WHAT IS THE QUR’AN?
The Holy Quran (Al Qur’an) is a record of the exact words revealed by the Almighty God Allah through the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad. It was memorized by Muhammad and then dictated to his Companions, and written down by scribes, who cross-checked it during his lifetime. Not one word of its 114 chapters, Suras, has been changed over the centuries, so that the Quran is in every detail the unique and miraculous text which was revealed to Muhammad fourteen centuries ago.
What is the Qur`an about?
The Quran, the last revealed Word of God, is the prime source of every Muslim’s faith and practice. It deals with all the subjects which concern us as human beings: wisdom, doctrine, worship, and law, but its basic theme is the relationship between God and His creatures. At the same time it provides guidelines for a just society, proper human conduct and an equitable economic system .
The Quran is the constitution of the Muslims from which they derive the teachings which organize both their religious and everyday affairs. It differs from the previous Divine Books in the following ways:
•It is the last Divine Book which was revealed, and for that reason, Allah, the Exalted, promised to protect it from any distortion until the Last Day.
Allah says:
(Indeed, it is We who have sent down this Reminder [i.e., the Quran] and indeed, it is We who are its Guardian. ) (15:9)
•The Quran includes all the legislations which reform society and guarantees happiness for all in its implementation.
•The Quran has documented the stories of the Prophets and Messengers, and what happened between them and their peoples, from Adam till Muhammad, may Allah exalt his mention.
•It was revealed to all of mankind so that they would live a life of peace and happiness, and to take them out of darkness and bring them into the light.
•Reciting, memorizing and teaching it are acts of worship.
Maurice Bucaille said in his Book:
The Quran, and Modern Science: ‘A totally objective examination of it [the Quran] in the light of modern knowledge, leads us to recognize the agreement between the two, as has been already noted on repeated occasions.
It makes us deem it quite unthinkable for a man of Muhammad’s time to have been the author of such statements, on account of the state of knowledge in his day. Such considerations are part of what gives the Quranic Revelation its unique place, and forces the impartial scientist to admit his inability to provide an explanation which calls solely upon materialistic reasoning.’
If one assumes that the Qur’an is the product of a man’s mind, then one would expect it to reflect some of what was going on in the mind of the man who “composed” it. In fact, certain encyclopaedias and various books claim that the Qur’an was the product of hallucinations that Muhammad underwent. If these claims are true – if it indeed originated from some psychological problems in Muhammad’s mind – then evidence of this would be apparent in the Qur’an. Is there such evidence? In order to determine whether or not there is, one must first identify what things would have been going on in his mind at that time and then search for these thoughts and reflections in the Qur’an.
It is common knowledge that Muhammad (s) had a very difficult life. All of his daughters died before him except one, and he had a wife of several years who was very dear and important to him, who not only proceeded him in death but died at a very critical period of his life. As a matter of fact, she must have been quite a woman because when the first revelation came to him, he ran home to her, afraid. Certainly, even today one would have a hard time trying to find an Arab who would tell you, “I was so afraid that I ran home to my wife.” They just aren’t that way. Yet Muhammad (s) felt comfortable enough with his wife to be able to do that. That’s how influential and strong woman she was. Although these examples are only a few of the subjects that would have been on Muhammad’s mind, they are sufficient in intensity to prove my point.
The Qur’an does not mention any of these things – not the death of his children, not the death of his beloved companion and wife, not his fear of the initial revelations, which he so beautifully shared with his wife – nothing; yet these topics must have hurt him, bothered him, and caused him pain and grief during periods of his life. Indeed, if the Qur’an was a product of his psychological reflections, then these subjects, as well as others, would be prevalent or at least mentioned throughout.
First of all, the Qur’an makes a claim that it is a divine revelation; that is, it was sent down from The Almighty God Allah to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) through inspiration. Allah says in the Noble Qur’an: {Muhammad is not speaking from himself, his own ideas, his own ambitions, his own emotions or feelings. But this is a revelation (Qur’an) which has been revealed to him} [53:3-4]
The God (Allah SWT) Himself guarantees The Authenticity of Al Qur’an:
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Al Qur’an is not such as can be produced by other than Allah. On the contrary it is a confirmation of (revelations) that went before it, and a fuller explanation of the Book–wherein there is no doubt–from the Lord of the worlds. Or do they say, “He forged it”? Say: “Bring then a Sura like unto it, and call (to your aid) anyone you can besides Allah, if it be ye speak the truth!” – Al Qur’an, Yunus, Surah 10:37-38.
1) It was impossible for Muhammad (pbuh) to produce such a book.
2) Authoring the Qur’an is above any human’s capability or creativity.
There is a Qur’anic verse that states: {And we created the human beings from a hanging clot that was clinging to the wall of the womb} [23:13]. How did Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) know that the embryo started out as a clot, hanging and clinging to the wall of the uterus of the mother? Did he have a telescope? Did he have a microscope? Did he have some kind of X-ray vision? How did he obtain this knowledge whereas this scientific fact was discovered only 47 years ago? How did he know that the ocean and rivers have a barrier between them to separate the salt and the fresh water? How did he know that? How did he know that the sun and the moon and the planets are all swimming in an orbit that has been ordered for them? How did he know these facts when they have just been discovered 25 or 30 years ago?
Thus, how did Muhammad (pbuh) know these recently discovered scientific facts over fourteen hundred years ago? How could an illiterate shepherd who had been born and raised in the desert find out/present/state such mere scientific facts? How could anyone else living with him, before or after him, produce something that has been only discovered recently? Impossible! How could a man who had never left the Arabian Peninsula, nor did he sail on a ship, give such clear and astounding descriptions that have been discovered recently in the second half of the 20th century?
Another amazing fact about the Qur’an is that that it consists of 114 chapters, over 6000 verses, and there were hundreds of people at the time of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who had memorized this book entirely. Did they posses any super human quality? How did that happen? Did anyone, at the time of Jesus or after him, memorize any of the gospels? Did anyone at the time of Moses or after him, memorize the Torah? What about the Psalms and the Old and the New Testament, do you know anybody that have ever memorized any of them thoroughly? You would not find anyone memorizing any of them entirely, not even the Pope himself!
However, there are millions of Muslims today, who have memorized their Book, the Qur’an, entirely. This is the ambition of every Muslim. Not some, but every Muslim. How many Christians, have you met in your life, have memorized the Bible? Surely, you have never met any Christian who has memorized the Bible because you have never met a Christian who even knew what words constitute the whole Bible. This is because Christians themselves have over 700 different denominations, and there are around 39 different versions of the Bible, each with different books and different versions, with different amount of verses and different amount of chapters. They don’t agree about which one is the true Bible. Accordingly, how could they memorize what they don’t even agree about?
The proof of that is simple, if all the Christians of the world, all the churches, all the congregations and all the individuals agreed one day to take all their books and threw them in the oceans, and the Muslims do the same and threw all their copies of the Qur’an in the oceans, the Christians will not be able to produce another Bible because they don’t even agree about one unique and genuine version of the Bible. On the contrary, there are millions of Muslims who have memorized the entire Qur’an, so even if we threw all of the copies of the Qur’an, we can bring ten Muslims, who memorize the Qur’an thoroughly and who do not know each other, from ten different countries, they will be able to stand altogether and start reciting the Qur’an from its opening surah ( i.e. chapter ) to its final one. Moreover, number of words, phrases, paragraphs, and then the Qur’an will be right back again. It will be as unique and genuine as the original one.
Finally, this book, the Qur’an, has been universally preserved without the slightest alternation of any kind for over fourteen centuries. Notice that each Muslim of the millions who have memorized the Qur’an have memorized the same words exactly. This is a fact which is testified. When one receives a certificate that s/he has memorized the Qur’an well from any Sheikh, it is written on the certificate that this person memorized from this Sheikh, who memorized from another Sheikh, who memorized from so-and-so, right until the chain of transmission reaches Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself. Any certificate that this Sheikh gives to anyone has the same names in the chain that goes back to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Actually, what they had memorized corresponds to what it written in all the copies of the Qur’an in the world.
If all of these facts are true, and indeed all of them are true, would you agree that this Book is quite profound and unique? Would you be honest enough to say that? Of course you would, if you are honest. (HSH/E1)
