• Islām—The Way to God by Submission
    Mankind’s Search for God

    • Revelation of the Qurʼān

      9. What is said to have been Muḥammad’s first revelation? (Compare Revelation 22:18, 19.)

      9 What is said to have been the first revelation received by Muḥammad? Islāmic authorities generally agree that it was the first five verses of surah 96, entitled Al-‘Alaq, “The Clot [of Blood],” which reads:

      “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

      Read: In the name of thy Lord who created.

      Created man from a clot.

      Read: And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous,

      Who taught by the pen,

      Taught man that which he knew not.”​—MMP.

      10-12. How was the Qurʼān preserved?

      10 According to the Arabic source The Book of Revelation, Muḥammad answered, “I do not know how to read.” Therefore, he had to memorize the revelations so that he could repeat and recite them. The Arabs were skilled in the use of memory, and Muḥammad was no exception. How long did it take for him to receive the complete message of the Qurʼān? It is generally believed that the revelations came during a period of some 20 to 23 years, from about 610 C.E. to his death in 632 C.E.

      11 Muslim sources explain that upon receiving each revelation, Muḥammad immediately recited it to those who happened to be near. These in turn committed the revelation to memory and by recitation kept it alive. Since the manufacture of paper was unknown to the Arabs, Muḥammad had the revelations written down by scribes on the primitive materials then available, such as shoulder blades of camels, palm leaves, wood, and parchment. However, it was not until after the prophet’s death that the Qurʼān took its present form, under the guidance of Muḥammad’s successors and companions. This was during the rule of the first three caliphs, or Muslim leaders.

      12 Translator Muhammad Pickthall writes: “All the surahs of the Qurʼan had been recorded in writing before the Prophet’s death, and many Muslims had committed the whole Qurʼan to memory. But the written surahs were dispersed among the people; and when, in a battle . . . a large number of those who knew the whole Qurʼan by heart were killed, a collection of the whole Qurʼan was made and put in writing.”

      13. (a) What are three sources of Islāmic teaching and guidance? (b) How do some Islāmic scholars view translation of the Qurʼān?

      13 Islāmic life is governed by three authorities​—the Qurʼān, the Ḥadīth, and the Sharīʽah. (See box, page 291.) Muslims believe that the Qurʼān in Arabic is the purest form of the revelation, since, they say, it was the language used by God in speaking through Gabriel. Surah 43:3 states: “We have made it a Qur-ān in Arabic, that ye may be able to understand (and learn wisdom).” (AYA) Thus, any translation is viewed as only a dilution that involves a loss of purity. In fact, some Islāmic scholars refuse to translate the Qurʼān. Their viewpoint is that “to translate is always to betray,” and therefore, “Muslims have always deprecated and at times prohibited any attempt to render it in another language,” states Dr. J. A. Williams, lecturer on Islāmic history.