The Qur’an

Question 1

History of the Qur’an

Answer 1

•Muhammad often prayed alone in a cave on Mount Hira where the Angel Jibril appeared to him many times during a period
of 23 years and spoke the word of Allah.
•Muhammad was illiterate and so he learned by heart everything the angel told him and his followers began to write down those
•In the twenty years after Muhammad’s death, his followers gathered all the
messages together into the one collection

Question 2

What is the Qur’an

Answer 2

It is the sacred text for all Muslims and it is written in
Qur’an means, “that which is proclaimed”.
The Our’an is similar in size to the New Testament and it is divided into 114 chapters called surahs.

Question 3

Arabic and the Qur’an

Answer 3

• Muslims are encouraged to read and recite the Qur’an in the original Arabic.
• Young Muslims attend lessons to help them learn Arabic if it is not their native language.
• Muslims who can recite the entire Qur’an in Arabic are well respected in the Muslim community - they are given the title ‘Hafiz’
• When Muslim infants are born the first words they hear are from the Qur’an
• Faithful Muslims read the Qur’an everyday

Question 4

The way of the prophet

Answer 4

Naturally, Muhammad’s
followers were interested in what he said, did and approved of - this is the basis of a set of writings known as the Sunna.
And your Lord says, “ Call upon Me; I will respond to you.
•His followers also kept a record of what Muhammad said and taught and this is known as the Hadith. It covers almost every aspect of life from table manners to the nature of the world
around us.
•BUT, Muslims give CLEAR PRIORITY to the Quran for they believe the Qur’an to be the word of Allah.