The Qur’an: the Foundation of Islam

 For Muslims, the Qur’an is the literal word of God received verbatim by the
Prophet Muhammad in his native Arabic tongue, who passed it on to his followers.
 
 The most sacred of religious texts for Muslims.
 
 The Qur’an is the foundation of Islam and the primary source of guidance for
Muslims in all aspects of life, whether
 – spiritual, legal, moral, political, economic or social
 

Meaning and synonyms

The word Qur’an means “recitation” = goes back to the Arabic verb qaraʼa, meaning "he read"
or "he recited
It appears around 70 times in the Qur’an itself
 Duration of revelation
 – The Quran was verbally revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad through the
angel Gabriel (Jibril), gradually over a period of approximately 23 years beginning on
22 December 609 AD when he was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his
death.
 A Miracle
  Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of the Prophet
Muhammad, a proof of his prophethood.
  It is inimitable
 
 The Last Book
The Quran is the culmination of a series of divine messages that started with the
messages revealed to Adam and ended with Muhammad
The Wahy (revelation)
 
 
 


The Arabic term wahy means revelation or inspiration.

 


technical: that which God communicates to His prophets and messengers.

 

Other meaning It can also mean the scripture revealed to particular
prophets
 
 – Such as the Torah given to Moses, the Gospel of Jesus and the Qur’an sent to the
Prophet Muhammad.
 

Use of the word “Wahy” in the Qur’an

 
In Qur’anic usage, the word wahy is not limited to a relationship
between God and His prophets alone.
There are several forms of wahy as inspiration mentioned in the Qur’an:
  To inanimate objects;animals;human beings in general, such as the mother of Moses;
 
 Prophets in particular, such as Jesus; and to
 
 Angels.

Three Levels of Wahy

 Directly from God
No medium
 ‘From behind a veil’
Via vision or dream .minimal medium
 ‘By sending a messenger’ (an angel)
Full fledged medium
 
Understanding the Qur’an
 
 A message to be conveyed
 The Qur’an itself stresses that the Prophet was required only to receive the sacred text
and that he had no authority to change it.
 God’s word
 The Qur’an strongly denies that it is the speech or ideas of the Prophet or, indeed, of
any other person.
Protected by God
  protect it from human-induced errors or inaccuracies.
 
The quran is the literal word of god direct message in,Arabic, not simply with
meanings and ideas
Simplicity :it is comprehensible to ordinary people
 
The quran is the most imp part of arabic relationship.recitingis one of the most
imp part of muslim religious practice and culture
 
The compilation of the quran
tHE 3 stages
Writing
Collection
Transcription
 
The structure of the quran
114 chapters
The first chapter The opening (al-fatiha)
-very short
-comprises of seven verses most recited verse in the
quran
The second The cow (al-Baqara)
chapter -the longest
-286 verses
Last chapter The people (Al nas )
-one of the shortest
The ninth chapter Only chap that doesn’t begin with the invocation of the
benevolent god
 
Its said that each letter of the quran is rewarded
The major themes of the quran
-content is not chronologically ordered
-one god
-spirtual beings
-the angels
-created from light
-obiedent to god
-the jin
-smokeless fire
-is not obedient
-satan(iblis)as a symbol of evil
 Forces of god are represented by god and bad as satan
-creation of human beings and gods guideance through prophets
-attitudde to other religions
-
 The recipients of previous revelations are known in the Qur’an as ‘people of
the Book’ (ahl al-kitab
-life after death
-paradise and hell
 The life to come is not transient, but everlasting.
 
 The quran as a science of law
-An important theme is the the legal guidance
 -moral injunctions
-number of legal verses range from 200-500 verses
-relatively small portion with 6300 verses
 
 
 
Quranic sciences
1)Occasions of revelation (Asbab al-Nuzul)
2) Abrogation (al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh)
3)Meccan versus Medinan
 
Meccan
Period deals with matters such as depeciting god ,how human should be grateful to god
and how they should relate to him
Medina
Issues related to the community organization

The Quran is the foundation

 That one should honor his/her parents
 That it is a timed obligation
 That charity is necessary
Much of the detailed info is based on the sunnah (way of life )contained in the hadith (recorded
reports of the prophet)
 
The sunnah: Normative behavior of the prophet Mohammed
Sunnah The trodden path
Linguistically(sa-n-na) The clear or well trodden path
Muslim context The verbally transmitted record of the teachings and deeds and
sayings as well as varoius reports of the prophets companions
 
The 3 types are
Words Habits and practices Silent approvals
 
The hadith
The sunnah is in the documented in the hadith
Sunnah The way of life of the prophet
hadith Is a single report that documents the sunnah
 
Difference between hadith and the Quran
Origin The anticipated reward for recitation
Maintenance of purity History of preservation
Methods of transmission Status of eloquence
 
Importance of the hadith :
 1)the revelation 2)explanation of the 3)laws 4)moral ideal 5)preservation of
Quran religion
 
The hadith has 2 parts:
1)chain of transmitters
2)by text
 
The science of the hadith
1)the science of biography
Credibility of the transmitter
-chain of transmission should be known
-should be stated and directly heard from the prophet
-lived in the same period ,must have some connection
-physically and mentally capable to understand
-should be pious and virtuous man
-shouldn’t have lied or evidence of committed crime
-should not have spoken against other reliable sources
-transmitters religious beliefs should be correct
-should not have peculiar beliefs
 
2)criticism of hadith text
 Must not be contrary to the text in the Quran or basic principles of Islam.
 Must not be contrary to other hadith on subject which is already accepted as
authentic and reliable.
 Must not be against dictates of reason, natural laws and common experience.
 Should be rejected if it exalt a person, tribe or place or if it contains detailed
prophecies of future events with dates.
 
3)the grading of hadith .
 Sahih (sound, authentic),
 Da’if(weak),
 Mawdu’(fabricated).
 Hasan(good):- a sahih report suffering from minor deficiency or weak report
strengthened due to numerous other corroborating reports.
 Munkar(deanounced): rejected due to unreliable transmitter contradicting another
reliable narrator.
 
 Both Sahih and Hasan reports are considered acceptable for usage in Islamic legal
discourse.
 
Mutawatir (successive naration)
 Numerous narrators conveying a narration is accepted for its authenticity. A hadith
is said to be a mutawatir if its reported by a significant number of narrators.
 This provides confirmation that hadith's source is authentic.
 Beyond historical possibility that narrators could have conspired to forge a
narration.
 
Types of Mutawatir Hadiths
 Mutawatir in wording
 All the narrators are unanimous in reporting it with same words. E.g. companions of
Muhammad who report hadith at different occasion all with same words.
 
 Mutawatir in meaning
 Hadith which is not reported by multiple narrators. Words will be different but all
narrators are unanimous in reporting a basic concept.
 
Types of hadith compilation
By subject matter By transmitter
 Classified into several groups:
 Kutub: collections dealing with 1 of 8 topics.( beliefs, laws, piety, etiquette. Quran
commentary, history, crises, virtues of people and places)
 Jami : large collection of hadith covering all eight topics.
 Mussanaf: based on subject matter
 Musand :names of the final companion in the chain of transmission of a hadith.
 Sunnan: dealing only with legal hadith
 
Six major hadith collections: ?
 
Profile of a hadith scholar: Imam Bukhari
Born in : Bukhara 192AhH 810AD
Died: Samarqand 256AH 869AD
hailer