Description

The Quran (English pronunciation: /kɔrˈɑːn/kor-ahn; Arabic: القرآن‎ al-qur'ān, IPA: [qurˈʔaːn], literallymeaning "the recitation"; also romanised Qurʾan or Koran) is thecentral religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be arevelation from God (Arabic: الله‎, Allah). Its scriptural statusamong a world-spanning religious community, and its major placewithin world literature generally, has led to a great deal ofsecondary literature on the Quran. Quranic chapters are calledsuras and verses are called ayahs.
Muslims believe the Quran was verbally revealed by God to Muhammadthrough the angel Gabriel (Jibril), gradually over a period ofapproximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609 CE, whenMuhammad was 40, and concluding in 632 CE, the year of his death.Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad,a proof of his prophethood, and the culmination of a series ofdivine messages that started with the messages revealed to Adam andended with Muhammad. They consider the Quran to be the onlyrevealed book that has been protected by God from distortion orcorruption.
According to the traditional narrative, several companions ofMuhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing downthe revelations. Shortly after Muhammad's death, the Quran wascompiled by his companions who wrote down and memorized parts ofit. These codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthmanto establish a standard version now known as Uthman's codex, whichis generally considered the archetype of the Quran we have today.However, the existence of variant readings, with mostly minor andsome significant variations, and the early unvocalized Arabicscript mean the relationship between Uthman's codex to both thetext of today's Quran and to the revelations of Muhammad's time isstill unclear.
The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted inthe Jewish and Christian scriptures. It summarizes some, dwells atlength on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accountsand interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a bookof guidance. It sometimes offers detailed accounts of specifichistorical events, and it often emphasizes the moral significanceof an event over its narrative sequence. The Quran is used alongwith the hadith to interpret sharia law. During prayers, the Quranis recited only in Arabic.
Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz. SomeMuslims read Quranic ayahs (verses) with elocution, which is oftencalled tajwid. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims typicallycomplete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers.In order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse,most Muslims rely on the tafsir.