Muslims believe that the Koran (or Qur’an,Arabic
for “recitation”) is the word of God as revealed to
MUHAMMAD in a process that began in the year 610,
during the month of Ramadan, when the angel
Gabriel called out to him and commanded him to
“recite in the name of the Lord.” For more than 20
years, until his death in 622, Muhammad continued
to receive further revelations when in a trancelike
state, and he would then convey the words to
his followers. Each revelation eventually became
part of a surah, or chapter, in the Koran.
After the prophet’s death, different versions and
arrangements of the surahs began to spread across
the expanding Muslim realm. To counteract this
trend,Muhammad’s secretary,Zayd Ibn Thabit, collected
all the written fragments he could find and
recorded the recollections of those “reciters” who
had memorized parts of Muhammad’s visions.
Together with other scholars, Zayd produced an
authoritative text sometime during the reign of the
Caliph ‘Uthman (ruled 644–56). This text is the
basis of all subsequent editions of the Koran and
is recognized by all Muslims, regardless of doctrinal
differences.
Muslims often refer to the Koran as the “Arabic
Koran (Recitation).” It is considered impossible to
translate and impious even to try. Thus, non-Arab
Muslims use the Arabic original for prayer, recitation,
and study.When Muslims render the text into
other languages, it is considered a paraphrase or
interpretation.
The written Koran has always been intended for
reading aloud, following carefully preserved traditions
of pronunciation and emphasis. In this way,
difficult Arabic passages can be made accessible.
Translators of the Koran will generally add additional
wording to preserve the meaning.
Printed editions of the Koran appeared in Europe
from the Renaissance on, first in Arabic and
then in European languages. Eventually, critical
editions were published in Europe in which the
text was often rearranged and “corrected” in light
of modern linguistic and historical research. Scholarly
but strictly orthodox Arabic versions also appeared
in the 20th century.
Critical Analysis
Muslims consider the classical Arabic of the Koran
to be the very standard of purity, grammar, and
diction. Nearly all the vocabulary is of Arabic origin,
although some words appear to scholars to be
derived from Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew.
There are also several different styles of writing
in the Koran. Many of the short, earlier verses are
written in the clipped rhymed prose of the kahins,
or pagan priests. Other verses in the khatib style
have the flavor of sermons, while still others follow
the style of stories or dramatic poetry. Finally,
many of the legal rulings follow the format of
treaties or agreements.
Most of the verses appear to be spoken by God.
Many of those spoken by Muhammad begin with
the command, “Say,” often when the prophet is
being instructed to answer questioners or doubters.
English-language prose versions of the Koran
run to about 400 pages. The content is divided into
114 chapters. Some chapters correspond to individual
revelations, while others are composites that
Muhammad himself assembled from shorter revelations.
In the standard text, the chapters are presented
roughly in size order, rather than following a
chronology or thematic plan. The longer chapters
appear near the beginning, even though many of
them date from the last years of the prophet’s life.
For example, following a brief introductory chapter
invoking God’s guidance, Chapter 2 has 286
verses, while the final 10 chapters range from three
to seven verses each.
The verses themselves (ayat in Arabic) vary
greatly in length. Many of them, especially in the
shorter chapters, consist of one brief line, while the
longer verses run the length of a full paragraph.
The title of each chapter is taken from its text
but does not necessarily describe the chapter as a
whole. Beneath the title is an indication of whether
the surah was revealed at Mecca or Medina, followed
by the number of verses the chapter contains. All
but one chapter continues with the standard invocation,
“In the name of Allah (God), the Compassionate,
the Merciful.” Finally comes the text itself,
except for 29 chapters that precede the text with
some stand-alone letters whose mystical significance
is not known.
In terms of content, the main theme of the
Koran is that the world was created and is ruled by
a single all-powerful and merciful God, who demands
both faith and righteousness. Failure to
obey will result in punishment on the Day of Judgment,
when evildoers will be sent to hell and the
righteous to heaven.
The Koran says that God, to instruct human beings
in proper faith and conduct, sent a series of
prophets at different times and to different peoples,
all with the same essential teaching. The last
prophet was Muhammad, who was sent to the
Arabs in particular and to the entire world.
Among the Old Testament characters found in
the Koran are Adam and Eve; Cain and Abel; Abraham,
Isaac, Ishmael, and Jacob; Joseph and his
brothers; Moses and Aaron; David and Solomon;
Job; and Jonah. The most important of these figures
are Moses, who freed the Israelites from Egypt
and led them to the Promised Land, and Abraham.
The Koran praises Abraham as the first man to
abandon idol-worship. It also credits him with
building the sacred Ka‘bah shrine in Mecca, which
Muhammad later designated as the holiest site in
Islam. Interestingly, the Koran considers Ishmael,
the ancestor of the Arabs, to be Abraham’s heir,
while the Hebrew BIBLE attributes that role to Isaac,
the ancestor of the Jews.
The Koran also contains many references to
Jesus, who is revered as a prophet and miracle
worker, and Mary, but the Koran rejects the Christian
concept of the Trinity and denies that Jesus
was crucified.
Many of the later chapters of the Koran (which
appear earlier in the standard text) deal with laws
and society. These chapters have been carefully
studied by generations of Muslim legal scholars
and form the basis of much Islamic law. Among
the topics treated are the laws of prayer, purification,
fasting, and pilgrimage; almsgiving and respect
for the poor; theft, violence, and revenge; the
distribution of spoils when fighting nonbelievers;
usury, debts, and inheritance; food and drink;
marriage; and the role of women.
Muslims consider the Koran to be the miraculous,
infallible, primary source for all basic legal
and religious doctrines. The Koran we know is said
to be a reflection of a divine, uncreated Koran that
has always existed. Because of the crucial importance
of every word in the text, many schools of interpretation
(tafsir) have arisen over the centuries,
using a variety of approaches. The earliest interpreters
actually created the science of Arabic linguistics
to fix the exact meaning of the text. They
pored over every word and studied other contemporary
and earlier Arabic writings for clues to
meaning, even studying pagan poetry.
Scholars collected and commented on the vast
body of hadith, the traditions about the life and
sayings of Muhammad not found in the Koran,
hoping to clarify the meaning of disputed passages.
Each of the many theological camps within medieval
Islam produced its own interpretation, and
mystics from the Sufi tradition wrote allegories as
an aid to understanding the Koran.
In the 19th century, European scholars began to
approach the Koran with the linguistic and historical
tools developed in the critical study of the Hebrew
and Christian Bibles. They challenged the
authenticity of some of the surahs (chapters) and
published editions that rearranged the material in
a more chronological fashion.
In recent decades, some academic specialists
have gone further. They claim that parts of the
Koran were written perhaps a century later than
the date of Muhammad’s death. They also speculate
that the Koran was largely composed in Syria
and Palestine. Other secular scholars dispute these
conclusions.
To date, very few Muslim scholars have shown
an interest in such speculation, for the historical
validity and divine origin of the entire book
remains a matter of faith for nearly all Muslims.
Researchers and critics have compared the Koran
to both the Hebrew Bible (noting differences between
the two texts) and the Hebrew midrash, folktales
and sermons that were recorded in the
centuries after the Bible was completed (noting
similarities). Regardless of ongoing scholarship
and debate, one fact remains true: The Koran has
had a profound influence on all subsequent Arabic
literature and continues to influence contemporary
religion, culture, and literature.
English Versions of the Koran
The Essential Koran: The Heart of Islam. Translated by
Thomas Cleary. Edison, N.J.: Castle, 1998.
The Glorious Koran. Translated by Muhammad Marmaduke
Pickthall. Elmhurst, N.Y.: Tahrike Tarsile
Qu’ran, 2000.
The Koran. Translated by J. M. Rodwell. London: J. M.
Dent, 1994.
Works about the Koran
Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an.
Beltsville,Md.: Amana Publications, 2004.
Barazangi, Nimat Hafez. Woman’s Identity and the
Qur’an. Gainesville: University Press of Florida,
2004.
Schwartz-Barcott, Timothy P. War, Terror & Peace in
the Qur’an and in Islam. Carlisle, Pa.: Army War
College Foundation Press, 2004.
Sells,Michael. Approaching the Koran: The Early Revelations.
Ashland, Ore.:White Cloud Press, 1999.