So what exactly is the Qur’an?
Scholars define the Qur’an as this: The Arabic speech of Allah that was revealed to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) both in word and in meaning. It is collected between the two covers of the mushaaf, was narrated in mutawaatir chains, and is a challenge to humankind.
We can learn five important things about the Qur’an from this definition.
- The Arabic speech of Allah: The Qur’an is the speech of Allah, in Arabic. This means that anything that’s not Arabic isn’t the Qur’an. You can’t pray in English, in French, in Swahili, in Urdu–it has to be in Arabic.
- Revealed to the Prophet: We know that Allah revealed many revelations–including the Injeel and the Tawrah and the Zabur. Those are also revelation of Allah–but they’re not the Qur’an. Only what Allah revealed to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) is Qur’an.
- Revealed in Word and Meaning: Not Only is the meaning of the Qur’an the same as what Allah meant; but the words themselves are also from Allah. (Unlike Hadith Qudsi, where the meaning is from Allah, and the words are from the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم))
- Collected between Two Covers: Hadith Qudsi is also the speech of Allah, but it’s not Qur’an. Similarly, there are verses that used to be in the Qur’an, but aren’t anymore–even though they were once! These are the abrogated verses, and they’re not considered Qur’an anymore, even though we still know what some of those revelations were.
- Mutawaatir: The Qur’an was related in a mutawaatir fashion–so many narrators narrated it, at every single step in the chain of narration, that it’s impossible that they all lied or made a mistake.
- A Challenge to Humankind: The Qur’an is an ongoing challenge to the human race–create a book, a surah, a verse like it; but nay, we will NEVER be able to. Allah Himself says so.
One other important part of the definition of the Qur’an is that Allah promised that He will protect it, until the end of time–and that promise doesn’t apply to anything else (such as the sunnah, or the Hadith Qudsi).
And you thought you knew the Qur’an!
May Allah allow us all to become saahibul-Qur’an, Companions of the Qur’an, those whom Allah will give the highest level of jannah (ameen)!
Yasir Qadhi. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Route 114: Qur’anic Sciences. University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus, March 2008.
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah
This is a wonderful piece. I’m compiling articles for a magazine by AlMaghrib Toronto (Qabeelat Majd), and I was wondering if I could possibly include this in our upcoming issue. It’s dealing with the themes of our most recent course, Route 114, the sciences of the Quran. Feel free to contact us at majd.newsletter@gmail.com.
[...] define the Qur’an as this: The Arabic speech of Allah that was revealed to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) both in word and in meaning. [...]
[...] and every single good deed and act of worship you perform increases your eman. Fast a day. Read Qur’an. Pray [...]
[...] Rasul Allah (صلي الله عليه وسلم) commanded the men of this Ummah, “do not wear silk, for those who wear it in this life will not wear it in the hereafter.” [Bukhari and Muslim] This falls under obeying, as from this hadith, we find that silk is prohibited for men, although it was not mentioned in the Qur’an. [...]
Salam Sheikh,
I have a question related to the Fatiha. When the Quran was revealed to the Prophet SAW, he would instruct his companions about the ending of each verse. Why is the recitation of hafs and warsh different concerning the verse endings at the end of the surah. Since the Prophet SAW made it clear about the ending of each verse and the commencement of the following verse.
Hafs : ihdinasiratal mustakeem (verse ending) siratalatheena (to the end of the verse) two verses here
Warsh : ihdinasiratal mustakeem siratalatheena (to the end of the verse)
one verse combined
Please enlighten me sheikh.
My second question,
In Fiqh alkbar, Abu Hanifah RA says that there is a weak opinion that says the the Speech of Allah is the arabic composition and the meaning. What is meant by the meaning? We know that the Quran was revealed both meaning and word?
My third question,
Normal hadith of the Prophet SAW, the meaning is from Allah SWT or from His Speech. Does this mean that Hadith is the meaning of the Quran, since they are from the same source (The Eternal Speech of Allah ie the Quran).
salam,
Haitham
Haitham
@Haitham, wa’alikum as-salaam wa rahmatullah; I am not a shaykh, but insha’Allah I will address your questions.
1) Allahu ‘alam. I’ve noticed that too–especially if you look up Mishary Rashid Al-Afasy’s video on YouTube of the 10 qira’aat recitations of Surah Ikhlaas. From my limited knowledge, there is no contradiction between the Messenger of Allah (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) teaching verse-endings to the companions and verse-endings differing in different qira’at–because all 10 authentic qira’at trace back to the Prophet; so it’s completely possible that he (salallahu alayhi wa sallam) ended different verses in different places in different qira’at; and this agrees with the hadith explaining why there are different qira’at–to make it easy for people to memorize Qur’an.
2) I’m not sure what Abu Hanifah, rahimahullah, means. Ahlul Sunnah Wal Jam’ah agrees that Qur’an is the uncreated Arabic text, in word and in meaning. The Qur’an was revealed to the Prophet (salallahu alayhi wa sallam), and was memorized and recited for generations upon generations, letter by letter exactly the same.
To say that again: The Qur’an was memorized and recited word-for-word, letter-for-letter; it was not simply memorized by meaning.
3) Any text that the Prophet brought, Qur’an or hadith, the meaning is from Allah; both are legislation (Shari’ah). Both hadith and Qur’an come from the same source–Allah. Both are, to my understanding, memorized and transmitted word-for-word.
Which raises the question of: Why would Allah decide to reveal some information as Qur’an, and some as Hadith? Allahu ‘alam, I don’t know. Ulama have discussed this issue; I can’t recall any of the wisdoms.
Wallahu ‘alam. If you’re interested in these types of topics, pick up Yasir Qadhi’s book “An Introduction to the Sciences of the Qur’an” (available on Amazon), or take his course Route 114: Sciences of the Qur’an, with AlMaghrib institute.
i liked it
what is meant by two covers.
@fahim it means between the front cover and the back cover of a book.