COMMENCEMENT OF QURAN

Q.   How did revelation of the Qur-an commence?

  The holy Prophet (peace be on him) was stationed in this very cave (Hira) when the angel Jibril (Gabriel) appeared before him and said “iqra^?!”. This is the first word of the chapter “Al-‘alaq”. It means “read” or “proclaim”. The holy Prophet (peace be on him) said, “I am not literate”. The exhortation and the answer were repeated three times. Then Hadrat Jibril (Gabriel) recited the following verses:

IQRA^? BISMI RAB-BIKAL-LAZI KHALAQ KHALAQAL-INSANA MIN ‘ALAQ. IQRA^? WA RAB-BUKAL-AKRAMUL-LAZI ‘AL-LAMA BIL-QALAM, ‘AL-LAMAL-INSANA MA LAM YA’LAM.

The holy Prophet also repeated the verses after him. These are the earliest verses of the holy Qur-an revealed on the Prophet (peace be on him).

Q.   If the revelation of the holy Qur-an began with the above verses of Al-‘alaq, does it mean that the present order of the holy Qur-an differs from the order of revelation?

  The existing order does not reflect the order in which it was revealed. As said earlier, the revelation took place as and when necessity arose. But whenever a chapter was revealed, the holy Prophet gave instructions that the chapter concerned be inserted before and after such and such chapter. Similarly, when a certain verse or verses were revealed, the holy Prophet (peace be on him) used to direct their being written before or after certain verses. Thus, although the present order of the Qur-an does not reflect the order of revelation, this order is also dictated by his command and approval.

Q.   Is the present order of Qur-anic chapters and verses fixed by the Prophet if his own volition or by the will of Al-lah?

  Everything concerning Qur-an: number of Surahs (chapters), their beginning and end, number of ayahs (verses) in every Surah, its beginning and end, and order of the Qur-an, all was made known by Al-lah to Hadrat Jibril. He in his turn, appraised the Prophet of it and the Prophet intimated us.

Q.   Revelation of the Qur-an is now more than thirteen hundred years old. This being so, on what basis can we claim that the Qur-an in our hands is the same as was revealed to the holy Prophet (peace be on him)?

  There are a lot of things to substantiate the proposition that the present Qur-an is the same as was revealed to the Prophet. Here we enumerate a few of these that are easy to understand.

·   Tawatur (unanimity): there is not only general consensus but complete unanimity among Muslims from the days of the Prophet down to the present age on its text and version. Consensus or unanimity about a thing is conclusive proof of its authenticity, its being beyond any doubt or suspicion.

·   Millions of Muslims from the days of the Prophet down to our age have been memorizing the Qur-an by heart. Even today hundreds of thousands of Muslims, among them children, young and old, remember the whole of the Qur-an by heart. There can, therefore, be no doubt about the authenticity of a book whose text has been preserved in the hearts of millions from the day of its revelation to the present age.

·   In the holy Qur-an itself Al-lah has said:

IN-NA NAHNU NAZ-ZALNAZ-ZIKRA WA IN-NA LAHU LA-HAFIDHUN,

(We have revealed this book [the Qur-an] and verily we will preserve it.)

Thus, since Al-lah has taken upon Himself the onus of preserving the holy Qur-an and has made a promise to this effect, it logically follows that it is the same text as was revealed to the holy Prophet (peace be on him). The promise has ensured its unchangeability not only to this day but beyond, to the day of annihilation of the universe.

·   The unequivocal claim made by the Qur-an at the time of its revelation that the text of the Qur-an is unparalleled and inimitable by man has remained unchallenged to this day. No one in the world has ever been able to produce or claim to have produced the like of Qur-an upto this day. Nor can anyone ever hope to produce the like of it. This is another evidence in support of the Qur-an being in its original form as it was revealed to the Prophet.

Q.   What do we mean by the term mutawatir and tawatur (unanimous and unanimity)?

Anything reported by people in such an overwhelmingly large number that it is improbable for all of them to tell lies on the subject, is mutawatir (unanimous) and the fact of its being reported  from one to another in such a manner is called tawatur (unanimity).