? The Qur'an: What Does it Mean

[hoseintabar]

By the Qur'an we mean the verses, phrases, sentences and chapters uttered by the Holy Prophet of Islam, not as his own words, but as the Word and the Book of God revealed to him; this he claimed as his Everlasting Miracle which bears testimony to his Prophethood; and with this he challenged not only those who doubted its origin, and not only humankind alone, but even the Jinns, saying that even if the Jinns and men joined forces to produce the like of it, they would never be able to do even a small part of it This challenge was made not to any particular age, but to all ages.

By this definition we exclude all the utterances of the Holy Prophet which he did not claim to be the words of God (although the ideas and subject matter were certainly a revelation from God). The definition also excludes the words of the Holy Prophet which he presented to the people as the Word of God, but not as a miracle or a part of it with which he challenged the world (namely the various Ahadees-e-Qudsi). These Ahadees-Qudsi are so numerous and abundant that, collected together, they would be no less than the size of the Holy Qur'an, if not more, but their value is no greater than the other genuine traditions of the Holy Prophet This definition must be kept in mind throughout the discussion of the Holy Qur'an
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[hoseintabar]

1. Of the religious records of historical value, pre- Islamic or post-Islamic, in our possession, no document can ever compete with the Holy Qur'an in authenticity. Of the historical records which the Muslims claim to be most authentic and genuine - of the Sunni school the Sehha-e Sitta and of the Shia school the KotobeArba'a - none can be said to have been within the reach of every Muslim from his earliest years until his death as has the Holy Qur'an. And no tradition is considered so important that every Muslim child must learn, recite and memorise it word for word with grammatical accuracy and phonetic perfection as they must do with the Holy Qur'an.

2. This importance and care which is given to the Qur'an by every Muslim did not emerge in a later period. The Muslims were attracted to the Holy Qur'an as the Word of God from the time of its revelation to the Holy Prophet and its recitation to the people. The Holy Qur'an itself; from the time of its revelation, encouraged the people in various ways to learn, read, recite and memorise ft and to ponder over every word of it and to listen carefully when it was recited. When one recites it, one must first prepare for it by dissociating oneself from anything which would cause any diversion of thought or distraction of attention (16:98-7:204).