A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO HOLY QURAN

Holy Quran is the Holy Book, which contains the text of the literal words of Allah, the Almighty which were revealed to the prophet of Islam, Muhammad PBUH. The literal meaning of Holy Quran is " recitation". In different dialects and languages, the word Holy Quran is spoken as Holy Qur’aan, Holy Koran, AlQuran, AlQur’aan, Holy Coran etc. Holy Quran is the book of devine guidance and direction for the mankind from the Almighty Allah and its text is in Arabic language.

Holy Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad PBUH as the literal words of Allah the Almighty through angel Gibrael over a period of almost 23 years and it contains the final revelation to humanity for all times.

The text of the Holy Quran consists of 114 surahs (chapters ) of varying lengths. These surahs are classified as per the location either Makkah or Madina depending on where the verses were revealed. Surah titles are derived from a name or quality discussed in the text, or from the first letters or words of the surah. These names have been given by the Prophet PBUH as per Allah the almighty’s command. Generally, longer surahs appear earlier in the Holy Quran, while the shorter ones appear later. In the start of Holy Quran,one short surah, Surah Fatiha has been placed and 2nd is Surah Baqara, the largest surah of the Holy Quran. :

Each surah is formed from several ayaats (verses), which originally means a sign or portent sent by Allah the Almighty. The number of ayats differ from surah to surah. An individual ayah may be just a few letters or several lines.

For convenience in reading the Holy Quran, there is a division into 30 parts, called paras or separas, each of which is further divided into four parts as Ar rubah, An nisf, As salasa and the final part of separas. The text of Holy Quran is also divided into seven destinations called as Manzils for complete reading of Holy Quran in a week time .

The wording of the Holy Quran text corresponds exactly to that revealed to the prophet Muhammad PBUH as the words of Allah Almighty, delivered to Muhammad PBUH through the angel Gibrael. The holy Quran is a complete guideline for the whole life of a human, a sign of the prophethood of Muhammad PBUH and the truth of the religion, Islam.

The Holy Quran is miraculous by its very nature in being a revealed text and that similar texts cannot be written by human endeavor. Its miraculous nature is evidenced by its literary style, suggested similarities between Holy Quran verses and scientific facts discovered much later, and various prophecies.

An interesting analysis of the text and time period of Holy Quran is as follows:

The period of Wahih (secret indication) is 22 years, 2 months and 22 days. It started from 17th of Ramadhan, 41 Nabwi till 9th Zilhaj, 10th Hijra. Makki period is 12 years 5 months 13 days and Madni period is 9 years 9 months 9 days.

In Holy Quran, there are 114 surahs in total , 86 are Makki and 28 are Madni.

In the Holy Quran, there are 540 Rakuhs(segments). There are 14 ayat-e- sajada in the whole of Holy Quran and Total word count for the whole of Holy Quran is 3,23,760

In Holy Quran, Surah Baqara is the largest with 286 ayats in 40 rakuhs and surah kausar is smallest with 3 ayats in one rakuh.
In the Holy Quran, except surah Tauba, every surah starts with Bismillah and in surah Namal it is found two times.
The first wahih consisted of first 5 ayats of surah Alaq and the last wahih was the 3rd ayat of Surah Al-Maeda.
The Holy Quran has introduced itself as “Al Kitab” means “the Book”.
Holy Quran is the most recited book in the world.