The Quran is one of the most read books of all time. Every Muslim must read the Quran in its entirety at least once a year. The Quran is seen by Muslims as the Word of God (Allah). How was this well-known book written and formed?
Introduction
The Quran is the holy book of Muslims. The name comes from an Arabic word that means what is read or read aloud. The book contains the revelations of Allah that he gave to Muhammad. The Muslims believe that there are two copies of the Quran. One is in heaven and the other is brought together by the followers of Mohammed. The book is written in three different parts.
How and when was the Quran compiled?
The Quran is written in three parts:
- The Revelations of the Angel, Gabriel. Gabriel told Muhammad about the will and thoughts of Allah.
- The many years the followers were with Mohammed. Those followers made notes about the revelations that Muhammad received. They wrote it on stone and palm branches and whatever they had at hand.
- After Muhammad’s death in 632 AD, his friends decided in 650 to bring all those notes together. All these notes became one book, called the Quran. Four copies of that book were made. Those copies were distributed across four cities with many Muslims.
Mohammed
Mohammed is the most important person in the Quran. He is the last and most important prophet because he received revelations from Allah. He was also the leader of a group of people who tried to make other people Muslim.
Hijra
Mohammed lived in Mecca and had many followers there. The leaders of Mecca were afraid that they would lose their power. They decided to persecute him and his followers. Muhammad’s life was in danger and when delegations from Yathrib (Medina) asked him to come to Yathrib in 621, he did so a year later. Mohammed escaped at night after hearing that people were coming to kill him. He fled with his father-in-law Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr would later become Muhammad’s successor.
His enemies followed him and were much faster because they had camels. Mohammed and his followers had to hide in a cave. It was n’t a good hiding place, but there was nothing else in the desert. Soon after, the pursuers arrived. They saw the cave but determined that they could not be there. That was because a spider made a spider web and a bird made a nest. No people could have been there in recent days, his enemies thought.
They lost the enemies and Muhammad arrived safely at Yathrib, which would later be called Madinat un-Nabi. It means the city of the prophet. The last part un-Nabi was removed and the word Madinat, meaning the city, remained. The Dutch name Medina comes from Madinat.
The migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib is known as the Hijrah. It is the starting point of the Islamic calendar. So it starts in 622 AD according to our count. The Islamic calendar also has a different count apart from the starting point. A year there lasts 354 or 355 days. They only look at the Moon and not at the seasons. According to the Islamic calendar, we now live in the year 1433.