The Qur’an is the sacred book of Muslims who believe its complete text came through revelation. Each word of it was revealed in Arabic by Allah (God) to Prophet Muhammad through the Archangel Gabriel over a span of 23 years in the seventh century. The revelation of the Qur’an began when the Prophet was 40 years old. It consists of around 600 pages, 114 chapters, and over 6,000 verses. The length of chapters varies with the longest chapter having 286 verses, while the shortest one has only three. The word “Qur’an” means recitation, and the first verse of the Qur’an to be revealed to Prophet Muhammad was a command to “read in the name of your Lord, the Creator…” (Ibn Hanbal 1895, p. 232).
Given that the Prophet was an unlettered man, his early followers eagerly memorized and recorded each new revelation as it was revealed. By the time the Prophet passed away, the Qur’an had been completed and many had memorized its entirety. Within 2 years after the death of the Prophet, the first...
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Bibliography
Ibn Hanbal, A. (1895). al-Musnad (Vol. IV, p. 232). Cairo.
The Holy Qur’an. (1934). Translation and commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1st ed.). Birmingham: Islamic Propagation Centre International.
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Kose, A. (2020). Qur’an. In: Leeming, D.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24348-7_555
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