahim - had a book but it was lost

• All of the above were distorted - especially the Gospel in saying Jesus was God’s son.

• Distorted either through human error or the interference of Satan.

What is a key quote/verse about the Quran being protected?

And what does it teach about the authority and wisdom of the Quran?

• ‘Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardian.’

• It shows that it will be protected, proves its divine authority.

What is a key quote/verse about the heavens?

And what does it teach about the authority and wisdom of the Quran?

• ‘And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed We are its expander.’

• Its shows its strength and power and the certainty of an afterlife.

What is a key quote/verse about God teaching humans?

And what does it teach about the authority and wisdom of the Quran?

• ‘Read in the name of your Lord, who created. He created man from a clot of blood Read, and your Lord, Most exalted. Teaches by means of the pen. He teaches man what he never knew.’

• Shows the wisdom of the Quran as it gives unique knowledge that wasn’t obtained before.

What is the Quran seen as and what does this show?

• The Quran is seen as the mother of books showing its guidance and authority.

What was the first stage of the process of the collection of revelations?

• Initially the Quran was received and recorded orally.

• Each new revelation would be recited to Muhammad’s followers who would memorise and then recite to others.

• The oral tradition was meticulous/perfect which confirms that the Quran is the true blueprint of the heavenly copy.

What was the second stage of the process of the collection of revelations?

• As time went on some followers began to scribe the revelation as Muhammad recited them.

• Khadijah, companions and other close friends wrote them down.

• Only a few people knew the Quran by heart and in the correct order.

• When Muhammad died every revelation had been written down but the compilation of the Quran as we know it today was not yet compiled.

What was the third stage of the process of the collection of revelations?

• The people who knew the Quran by heart and in order began to die so Abu Bakr - the first successor gave the order for a written copy to be made.

• This copy was stored, after Abu Bakr’s death, Hafsa (Muhammad’s widow and daughter of the 2nd successor) was entrusted to keepsake this volume.

What was the fourth/last stage of the process of the collection of revelations?

• However, several versions of the Quran were in circulation during Uthman’s (3rd successor) reign due to the spread of Islam, statements of what people remembered and change in pronunciation.

• Uthman ordered several official copies of the Quran based on Abu Bakr’s copy.

• This was done almost 20 years after Muhammad’s death.

• Due to Uthman’s work all Quran’s in existence have 114 Surahs, the same amount of words and letters.

How did this process of collection of revelations contribute to the authority/status of the Quran?

• Fake versions were destroyed.

• It was protected by trusted people.

• The checking proves accuracy.

• An illiterate humble but willing man was just the vessel.