Quran

The word appears about 70 times in the Quran itself, assuming various meanings. It is a verbal noun (Arabic verbs#Verbal noun (maṣdar)|) of the Arabic verb () meaning 'he read' or 'he recited'. The Syriac equivalent is (), which refers to 'scripture reading' or 'lesson'. While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, the majority of Muslim authorities hold the origin of the word is itself. Regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammad's lifetime. In other verses, the word refers to 'an individual passage recited [by Muhammad]'. Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example: "So when is recited, listen to it and keep silent." The word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel. The term also has closely related synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran. Each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning, but its use may converge with that of in certain contexts. Such terms include ('book'), ('sign'), and ('scripture'); the latter two terms also denote units of revelation. In the large majority of contexts, usually with a definite article (), the word is referred to as the ('revelation'), that which has been "sent down" () at intervals. Other related words include: ('remembrance'), used to refer to the Quran in the sense of a reminder and warning; and ('wisdom'), sometimes referring to the revelation or part of it. Another term is ('The Book'), though it is also used in the Arabic language for other scriptures, such as the Torah and the Gospels. The term ('written work') is often used to refer to particular Quranic manuscripts but is also used in the Quran to identify earlier revealed books. == History ==

Prophetic era Islamic tradition relates that Muhammad received his first revelation in 610 CE in the Cave of Hira on the Laylat al-Qadr during one of his isolated retreats to the mountains. Thereafter, he received revelations over a period of 23 years. The final verse of the Quran was revealed on the 18th of the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah in the year 10 A.H., a date that roughly corresponds to February or March 632. The verse was revealed after the Prophet finished delivering his sermon at Ghadir Khumm. 's first revelation, Sura Al-Alaq, later placed 96th in the Quranic regulations, in current writing style narrates Muhammad describing the revelations as, "Sometimes it is (wahy) like the ringing of a bell" and A'isha reported, "I saw the Prophet being inspired Divinely on a very cold day and noticed the sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over)." "A strong person had taught him". Also expressions like "grew clear to view when he was on the uppermost horizon. Then he drew nigh and came down till he was (distant) two bows' length or even nearer" in the Quran are also linked to the angel of revelation in traditional interpretations. The Islamic studies scholar Welch states in the Encyclopaedia of Islam that, these seizures would have been seen by those around him as convincing evidence for the superhuman origin of Muhammad's inspirations. However, Muhammad's critics accused him of being a possessed man, a soothsayer, or a magician since his experiences were similar to those claimed by such figures well known in ancient Arabia. The revelations traditionally classified as "Meccan" constitute two-thirds of the Quran. It is stated that these revelations were transmitted orally during this period, and then recorded in the years leading up to the Hijrah, a period referred to as the Medinan period (622–632). The Meccan period, along with other religious narratives, is generally known for its reliance on oral tradition, including in relation to the Quran. The poetic style and frequently repetitive composition of the Quran as we know it today are seen as a consequence of the traditional oral communication method of this period. It is thought that the Qur'an began to be written down towards the end of the Meccan period. According to tradition, some of the Quraysh captives taken in the Battle of Badr were given the opportunity to be freed after teaching the Muslims the simple script of that time, and a group of Muslims became literate. Initially transmitted orally, the Qur'an began to be recorded on tablets, bones, and the broad, flat ends of palm tree leaves. Most of suras were in use amongst early Muslims since they are mentioned in numerous sayings by both Sunni and Shia sources, relating Muhammad's use of the Quran as a call to Islam, the making of prayer and the manner of recitation. However, the Quran did not exist in book form at the time of Muhammad's death in 632 at age 61–62. There is agreement among scholars that Muhammad himself did not write down the revelation because of the Quranic description on Muhammad as "". Compilation and preservation , written in Kairouani calligraphy. (1020 AD) According to tradition, after the death of Muhammad in 632, when many of his companions who had memorized the Qur'an were killed by Musaylima in the Battle of al-Yamama, the first caliph Abu Bakr (632-634) decided to compile the book into a single volume for its preservation Zayd's difficulties in collecting the Quranic material from parchments, palm-leaf stalks, thin stones and from men who knew it by heart is recorded in narratives along with a group of friends, and created a draft of the entire book, which he then presented to Abu Bakr. Upon Abu Bakr's death in 644, the Mushaf was given to Muhammad's widow, Hafsa bint Umar, Around the 650s, the spread of Islam beyond the Arabian Peninsula to Persia, the Levant, and North Africa, and the establishment of large military garrisons, necessitated the co-existence, integration, and communal worship of soldiers from different tribes. During this time, conflicts arose among the soldiers due to differing readings of the Quran, presented by Islamic scholars as the use of seven syllables (), and this was reported to Uthman, who requested a solution. Thus, in order to preserve the Holy text, he ordered a committee headed by Zayd to prepare a standard text known as the Uthmanic codex, and copies to sent to various city centers. It is also believed that other versions (or private codices) of the Qur'an were collected and destroyed on Uthman's orders. According to historian Michael Cook, early Muslim accounts of the collection and compilation of the Qur'an sometimes contradict themselves. Current version of the Quranic text is accepted by Muslim scholars -as the Qurayshi version- compiled by Abu Bakr, debated, and somewhat concealed topic. According to some accounts, when Uthman compiled his official codex, he based the writing on the Qurayshi dialect and eliminated other codices gathered from different regions – and therefore expected to have different local dialects; This suggests that the relevant accounts may actually point to a single issue encompassing different codices (variants). While ahruf, were initially scorned and criticized as man-made, five centuries later they were sanctified by being linked to a divine source. None of the variant copies of the Quran attributed to individuals such as Abdullah ibn Masud, Ubayy ibn Ka'b, and Abu Musa al-Ash'ari, some of whom are said to have lived as far back as the 11th century, exist today. Shia had more than 1,000 hadiths ascribed to the Shia Imams which indicate the distortion of the Quran and according to Etan Kohlberg, this belief about Quran was common among Shiites in the early centuries of Islam. Alleged distortions have been carried out to remove any references to the rights of Ali, the Imams and their supporters and the disapproval of enemies, such as Umayyads and Abbasids. Today, the branch of study that delves deeply into the various readings, different narrations, and schools of readings of the Quran is referred to as "Ilm-al Qira'a", and according to some hadiths, dates back to the time of Muhammad. (See: ten canonical recitations) Todays shias recite the Quran according to the of Hafs on authority of 'Asim, which is the prevalent in the Islamic world and expresses that the Quran was gathered and compiled by Muhammad during his lifetime. The modern Qur'an contains numerous commands ("ql" meaning "say") which give it the image of a divine word addressed directly to Muhammad. Michael Cook offers an explanation of this phenomenon through qira'a; in the original texts (Rasm) there was no distinction between "say" or "he said". However, later texts standardized the expression "ql" (which can be read as both "he said" and "say") in these texts to be read as "say" in many places. ==Academic research==

shows the skeletal Arabic script of the Basmala: "ٮسم الله الرحمں الرحىم", and is one of the oldest surviving copies of Quranic pages. Academic research on the Quran should primarily focus on three fundamental issues and seek answers to the following questions: What is the canonical text, from what geography did it originate, and when was it written? And sub-questions regarding how the text emerged; were there preceding texts that formed the text, what are the cultural geography or historical determinants of its development, what is the development of the final text, are there variants, if so, what are the differences between them, etc. However, studies on the Quran rarely went beyond textual criticism and have not produced a critical text that could form the basis for a scientific reconstruction of the Quranic text. Until the early 1970s, non-Muslim Islamic scholars generally accepted the traditional narrative—excluding the divine source—in its entirety. These explanations did not satisfy a new generation of researchers; Some Western scholars question the accuracy of the traditional accounts on whether the holy book existed in any form before the last decade of the seventh century (Patricia Crone and Michael Cook); and/or argue it is a "cocktail of texts", some of which may have been existent a hundred years before Muhammad, that evolved (Gerd R. Puin), or was redacted (J. Wansbrough), to form the Quran. After the creation of this standardized "canonical" text, the earlier texts were suppressed, and all existing manuscripts—despite their numerous variants—appear to date from a time after the creation of this text. According to some researchers like John Wansbrough and Yehuda D. Nevo, later tagged as the revisionist school of Islamic studies, the canonization of the Quran, through the unification of "previus various texts" into a single, unchanging standard text and the elimination of others, took place over a period of approximately 200 years. They argued that a common method within Islamic tradition was to legitimize a practice by attributing it to a past authority that enjoyed high popular acceptance. Although most of the different versions/readings of the Quranic text are no longer transmitted, some still are. . Possibly the oldest, best preserved and most comprehensive Islamic archaeological document to date. The double layer reveals additions to the original text and multiple differences with today's Quran. In 1972, in a mosque in the city of Sanaa, Yemen, manuscripts "consisting of 12,000 pieces" were discovered that were later proven to be the oldest Quranic text known to exist at the time. The Sanaa manuscripts contain palimpsests, manuscript pages from which the text has been washed off to make the parchment reusable again. However, the faint washed-off underlying text () is still barely visible. The German scholar Gerd R. Puin has been investigating these Quran fragments for years. His research team made 35,000 microfilm photographs of the manuscripts, which he dated to the early part of the 8th century. Puin has noted unconventional verse orderings, minor textual variations, and rare styles of orthography, and suggested that some of the parchments were palimpsests which had been reused. Puin believed that this implied an evolving text as opposed to a fixed one. It is also possible that the content of the present-day Qur'an provides information about the geography and history in which the text was likely written. In Quranic studies, while the content of the Quran is seen to be geographically related to the Hejaz and non-Hejaz (Northern Arabian) regions, its is defined and classified in a historical context by fragments pointing to Syriac, Rabbinic, Arabian, Greek and Jewish Christian religious and ethnic origins. Guillaume Dye believes the Quran may be a composite text of traditions originating from many parts of Arabia, including but not limited to the Hejaz. As reported in the narrations, some expressions that are understood today as architectural works are used repeatedly in the Quran and shed light on the dates of writing of the relevant expressions which is known to continue even during the time of Hajjaj. The construction date of the Masjid al-Haram, which is mentioned 16 times in the Quran, is 78 AH, and the construction of the Masjid al-Aqsa coincides with the period of Abd al Malik or al Walid. Furthermore, with a natural external interpretation of the relevant verses, these structures should have been a night's walk from each other. Modern Islamic orthodoxy places these structures in cities like Mecca and Jerusalem, thousands of kilometers away from where Muhammad miraculously flew. (See also:Bakkah) == Contents ==

The Quranic content is concerned with basic Islamic beliefs including the existence of God and the resurrection. Narratives of the early prophets, ethical and legal subjects, historical events of Muhammad's time, charity and prayer also appear in the Quran. The Quranic verses contain general exhortations regarding right and wrong and historical events are related to outline general moral lessons. The style of the Quran has been called "allusive", with commentaries needed to explain what is being referred to—"events are referred to, but not narrated; disagreements are debated without being explained; people and places are mentioned, but rarely named." While tafsir in Islamic sciences expresses the effort to understand the implied and implicit expressions of the Quran, fiqh refers to the efforts to expand the meaning of expressions, especially in the verses related to the provisions, as well as understanding it. , the son of David, king of Judah, had his temple built; which is still the subject of intercultural heritage fights today, under the name of Al-Aqsa, and placed different idols there for his multinational wives according to the Bible. Here he meets the legendary figure, Bilqis, by Edward Poynter, 1890. Quranic studies state that, in the historical context, the content of the Quran is related to Rabbinic, Jewish-Christian, Syriac Christian and Hellenic literature, as well as pre-Islamic Arabia. Many places, subjects and mythological figures in the culture of Arabs and many nations in their historical neighbourhoods, especially Judeo-Christian stories, are included in the Quran with small allusions, references or sometimes small narratives such as jannāt ʿadn, jahannam, Seven Sleepers, Queen of Sheba etc. The stories of Yusuf and Zulaikha, Moses, Family of Amram (parents of Mary according to the Quran) and mysterious hero Dhul-Qarnayn ("the man with two horns") who built a barrier against Gog and Magog that will remain until the end of time are more detailed and longer stories. Apart from semi-historical events and characters such as King Solomon and David, about Jewish history as well as the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, tales of the hebrew prophets accepted in Islam, such as Creation, the Flood, struggle of Abraham with Nimrod, sacrifice of his son occupy a wide place in the Quran. Some philosophers and scholars such as Mohammed Arkoun, who emphasize the mythological content of the Quran, are met with rejectionist attitudes in Islamic circles. In response to the fact that the people mentioned do not correspond to historically known figures, some modern commentators have suggested that these figures should be understood as representative figures portraying certain characters, rather than real ones. Furthermore, considering the findings of the revisionist school of Islamic studies, it is clear that the expression of certain narrative concepts in the Quran that refer to places, people, and events (such as Quraysh, Ababil, and Abu Lahab) in a single word or a few short sentences will require new interpretations and meanings that differ from the traditional narrative within this framework of understanding. (see:Quranic hermeneutics) Creation and God The central theme of the Quran is monotheism. God is depicted as living, eternal, omniscient and omnipotent (see, e.g., Quran , , ). He is the creator of everything, of the heavens and the earth and what is between them (see, e.g., Quran , , , etc.). All human beings are equal in their utter dependence upon God, and their well-being depends upon their acknowledging that fact and living accordingly. calligraphy. Most considered it to be derived from a contraction of the definitive article al- and ilāh "god" meaning "the God". "The Qur'ān insists that Muhammad and his followers worship the same God as the Jews (). The Qur'an's Allah is the same Creator God who covenanted with Abraham". Francis Edward Peters states that the Quran portrays Allah as both more powerful and more remote than Yahweh, and as a universal deity, unlike Yahweh who closely follows Israelites. However, Yahweh is never used for God in the Quran and Islamic texts, but, Rabb is an Arabic word to refers to God meaning Lord and the Quran cites in several places as in the Al-Fatiha; "All Praise and Gratitude is due to God, Lord of all the Universe". Even though Muslims do not doubt about the existence and unity of God, they may have adopted different attitudes that have changed and developed throughout history regarding his nature (attributes), names and relationship with creation. In contrast with pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism, as stated by Gerhard Böwering, God in Islam does not have associates and companions, nor is there any kinship between God and jinn. living in the heavens. This understanding developed over time under the influence of Islamic theology, acquiring a transcendent character. However, in contrast to this transcendent and absolute conception of God established among the elite, the public and Sufis maintained the traditional understanding on God. Also actions and attributes such as coming, going, sitting, satisfaction, anger and sadness etc. similar to humans used for this God in the Quran were considered —"no one knows its interpretation except God" ()—by later scholars stating that God was free from resemblance to humans in any way. Mustafa Öztürk points out the following words of Ahmad Ibn Hanbal in this regard: "Whoever says that Allah is everywhere is a heretic, an infidel. He should be invited to repent, but if he does not, be killed." This understanding changes later and gives way to the understanding that "God cannot be assigned a place and He is everywhere." Islam regards Abraham as a link in the chain of prophets that begins with Adam and culminates in Muhammad via Ishmael and mentioned in 35 chapters of the Quran, more often than any other biblical personage apart from Moses. Muslims regard him as a hanif, an archetype of the perfect Muslim, and revered prophet and builder of the Kaaba in Mecca. The Quran consistently refers to Islam as 'the religion of Abraham' (). In Islam, Eid-al-Adha is celebrated to commemorate Abraham's attempt to sacrifice his son by surrendering in line with his dream, (As-Saaffat; 100–107) which he accepted as the will of God. and her servants finding baby Moses in the Nile, ''Jami' al-tawarikh''; possibly pious fiction that follows the footsteps of Sargon of Akkad's accounts. It is a part of the founding myths of the Israelites, which were widely covered in the Quran. In Islam, Moses is a prominent prophet and messenger of God and the most frequently mentioned individual in the Quran, with his name being mentioned 136 times and his life being narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet. or his contemporaries. The individuals to whom the expressions used in Quranic polemics belong and the contexts in which they were used are merely notes made in commentaries written in later centuries. An exception is his slave/adopted son Zayd, whose name is mentioned in the verses (Al-Aḥzāb;37) in the context of his -divorced- wife being taken into Muhammad's marriages. Probably the clearest biographical account of Muhammad in the Quran is the brief mention of his followers' settlement in Yathrib after their expulsion by the Quraysh, and of military encounters such as the Muslim victory at Badr. Ethico-religious concepts While belief in God and obedience to the prophets are the main emphasis in the prophetic stories, there are also non-prophetic stories in the Quran that emphasize the importance of humility and having profound-inner knowledge (hikmah) besides trusting in God. This is the main theme in the stories of Khidr, Luqman and Dhul Qarnayn. According to the later ascriptions to these stories, it is possible for those with this knowledge and divine support to teach the prophets (Khidr-Moses story Quran 18:65–82) and employ jinn (Dhul Qarnayn). Those who "spend their wealth" on people who are in need because they devoted their lives to the way of Allah and whose situation is unknown because they are ashamed to ask, will be rewarded by Allah. (Al Baqara; 272-274) In the story of Qārūn, the person who avoids searching for the afterlife with his wealth and becomes arrogant will be punished, arrogance befits only God. (Al Mutakabbir) Characters of the stories can be closed-mythical, (Khidr) demi-mythologic or combined characters, and it can also be seen that they are Islamized. While some believe he was a prophet, some researchers equate Luqman with the Alcmaeon of Croton or Aesop. ''Commanding ma'ruf and forbidding munkar'' (Ar. ٱلْأَمْرُ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَٱلنَّهْيُ عَنِ ٱلْمُنْكَرِ) is repeated or referred to in nearly 30 verses in different contexts in the Quran and is an important part of Islamist / jihadist indoctrination today, as well as Shiite teachings. Although a common translation of the phrase is "Enjoining good and forbidding evil", the words used by Islamic philosophy determining good and evil in discourses are "husn" and "qubh". The word ma'ruf literally means "known" or what is approved because of its familiarity for a certain society and its antithesis munkar means what is disapproved because it is unknown and extraneous. The Quran is one of the fundamental sources of Islamic law (sharia). Some formal religious practices receive significant attention in the Quran including the salat and fasting in the month of Ramadan. As for the manner in which the prayer is to be conducted, the Quran refers to prostration. The term chosen for charity, zakat, literally means purification implies that it is a self-purification. In fiqh, the term fard is used for clear imperative provisions based on the Quran. However, it is not possible to say that the relevant verses are understood in the same way by all segments of Islamic commentators; For example, Hanafis accept 5 daily prayers as fard. However, some religious groups such as Quranists and Shiites, who do not doubt that the Quran existing today is a religious source, infer from the same verses that it is clearly ordered to pray two or three times, not five times. About six verses address the way a woman should dress when in public; Some Muslim scholars consider this verse referring to the Hijab and tax (zakat), developed as an evolution of pre-Islamic Arabian rituals. Arabic words meaning pilgrimage (hajj), prayer (salāt) and charity (zakāt) can be seen in pre-Islamic Safaitic-Arabic inscriptions, and this continuity can be observed in many details, especially in hajj and umrah. As a source of law and judgment A small number of verses in the Quran are about general rules of governance, inheritance, marriage, crime and punishment. Although the Quran does not impose a specific legal-management system, it emphasizes custom in nearly 40 verses and commands justice. (An-Nahl; 90) The practices prescribed in the Quran are considered as reflections of contextual legal understandings, as can be clearly seen in some examples such as Qisas and Diya. The following statement in the Quran is thought to be the general rule of testimony in Islamic jurisprudence, except for crime and punishment - for example, debt, shopping, etc.; O believers! When you contract a loan for a fixed period of time, commit it to writing....with justice. Call upon two of your men to witness. If two men cannot be found, then one man and two women of your choice will witness so if one of the women forgets the other may remind her. As a different example, in the necklace story of Aisha, called Asbab al-Nuzul for surah An-Nur :11-20 four witnesses were required for the accusation of adultery. In addition, those who made accusations that did not meet the specified conditions would be punished with 80 lashes. The jurisprudence of later periods stipulates that witnesses must be men, covering all hadd crimes and people who did not have credibility and honesty in society (slaves, non-adl; sinners, infidels) could not testify against believers. In addition, the Islamic judiciary did not require proof of the issues defined as tazir. meaning "those whom your right hands possess". The widespread use of slavery in the Islamic world continued until the last century, and the unrestricted sexual use of female slaves, with a few exceptions such as they couldn't be loaned out in traditional islamic jurisprudence while stated today often that sharia provides many rights to slaves and aims to eradicate slavery over time. , following in the footsteps of Fazlurrahman, argues that the verses were revealed in a historical context and derived rulings are not among the essence and aims of religion; Slaves and female slaves were considered property within the framework derived from the Quranic verses; Their masters could set them free, sell them, bequeath them, share them, or rent them out. Öztürk adds Al-Sarakhsi's ijtihad that the paternity of the born child in this situation could be determined by draw and asks; is there anyone among you who can accept this understanding today? Sharia is a collection of laws and rules created by scholars' interpretations on the Quran and hadith collections, and has been developed over the centuries, changing according to different geographies and societies. Fiqh sects are schools of understanding that try to determine the actions that people should do or avoid based on the Quran and hadiths. The place of hadiths in legislation is controversial; for example, in the Hanafi sect, in order to claim that something is obligatory, that issue must be clearly expressed in the Quran. Some of these results may also indicate exaggeration of statements, generalizations taken out of context, and imperative broadening of scope. Of the few criminal cases listed as crimes in the Quran, only a few of them are punished by the classical books of sharia as determined by the verses of the Quran and are called hudud laws. How the verse Al-Ma'idah 33, which describes the crime of hirabah, should be understood is a matter of debate even today. The verse talks about the punishment of criminals by killing, hanging, having their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, and being exiled from the earth, in response to an -abstract- crime such as "fighting against Allah and His Messenger". Expanding or narrowing the conditions and scope of this crime according to new situations and universal legal standards are issues that continue to be discussed today through a variety of propaganda methods, from civic political activities to terrorism. Eschatology The doctrine of the last day and eschatology (the final fate of the universe) may be considered the second great doctrine of the Quran. The Quran does not assert a natural immortality of the human soul, since man's existence is dependent on the will of God: when he wills, he causes man to die; and when he wills, he raises him to life again in a bodily resurrection. also mentioned with the same name (jannāt ʿadn) in the Quran, with the difference is that it was not the place where Adam and Eve were sent down on earth, but the garden promised to believers after death.(Al-Kahf;30-31) In the Quran belief in the afterlife is often referred in conjunction with belief in God: "Believe in God and the last day" emphasizing what is considered impossible is easy in the sight of God. A number of suras such as 44, 56, 75, 78, 81 and 101 are directly related to the afterlife and warn people to be prepared for the "imminent" day referred to in various ways. It is 'the Day of Judgment,' 'the Last Day,' 'the Day of Resurrection,' or simply 'the Hour.' Less frequently it is 'the Day of Distinction', 'the Day of the Gathering' or 'the Day of the Meeting'. Dabba, and Gog and Magog. When the time of the apocalypse comes -which is told in a poetic form- the sun is rolled up, the stars fall down, seas are set on fire, mountains are moved people run away in fear and pregnant women miscarry.(At-Takwir 1-7) Then a square is set up and the king or lord of the day;(māliki yawmi-d-dīn) comes and shows his shin; the looks are fearful, those gathered in the square are invited to prostrate;(Al-Qalam 42-43) the question asked is why the innocent female children were killed.(At-Takwir 8-9) == Text and arrangement ==

The Quran consists of 114 chapters of varying lengths, known as a sūrah. Each sūrah consists of verses, known as āyāt, which originally means a 'sign' or 'evidence' sent by God. The number of verses differs from sūrah to sūrah. An individual verse may be just a few letters or several lines. The total number of verses in the most popular Hafs Quran is 6,236; however, the number varies if the bismillahs are counted separately. According to one estimate the Quran consists of 77,430 words, 18,994 unique words, 12,183 stems, 3,382 lemmas and 1,685 roots. , one of the legendary figures in the Bible whose story is told without naming in the Quran, lying in a garden, facing a hoopoe, Solomon's messenger. Persian miniature (c. 1595). Chapters are classified as Meccan or Medinan, depending on whether the verses were revealed before or after the migration of Muhammad to the city of Medina on traditional account. However, a sūrah classified as Medinan may contain Meccan verses in it and vice versa. Sūrah names are derived from a name or a character in the text, or from the first letters or words of the sūrah. Chapters are not arranged in chronological order, rather the chapters appear to be arranged roughly in order of decreasing size. Each sūrah except the ninth starts with the Bismillah (), an Arabic phrase meaning 'In the name of God.' There are, however, still 114 occurrences of the Bismillah in the Quran, due to its presence in Quran as the opening of Solomon's letter to the Queen of Sheba. The Muqattaʿat ( , 'disjoined letters, disconnected letters'; also 'mysterious letters') The letters are also known as fawātih (), or 'openers', as they form the opening verse of their respective suras. Four surahs are named for their : Ṭāʾ-Hāʾ, Yāʾ-Sīn, Ṣād, and Qāf. Various theories have been put forward; they were a secret communication language between Allah and Muhammad, abbreviations of various names or attributes of Allah, symbols of the versions of the Quran belonging to different companions, elements of a secret coding system, or expressions containing esoteric meanings. Some researchers associate them with hymns used in Syrian Christianity. The phrases must have been part of these hymns or abbreviations of frequently repeated introductory phrases. Some of them, such as Nun, were used in symbolic meanings. In addition of the division into chapters, there are various ways of dividing Quran into parts of approximately equal length for convenience in reading. The 30 ''juz' (plural ) can be used to read through the entire Quran in a month. A is sometimes further divided into two ḥizb (plural ), and each subdivided into four . The Quran is also divided into seven approximately equal parts, manzil'' (plural ), for it to be recited in a week. The language of the Quran has been described as "rhymed prose" as it partakes of both poetry and prose; however, this description runs the risk of failing to convey the rhythmic quality of Quranic language, which is more poetic in some parts and more prose-like in others. Rhyme, while found throughout the Quran, is conspicuous in many of the earlier Meccan suras, in which relatively short verses throw the rhyming words into prominence. The effectiveness of such a form is evident for instance in Sura 81, and there can be no doubt that these passages impressed the conscience of the hearers. Frequently a change of rhyme from one set of verses to another signals a change in the subject of discussion. Later sections also preserve this form but the style is more expository. Today, the Quranic text contains numerous expressions ('ql' meaning "say") that create the image of it as a direct divine word commanding Muhammad. Michael Cook has noted an aspect of this phenomenon. There was no distinction between "say" or "he said" in the original texts (Rasm). However, later texts standardized the "ql" expression (which can be read as both "he said" and "say") in these texts to be read as "say" in many places. (According to the current reading style, the word "Say" appears a total of 332 times in the Quran.) The Quranic text seems to have no beginning, middle, or end, its nonlinear structure being akin to a web or net. Sells also addresses the much-discussed repetitiveness of the Quran, seeing this, too, as a literary device. Another group of researchers explores the irregularities and repetitions mentioned in the Quranic text in a way that refutes the traditional claim that it was preserved by memorization alongside writing. According to them, an oral period shaped the Quran as a text and order, and mentioned repetitions and irregularities were remnants of this period. A text is self-referential when it speaks about itself and makes reference to itself. According to Stefan Wild, the Quran demonstrates this metatextuality by explaining, classifying, interpreting and justifying the words to be transmitted. Self-referentiality is evident in those passages where the Quran refers to itself as revelation (), remembrance (dhikr), news (), criterion () in a self-designating manner (explicitly asserting its Divinity, "And this is a blessed Remembrance that We have sent down; so are you now denying it?"), or in the frequent appearance of the "Say" tags, when Muhammad is commanded to speak (e.g., "Say: 'God's guidance is the true guidance'", "Say: 'Would you then dispute with us concerning God?'"). According to Wild the Quran is highly self-referential. The feature is more evident in early Meccan suras. Inimitability In Islam, (), "inimitability challenge" of the Quran in sense of feṣāḥa and belagha (both eloquence and rhetoric) is the doctrine which holds that the Quran has a miraculous quality, both in content and in form, that no human speech can match. According to this, the Quran is a miracle and its inimitability is the proof granted to Muhammad in authentication of his prophetic status. The literary quality of the Quran has been praised by Muslim scholars and by many non-Muslim scholars. The doctrine of the miraculousness of the Quran is further emphasized by Muhammad's illiteracy since the unlettered prophet could not have been suspected of composing the Quran. , Muhammad with hidden face. 16th-century . A possible idiom, also mentioned in Imru' al-Qais poems, was understood as the physical disintegration and supported by hadiths despite the Quran itself denies miracles, in the traditional sense. The Quran is widely regarded as the finest work in Arabic literature. experience; the aesthetic experience of reciting and hearing the Quran is often regarded as one of the main reasons behind conversion to Islam in the early days. Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry was an element of challenge, propaganda and warfare, and those who incapacitated their opponents from doing the same in feṣāḥa and Belagha socially honored, as could be seen on Mu'allaqat poets. The etymology of the word "shā'ir; (poet)" connotes the meaning of a man of inspirational knowledge, of unseen powers. `To the early Arabs poetry was ṣihr ḥalāl and the poet was a genius who had supernatural communications with the jinn or spirits, the muses who inspired him.' in wars that continued for hundreds of years with mutual victories and defeats. The first works about the of the Quran began to appear in the 9th century in the Mu'tazila circles, which emphasized only its literary aspect, and were adopted by other religious groups. According to grammarian Al-Rummani the eloquence contained in the Quran consisted of tashbīh, istiʿāra, taǧānus, mubālaġa, concision, clarity of speech (bayān), and talāʾum. He also added other features developed by himself; the free variation of themes (taṣrīf al-maʿānī), the implication content (taḍmīn) of the expressions and the rhyming closures (fawāṣil). The most famous works on the doctrine of inimitability are two medieval books by the grammarian Al Jurjani (d. 1078 CE), ''Dala'il al-i'jaz'' ('the Arguments of Inimitability') and Asraral-balagha ('the Secrets of Eloquence'). Al Jurjani believed that Quran's eloquence must be a certain special quality in the manner of its stylistic arrangement and composition or a certain special way of joining words. In the context of the emergence of the theory of "proofs of prophecy" (dâ'il an-nubuwwa) in Islamic theology, proving that the Quran is a work worthy of the emphasized superior place of Muhammad in the history of the prophets, thus gaining polemical superiority over Jews and Christians; Preservation of Arab national pride in the face of confrontation with the Iranian Shu'ubiyya movement, etc. Orientalist scholars Theodor Nöldeke, Friedrich Schwally and John Wansbrough, pointing out linguistic defects, held similar opinions on the Quranic text as careless and imperfect. == Significance in Islam ==

Quran says, "We have sent down the Quran in truth, and with the truth it has come down" and frequently asserts in its text that it is divinely ordained. The Quran speaks of a written pre-text that records God's speech before it is sent down, the "preserved tablet" that is the basis of the belief in fate also, and Muslims believe that the Quran was sent down or started to be sent down on the Laylat al-Qadr. Revered by pious Muslims as "the holy of holies", whose sound moves some to "tears and ecstasy", it is the physical symbol of the faith, the text often used as a charm on occasions of birth, death, marriage. Traditionally, before starting to read the Quran, ablution is performed, one seeks refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan, and the reading begins by mentioning the names of Allah, Rahman and Rahim together known as basmala. Consequently, It must never rest beneath other books, but always on top of them, one must never drink or smoke when it is being read aloud, and it must be listened to in silence. It is a talisman against disease and disaster. According to Islam, the Quran is the word of God (). Its nature and whether it was created became a matter of fierce debate among religious scholars; and with the involvement of the political authority in the discussions, some Muslim religious scholars who stood against the political stance faced religious persecution during the caliph al-Ma'mun period and the following years. Muslims believe that the present Quranic text corresponds to that revealed to Muhammad, and according to their interpretation of Quran , it is protected from corruption ("Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardians"). Muslims consider the Quran to be a sign of the prophethood of Muhammad and the truth of the religion. For this reason, in traditional Islamic societies, great importance was given to children memorizing the Quran, and those who memorized the entire Quran were honored with the title of hafiz. Even today, "millions and millions of people refer to the Koran daily to explain their actions and to justify their aspirations" or see it as the source of scientific knowledge, though this has been criticized as pseudoscientific. Muslims believe the Quran to be God's literal words, the final revelation to humanity, a work of divine guidance revealed to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. On the other hand it is believed in Muslim community that full understanding of it can only be possible with the depths obtained in the basic and religious sciences that the ulema (imams in shia) might access, as "heirs of the prophets". For this reason, direct reading of the Quran or applications based on its literal translations are considered problematic except for some groups such as Quranists thinking that the Quran is a complete and clear book; and tafsir / fiqh are brought fore to correct understandings in it. With a classical approach, scholars will discuss verses of the Quran in context called asbab al-nuzul in islamic literature, as well as language and linguistics; will pass it through filters such as muhkam and mutashabih, nasıkh and abrogated; will open the closed expressions and try to guide the believers. There is no standardization in Quran translations, and interpretations range from traditional scholastic, to literalist-salafist understandings to Esoteric-Sufist, to modern and secular exegesis according to the personal scientific depth and tendencies of scholars. In worship Surah Al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Quran, is recited in full in every rakat of salah and on other occasions. This sura, which consists of seven verses, is the most often recited surah of the Quran: God—the Sustainer ˹needed by all˺. He has never had offspring, nor was He born. And there is none comparable to Him." }} Respect for the written text of the Quran is an important element of religious faith by many Muslims, and the Quran is treated with reverence. Based on tradition and a literal interpretation of Quran ("none shall touch but those who are clean"), some Muslims believe that they must perform a ritual cleansing with water (wudu or ghusl) before touching a copy of the Quran, although this view is not universal. While praying, the Quran is only recited in Arabic. In Islam, most intellectual disciplines, including Islamic theology, philosophy, mysticism and jurisprudence, have been concerned with the Quran or have their foundation in its teachings. In Islamic art The Quran also inspired Islamic arts and specifically the so-called Quranic arts of calligraphy and illumination. The Quran is never decorated with figurative images, but many Qurans have been highly decorated with decorative patterns in the margins of the page, or between the lines or at the start of suras. Islamic verses appear in many other media, on buildings and on objects of all sizes, such as mosque lamps, metal work, pottery and single pages of calligraphy for muraqqas or albums. File:Brooklyn Museum - Calligraphy - 3.jpg|Calligraphy, 18th century, Brooklyn Museum. File:Quran inscriptions on wall, Lodhi Gardens, Delhi.jpg|Quranic inscriptions, Bara Gumbad mosque, Delhi, India. File:Mosque lamp Met 91.1.1534.jpg|Typical mosque lamp, of enamelled glass, with the Ayat an-Nur or "Verse of Light" (24:35). File:Muhammad ibn Mustafa Izmiri - Right Side of an Illuminated Double-page Incipit - Walters W5771B - Full Page.jpg|Quran page decoration art, Ottoman period. File:Mausolées du groupe nord (Shah-i-Zinda, Samarcande) (6016470147).jpg|Quranic verses, Shahizinda mausoleum, Samarkand, Uzbekistan. File:4.8-17-1990-Guld-koranside-recto-og-verso.jpg|The leaves from Quran written in gold and contoured with brown ink with a horizontal format suited to classical Kufic calligraphy, which became common under the early Abbasid caliphs. File:Quran rzabasi1.JPG|9th-century Quran in the Reza Abbasi Museum File:Shikastah script.jpg|Shikasta nastaliq script, 18th–19th centuries == Interpretation ==

94-97); Dhu al-Qarnayn, mostly identified by Western and Muslim scholars as Alexander the Great building a wall with the help of the jinns to keep away Gog and Magog. Miniature, Chester Beatty Library. Tafsir ( ; ) refers to an exegesis, or commentary, of the Quran. An author of a tafsir is a '' (; plural: ). A Quranic tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, interpretation, context or commentary for clear understanding and conviction of God's will in Islam. Principally, a tafsir deals with the issues of linguistics, jurisprudence, and theology. In terms of perspective and approach, tafsir can be broadly divided into two main categories, namely ''tafsir bi-al-ma'thur (lit. received tafsir), which is transmitted from the early days of Islam through the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his companions, and tafsir bi-al-ra'y (lit. tafsir'' by opinion), which is arrived through personal reflection or independent rational thinking. Quranic hermeneutics, and hermeneutics in general, refers to efforts to understand the Quran and Islamic texts through a more objective and secular approach, using universal criteria and moving beyond traditionally imposed forms. The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran offers a new and compelling approach to understanding the implications of the Quran, based on linguistic and geographical-cultural knowledge that also coincides with the findings of historical research of the revisionist school. There are different characteristics and traditions for each of the tafsirs representing respective schools and doctrines, such as Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, and Sufism. There are also general distinctions between classic tafsirs compiled by authoritative figures of Muslim scholarship during the formative ages of Islam, and modern tafsir which seeks to address a wider audience, including the common people. and etymological development of the words and symbols that make up the language, can turn Quranic Sidrat al-Muntaha into the Lote tree. Exoteric and Esoteric interpretations (''ta'wil'') Commentaries dealing with the zahir ('outward aspects') of the text are called , (explanation) and hermeneutic and esoteric commentaries dealing with the batin are called ''ta'wil'' ('interpretation'). Commentators with an esoteric slant believe that the ultimate meaning of the Quran is known only to God. According to Sands, esoteric interpretations are more suggestive than declarative, and are allusions () rather than explanations (tafsir). They indicate possibilities as much as they demonstrate the insights of writers. Shias and Sunnis as well as some Muslim philosophers believe the meaning of the Quran is not restricted to the literal aspect. In contrast, Quranic literalism, followed by Salafis and Zahiris, is the belief that the Quran should only be taken at its apparent meaning. Henry Corbin narrates a hadith that goes back to Muhammad: The Quran possesses an external appearance and a hidden depth, an exoteric meaning and an esoteric meaning. This esoteric meaning in turn conceals an esoteric meaning. So it goes on for seven esoteric meanings. Corbin considers the Quran to play a part in Islamic philosophy, because Gnosiology itself goes hand in hand with prophetology. == Translations ==

Translating the Quran has always been problematic and difficult. Many argue that the Quranic text cannot be reproduced in another language or form. An Arabic word may have a range of meanings depending on the context, making an accurate translation difficult. Moreover, one of the biggest difficulties in understanding the Quran for those who do not know its language in the face of shifts in linguistic usage over the centuries is semantic translations (meanings) that include the translator's contributions to the relevant text instead of literal ones. Although the author's contributions are often bracketed and shown separately, the author's individual tendencies may also come to the fore in making sense of the main text. These studies contain reflections and even distortions caused by the region, sect, education, ideology and knowledge of the people who made them, and efforts to reach the real content are drowned in the details of volumes of commentaries. These distortions can manifest themselves in many areas of belief and practices such as hijab. In fact, every new interpretation and translation of the Quran inherently involves a new semantic restructuring of it. Muslim girls reciting the Quran placed atop folding lecterns (rehal) during Ramadan in the city of Qom, Iran Islamic tradition also holds that translations were made for Negus of Abyssinia and Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, as both received letters by Muhammad containing verses from the Quran. Another translation of the Quran was completed in 884 in Alwar (Sindh, India, now Pakistan) by the orders of Abdullah bin Umar bin Abdul Aziz on the request of the Hindu Raja Mehruk. The first fully attested complete translations of the Quran were done between the 10th and 12th centuries in Persian. The Samanid king, Mansur I (961–976), ordered a group of scholars from Khorasan to translate the Tafsir al-Tabari, originally in Arabic, into Persian. Later in the 11th century, one of the students of Abu Mansur Abdullah al-Ansari wrote a complete tafsir of the Quran in Persian. In the 12th century, Najm al-Din Abu Hafs al-Nasafi translated the Quran into Persian. The manuscripts of all three books have survived and have been published several times. In 1936, translations in 102 languages were known. Robert of Ketton's 1143 translation of the Quran for Peter the Venerable, Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete, was the first into a Western language (Latin). Alexander Ross offered the first English version in 1649, from the French translation of (1647) by Andre du Ryer. In 1734, George Sale produced the first scholarly translation of the Quran into English; another was produced by Richard Bell in 1937, and yet another by Arthur John Arberry in 1955. While all these translators were non-Muslims, there have been numerous translations by Muslims: popular modern English translations by Muslims include The Oxford World Classics translation by Muhammad Abdel Haleem, The Clear Quran by Mustafa Khattab, Sahih International's translation, among various others. As with translations of the Bible, the English translators have sometimes favored archaic English words and constructions over their more modern or conventional equivalents; for example, two widely read translators, Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Marmaduke Pickthall, use the plural and singular ye and thou instead of the more common you. The oldest Gurmukhi translation of the Quran Sharif has been found in village Lande of Moga district of Indian Punjab which was printed in 1911. Page from the Qur'an of Sultan Ibrahim (TKS EH 209).jpg|1091 Quranic text in bold script with Persian translation and commentary in a lighter script File:Ilkhanid Quran.jpg|Arabic Quran with interlinear Persian translation from the Ilkhanid Era File:Alcoran de Mahomet 1647.jpg|The first printed Quran in a European vernacular language: , André du Ryer, 1647 File:Koran by Megerlein 1772.jpg|Title page of the first German translation (1772) of the Quran File:Chinese quran.jpg|Verses 33 and 34 of surat Yā Sīn in this Chinese translation of the Quran == Recitation ==

, Damascus, Syria Rules of recitation The proper recitation of the Quran is the subject of a separate discipline named tajwid which determines in detail how the Quran should be recited, how each individual syllable is to be pronounced, the need to pay attention to the places where there should be a pause, to elisions, where the pronunciation should be long or short, where letters should be sounded together and where they should be kept separate, etc. It may be said that this discipline studies the laws and methods of the proper recitation of the Quran and covers three main areas: the proper pronunciation of consonants and vowels (the articulation of the Quranic phonemes), the rules of pause in recitation and of resumption of recitation, and the musical and melodious features of recitation. In order to avoid incorrect pronunciation, reciters follow a program of training with a qualified teacher. The two most popular texts used as references for rules are Matn al-Jazariyyah by Ibn al-Jazari and Tuhfat al-Atfal by Sulayman al-Jamzuri. The recitations of a few Egyptian reciters, like El Minshawy, Al-Hussary, Abdul Basit, Mustafa Ismail, were highly influential in the development of current styles of recitation. Southeast Asia is well known for world-class recitation, evidenced in the popularity of the woman reciters such as Maria Ulfah of Jakarta. Variant readings The variant readings of the Quran are one type of textual variant. According to Melchert (2008), the majority of disagreements have to do with vowels to supply, most of them in turn not conceivably reflecting dialectal differences and about one in eight disagreements has to do with whether to place dots above or below the line. Nasser categorizes variant readings into various subtypes, including internal vowels, long vowels, gemination (shaddah), assimilation and alternation. The first Quranic manuscripts lacked marks, enabling multiple possible recitations to be conveyed by the same written text. The 10th-century Muslim scholar from Baghdad, Ibn Mujāhid, is famous for establishing seven acceptable textual readings of the Quran. He studied various readings and their trustworthiness and chose seven 8th-century readers from the cities of Mecca, Medina, Kufa, Basra and Damascus. Ibn Mujahid did not explain why he chose seven readers, rather than six or ten, but this may be related to a prophetic tradition (Muhammad's saying) reporting that the Quran had been revealed in seven ahruf. Today, the most popular readings are those transmitted by Ḥafṣ (d. 796) and Warsh (d. 812) which are according to two of Ibn Mujahid's reciters, Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud (Kufa, d. 745) and Nafiʽ al-Madani (Medina, d. 785), respectively. The influential standard Quran of Cairo uses an elaborate system of modified vowel-signs and a set of additional symbols for minute details and is based on ʻAsim's recitation, the 8th-century recitation of Kufa. This edition has become the standard for modern printings of the Quran. Occasionally, an early Quran shows compatibility with a particular reading. A Syrian manuscript from the 8th century is shown to have been written according to the reading of Ibn Amir ad-Dimashqi. Another study suggests that this manuscript bears the vocalization of himsi region. According to Ibn Taymiyyah vocalization markers indicating specific vowel sounds (tashkeel) were introduced into the text of the Quran during the lifetimes of the last Sahabah. == Writing and printing ==

Writing Before printing was widely adopted in the 19th century, the Quran was transmitted in manuscripts made by calligraphers and copyists. The earliest manuscripts were written in Ḥijāzī-typescript. The Hijazi style manuscripts nevertheless confirm that transmission of the Quran in writing began at an early stage. Probably in the ninth century, scripts began to feature thicker strokes, which are traditionally known as Kufic scripts. Toward the end of the ninth century, new scripts began to appear in copies of the Quran and replace earlier scripts. The reason for discontinuation in the use of the earlier style was that it took too long to produce and the demand for copies was increasing. Copyists would therefore choose simpler writing styles. Beginning in the 11th century, the styles of writing employed were primarily the naskh, muhaqqaq, rayḥānī and, on rarer occasions, the thuluth script. Naskh was in very widespread use. In North Africa and Iberia, the Maghribī style was popular. More distinct is the Bihari script which was used solely in the north of India. Nastaʻlīq style was also rarely used in Persian world. In the beginning, the Quran was not written with dots or tashkeel. These features were added to the text during the lifetimes of the last of the Sahabah. Since it would have been too costly for most Muslims to purchase a manuscript, copies of the Quran were held in mosques in order to make them accessible to people. These copies frequently took the form of a series of 30 parts or juzʼ. In terms of productivity, the Ottoman copyists provide the best example. This was in response to widespread demand, unpopularity of printing methods and for aesthetic reasons. File:Brooklyn Museum - Folio from the "Blue" Qur'an.jpg|Folio from the "Blue" Quran at the Brooklyn Museum File:Folio from a Koran (8th-9th century).jpg|Kufic script, eighth or ninth century File:Qur'anic Manuscript - Maghribi script.jpg|Maghribi script, 13th–14th centuries File:Muhaqqaq script.gif|Muhaqqaq script, 14th–15th centuries Printing Wood-block printing of extracts from the Quran is on record as early as the 10th century. Arabic movable type printing was ordered by Pope Julius II () for distribution among Middle Eastern Christians. The first complete Quran printed with movable type was produced in Venice in 1537–1538 for the Ottoman market by Paganino Paganini and Alessandro Paganini. But this Quran was not used as it contained a large number of errors. Two more editions include the Hinckelmann edition published by the pastor Abraham Hinckelmann in Hamburg in 1694, and the edition by the Italian priest Ludovico Maracci in Padua in 1698 with Latin translation and commentary. Printed copies of the Quran during this period met with strong opposition from Muslim legal scholars: printing anything in Arabic was prohibited in the Ottoman empire between 1483 and 1726—initially, even on penalty of death. The Ottoman ban on printing in Arabic script was lifted in 1726 for non-religious texts only upon the request of Ibrahim Muteferrika, who printed his first book in 1729. Except for books in Hebrew and European languages, which were unrestricted, very few books, and no religious texts, were printed in the Ottoman Empire for another century. In 1786, Catherine the Great of Russia, sponsored a printing press for "Tatar and Turkish orthography" in Saint Petersburg, with one Mullah Osman Ismail responsible for producing the Arabic types. A Quran was printed with this press in 1787, reprinted in 1790 and 1793 in Saint Petersburg, and in 1803 in Kazan. The first edition printed in Iran appeared in Tehran (1828), a translation in Turkish was printed in Cairo in 1842, and the first officially sanctioned Ottoman edition was finally printed in Constantinople between 1875 and 1877 as a two-volume set, during the First Constitutional Era. Gustav Flügel published an edition of the Quran in 1834 in Leipzig, which remained authoritative in Europe for close to a century, until Cairo's Al-Azhar University published an edition of the Quran in 1924. This edition was the result of a long preparation, as it standardized Quranic orthography, and it remains the basis of later editions. == Criticism ==

Regarding the claim of divine origin, critics refer to pre-existing sources, not only taken from the Bible, supposed to be older revelations of God, but also from heretic, Apocryphic and talmudic sources, such as the Syriac Infancy Gospel and Gospel of James. The Quran acknowledges that accusations of borrowing popular ancient fables were being made against Muhammad. == Relationship with other literature ==

Some non-Muslim groups such as the Baháʼí Faith and Druze view the Quran as holy. In the Baháʼí Faith, the Quran is accepted as authentic revelation from God along with the revelations of the other world religions, Islam being viewed as a stage within the divine process of progressive revelation. Bahá'u'lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Baháʼí Faith, wrote about the Quran. Unitarian Universalists may also seek inspiration from the Quran. It has been suggested that the Quran has some narrative similarities to the Diatessaron, Protoevangelium of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Arabic Infancy Gospel. One scholar has suggested that the Diatessaron, as a gospel harmony, may have led to the conception that the Christian Gospel is one text. Relationship with Jewish and Christian texts and the giant fish in the ''Jami' al-tawarikh'', Metropolitan Museum. A common folktale finds its place in the as well as in other sacred texts and can be traced in Oannes, Indian yogi Matsyendranatha, and the Greek hero Jason. The Quran attributes its relationship with former books (the Torah, or Tawrāh and the Gospel, or ʾInjīl) to their unique origin, saying all of them have been revealed by Allah, through it asserts that Jews and Christians have corrupted it through falsification and alteration (Taḥrīf). According to Christoph Luxenberg (in The Syro-Aramaic Reading of the Koran) the Quran's language was similar to the Syriac language. The Quran recounts stories of many of the people and events recounted in Jewish and Christian sacred books (Tanakh, Bible) and devotional literature (Apocrypha, Midrash), although it differs in many details. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Eber, Shelah, Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Jethro, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Aaron, Moses, Zechariah, John the Baptist and Jesus are mentioned in the Quran as prophets of God (see Prophets of Islam). In fact, Moses is mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual. Jesus is mentioned more often in the Quran than Muhammad (by name—Muhammad is often alluded to as "The Prophet" or "The Apostle"), while Mary is mentioned in the Quran more than in the New Testament. Relationship with Arab writing After the Quran, and the general rise of Islam, the Arabic alphabet developed rapidly into an art form. == See also ==