LAST PAGE

The Significance of the Quran

My dear Gauri,

Al-Quran- it is also spelt as the Koran or Qoran- is the holy book of the Muslims. For them, it is the infallible word of God, revealed to the Prophet Mohammad and therefore, unchallengeable. The Quran accuses the Jews of corrupting the scriptures and the Christians of worshipping Jesus, as the Son of God, although God had expressly commanded them to worship none but Him. Having thus gone astray, they had to be brought back to the right path, to the true religion preached by Abraham. This was Islam- absolute submission or resignation to the Will of Allah.

The Quran preaches the oneness of God and emphasizes divine mercy and forgiveness. God is almighty and all-knowing and though compassionate towards His creatures, he is stern in retribution. He enjoins justice and fair dealing, kindness to orphans and widows and charity to the poor. The most important duties of the Muslim are faith in Allah and His Apostle, prayer, alms giving, fasting and (if possible) pilgrimage to the Sacred House at Mecca.

The Quran was not delivered to the Prophet at one stretch and in a complete form. It was delivered to him piecemeal, passage by passage, as the circumstances of his preaching warranted from time to time. As each passage was inspired in him and he recited it before his followers, it fixed itself in their retentive memory and was also written down by some of his followers on anything that came in handy, like parchment or leaves of the date palms, pieces of hide, thin slabs of stone or even the shoulder blades of camels! All these writings could not be brought together into one book during the Prophet’s lifetime. That was done after he had passed away.

This was not an easy task. The first Caliph, Abu Bakr, was rather reluctant to do what the Prophet himself had not done. He felt that the practice of preserving the Quran in the breasts of the believers should continue. But the second Caliph, Omar, thought otherwise. He knew that a good many companions of the Prophet had died in the battle of Yamama and that it was not wise to trust the memories of the few. His view prevailed. Thereupon, an ardent follower of the Prophet, Zaid bin Thabit, was asked to collect all that had been previously recorded and to inscribe it on parchment. The volume so prepared formed the first authentic text, copies of which were subsequently made by the third Caliph Ottoman for distribution to the different centres of the expanding Arab state. It is the text of this volume which is regarded as ‘authorized’ and handed down as such to this day.

The Quran is divided into 114 chapters, large and small, each containing a number of verses. It is the finest example of Classical Arabic. In all, the Quran consists of 6247 verses. Chapter one, the Al Fatiha (The opening) was delivered by the Prophet at Mecca and consists of just seven verses:

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful Absolute praise is for God only, Lord of all domains of existence.

The Compassionate, the Merciful

Master on the Day of Recompense!

Thee only do we serve, and Thee only do we ask for help.

Lead us on to the straight path-

The path of those whom Thou hast blest-

(Of those) who have never incurred Thy displeasure and have never gone astray.

Incidentally, Islam is an Arabic word meaning peace, submission or obedience. The religion of Islam means submission to God. The Holy Prophet (Pease Be Unto Him) was once asked: “What is Islam?” To which he replied: “Obedience to Allah’s commandments and kindness to His creatures.” On another occasion he was asked: “Who is a Muslim?” And he replied: “A true Muslim is he from whose tongue and hand people are safe.” By that token many people who call themselves Muslims can hardly be called that.

The Muslim salutation Assalam alaikum is the invocation to peace. Towards the end of a prayer a Muslim will say: Assalam-o-alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barkathu, meaning, peace be on you, the mercy of Allah, His kindness and forgiveness.

In my next letter I shall write about the festivals of Islam.

Your Loving,

Ajja