Sikh Religion and Islam (161 pgs) - Global Sikh Studies

for man.” 84 . It contains the revelations communicated by God to
Prophet Muhammad. The Quran had been sent down “confirming
that which (was revealed) before it,” a reference to the Torah (Jewish
scriptures) and the Gospel (Christian scriptures). (HQ 6:93)
Muslims believe that revelation is of two kinds: wahi jali (obvious
and clearly revealed to the senses) and wahi khafi (mystical -
comprehended by the receiver only). The Holy Quran is wahi jali
and the Hadis (ibid) is wahi khafi. The Quran 85 is called “Al-Quran”.
Other names given to it are Quran Sharif, Quran Majeed and Qurane-Karim.
In the Quran itself the name given to it is Furqan-Al-Kitab
(The criterion-Sura 25). The Muslims believe that Quran was
recorded on Loh-e-Mehfooz (preserved tablet) by God before the
creation of the world (HQ85: 21-22) and Jibrael uttered the Quran in
the Prophet’s ear by degrees. “We reveal the scripture unto thee as
an exposition of all things”(HQ 16:89)
The Holy Quran has 114 suras, 29 of which start with a letter or
letters the meaning of which is divinely confidential. 86 The suras are
named after a person, object or an incident. 87 Every sura bears the
words Mecci or Madni indicating whether the Prophet received it in
Mecca or Medina. 88 Suras start with the words, “Bismillah hir
Rehman ir Rahim (In the name of Allah who is beneficent and
84 The Quran Interpreted by Arthur J Arberry, Oxford University Press, 1983.
85
Literally Quran means “Spoken word”. On page 14 of the book ‘Muhammad Arabi’ by
Barkatullah it is recorded with reference to Sahih Muslim that the Prophet said, “Do not record
what you hear from me .If you have recorded anything already then destroy it.” “And thou ( O
Muhammad) was not a reader of any scripture before it, nor didst thou write it with the right
hand, for then might those have doubted who follow falsehood”(HQ 19:48)
86 For example HQ2 Alif, Lam, Mim.HQ10 Alif, Lam, Ray. Seven Suras start with Ha, Mim.
Sura 50 starts with only one letter Kaf. Some people speculate that these letters represent the
names of the scribes.
87
Some Suras are based on a word that appears in the Sura (i.e. Sura Al-Anam),some are
named after
personalities (i.e. Sura 12 Yusuf, Sura 47 Muhammad, Sura 14 Abraham),some others are
named after stories of past prophets (i.e. Sura Hud tells stories of Hud, Aad, Salih, Samud &
Shoaib etc and Sura 18 Al-Kahf tells the story of young men who like seven sleepers of
Ephesus, slept for years in a cave),some Suras are based on incidents (i.e. Sura Al-Anfal is
about the battle of Badr and Sura 66 At-Tahrim is based on an incident of the Prophet with his
wives). Some other Suras are ‘The Cow,’ ‘The Bee’, ‘Smoke,’ ‘Iron’, and ‘The Elephant’
88 The Suras at the beginning of the Holy Quran (With the exception of Sura 1) are longer than
those coming at the end. For example Sura 2 Al Baqarah (The Cow) has 286 ayats whereas
Suras Al Nsr, Al-Kauthur & Al -Asr have only 3 ayats each. The first 19 Suras cover nearly the
whole of the Quran. Sura Baqarah can be called the gist of the whole Quran.
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