Quran facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Quran
Information
Religion	Islam
Language	Quranic Arabic
Period	609–632
Chapters	114 (list)

The Qur'an, sometimes spelled Koran, (Arabic: القرآن) is the holy book of Islam. The Qur'an is considered by Muslims to be "The Word of Allah (God)". This book is different from other religious texts in that it is believed to be written directly by God, through the prophet Muhammad. Some Muslims call it the Final Testament.

It has been written and read only in Arabic for more than 1,400 years. But, because many Muslims around the world do not understand Arabic, the meaning of the Qur'an is also given in other languages, so that readers can understand better what the Arabic words in the Qur'an mean. These books are like dictionaries to the Qur'an - they are not read as part of the religion of Islam, to replace the Arabic Qur'an. Muslims believe that these translations are not the true Qur'an; only the Arabic copy is the true Qur'an. The Quran is used with the hadith to interpret sharia law.

History

The first chapter of the Qur'an. This page is written in Arabic

Muslims believe the Qur'an was first revealed to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel in a cave on the mountain of Hira in Mecca, and then over a period of twenty-three years until his death.

The Qur'an was not written all together in book-form while Muhammad was alive; it was kept by oral communication and brief written records. The prophet did not know how to read nor write, but according to Muslims, the prophet's cousin Ali ibn abi Talib, among others, used to write the texts on something when Muhammad was alive. After prophet Muhammad died, Ali ibn abi Talib had collected the Qur'an and wrote it down as a book.

The elements, suras, verses, revelations

There are 30 parts in the Qur'an, which make 114 "suras" (chapters). Each sura has a different number of verses.

According to the Muslim teachings

The first and last verse

The first verse revealed is:

Read (commencing) with the Name of Allah, Who has created (everything). He created man from a hanging mass (clinging) like a leech (in the mother’s womb). Read and your Lord is Most Generous, Who taught man (reading and writing) by the pen, Who (besides that) taught man (all that) which he did not know.

The last verse revealed is:

Who believe! fulfil (all) obligations. Lawful unto you (for food) are all four-footed animals. Dead meat, blood, pig, any food which has been blessed by a (false) god other than Allah; an animal whose death resulted from strangulation, bludgeoning, arrows, falling, or bloodloss; an animal which was partly consumed by a wild animal or an animal which is sacrificed on a stone altar are forbidden. However, if faced with starvation, exceptions are allowed.

Earliest surviving fragments

Probably the world's oldest fragments of the Koran have been found in the library of the University of Birmingham, in England.

Radiocarbon dating showed with a probability of more than 95%, the parchment was from between 568 and 645 AD. So the manuscript is at least 1,370 years old. It is the earliest, or among the earliest, in existence.

The fragments are written in ink on sheep or goat skin. They are mounted on a modern paper to help preserve them. They are going on display at the Barber Institute in Birmingham in October 2015.

Images for kids

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  Muhammad's first revelation, Surah Al-Alaq, later placed 96th in the Qur'anic regulations, in current writing style

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  Quran − in Mashhad, Iran − said to be written by Ali

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  The right page of the Stanford '07 binary manuscript. The upper layer is verses 265–271 of the surah Bakara. The double-layer reveals the additions made on the first text of the Qur'an and the differences with today's Qur'an.

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  While standing in prayers, worshipers recite the first chapter of the Quran, al-Fatiha, followed by any other section.

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  First sura of the Quran, Al-Fatiha, consisting of seven verses.

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  A 12th-century Quran manuscript at Reza Abbasi Museum.

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  Verse about the month of Ramadan, second sura, verse 185. from a Quran manuscript dated to 1510

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  Boys studying Quran, Touba, Senegal

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  Page of the Quran with vocalization marks

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  Quran divided into 6 books. Published by Dar Ibn Kathir, Damascus-Beirut

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  Page from a Quran ('Umar-i Aqta'). Iran, Afghanistan, Timurid dynasty, c. 1400. Opaque watercolor, ink and gold on paper in the Muqaqqaq script. 170 by 109 centimetres (67 in × 43 in). Historical region: Uzbekistan.

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  Calligraphy, 18th century. Brooklyn Museum.

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  Quranic inscriptions, Bara Gumbad mosque, Delhi, India.

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  Typical mosque lamp, of enamelled glass, with the Ayat an-Nur or "Verse of Light" (24:35).

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  Quranic verses, Shahizinda mausoleum, Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

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  Quran page decoration art, Ottoman period.

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  The leaves from this Quran written in gold and contoured with brown ink have a horizontal format. This is admirably suited to classical Kufic calligraphy, which became common under the early Abbasid caliphs.

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  Manuscript of the Quran at the Brooklyn Museum

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  1091 Quranic text in bold script with Persian translation and commentary in a lighter script.

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  Arabic Quran with interlinear Persian translation from the Ilkhanid Era.

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  The first printed Quran in a European vernacular language: L'Alcoran de Mahomet, André du Ryer, 1647.

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  Title page of the first German translation (1772) of the Quran.

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  Verses 33 and 34 of surat Yā Sīn in this Chinese translation of the Quran.

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  Folio from the "Blue" Quran. Brooklyn Museum.

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  kufic script, Eighth or ninth century.

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  maghribi script, 13th–14th centuries.

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  muhaqqaq script, 14th–15th centuries.

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  shikasta nastaliq script, 18th–19th centuries.

See also

In Spanish: Corán para niños