Reading any book has a purpose and a method. No good reader will ever read a book without taking note of its author, its publisher and its date of publication. And to read any new book, the very first point of call is its contents which tell you the topics and the subjects you will read about in it.
The word Qur’an means continuous recitation. It is so called because of its inimitable origin which makes it a compelling daily reading throughout the world, across nations and ages. It is the unsurpassable word of Allah not only in the grandeur of its diction and splendour of its rendition but also in the depth of its meaning, substance and profundity.
The revelation of this Glorious Book to mankind through an unlettered desert Arab, Muhammad son of Abdullah and Aminah, began in 610 CE. It lasted 22 years and three months (10 years in Makkah and12 years plus three months in Madinah). The book contains 114 chapters and 6236 verses (not 6666 verses often quoted by most Imams and Alfas in Nigeria. Of these 114 chapters, 86 were revealed in Makkah and 28 in Madinah. But the 28 chapters revealed in Madinah constitute two thirds of the entire Book. And this is because the Makkah chapters are short and rhythmically poetic while those of Madinah are long and prose-like.
Although the Qur’an was revealed orally, its writing began almost immediately the revelations started. The writing was however done on primitive materials like wood, animal hides, back of trees and other materials of the like which were then readily available. It was shortly after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), that those writings were collated and rendered into a book form. However, one of the wonders of recording the Qur’an is the classification of those revelations into chapters and verses by the Prophet himself despite his illiteracy.
Qur’an’s main appeal is to man’s intellect, feelings and imagination. But it also gives insight into some natural phenomena like sphericity and revolution of the earth (Q. 39:5), the formation of rain (Q. 30:48); the fertilization of the wind (Q. 15:22); the revolution of the sun, the moon and the planets in their fixed orbit (Q. 36:29-38); the aquatic origin of all creatures (Q. 21:30); the duality of the sex of plants and other creatures (Q. 36:35); the collective life of animals (Q.6:38); the mode of life of the bees (Q. 16:69) and the successive phases of the child in the mother’s womb (Q. 22:5 & 23:14). Yet, the purpose of this Book is not to teach history, astronomy, philosophy or sciences. That is the Qur’an for you, a book that is incomparably divine through all ages and times. Whoever needs to read the Qur’an must know its features as stated above.
DR.Femi Abbas is a columnist at TheNation and can be reached via: e-mail: femabbas756@gmail.com Tel: 0811708536 (Text only)
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