The Relationship between the Prophet Muhammad and the Qu’ran
By: Allison J. Van Tilborgh
Tags: Religion, Culture, Spirituality, Islam, Books

The Relationship between the Prophet Muhammad and the Qu’ran

A bite-sized introduction.

So the story goes, when Muhammad was 40 years old he sat in a cave praying to God (about the 7th century CE). His wife, Khadija (who was considerably older and more successful than him) sat on standby. In this setting, the angel Gabriel came to Muhammad and shared the first sura of the Quran. This was a period of awe and personal transformation for the Prophet Muhammad.

When the messages stopped coming (at least for a while), Muhammad struggled, though his wife continued to encourage him. Some sources even suggest that the Prophet considered taking his own life. Indeed, before receiving any suras, he was just a merchant in his wife’s company. Now, he came down from a mountain and became reciting beautiful poetry? What was he, and his culture, meant to make of this?

The Qur’an was gradually delivered to Muhammad over the course of many years, in chunks. He did not write down the suras (books), but rather his followers did either within his lifetime or after.

The suras of the Qur’an are not said to be delivered directly by God but through the medium of the Angel Gabriel. Initially, this was an oral tradition that became codified in Arabic. Any translation of the Qur’an is not considered a true Qur’an but rather an interpretation of the Qur’an. That is why, it is said, that a woman menstruating may read out of an interpretation of the Qur’an (say, an English one) but not touch an Arabic one.

The current order of the Qur’an is not chronological, but roughly follows a pattern of long to short suras. The Qur’an is, in some sense, nothing new. This is the same message that was given to Adam, Moses, and Jesus. The difference with this iteration of the Qur’an is that this is the final chance before the Day of Reckoning.

Muhammad was the final Prophet (not a term meant to describe someone who can predict the future, but one who is a mouthpiece for Allah). It is from the Qur’an that Muslim children learn of their history, hear stories of the Prophets, and hear of examples of good and bad behavior. This is where they learn that patience is a virtue (a la Joseph) and arrogance is a sin (Pharaoh).

All Muslims have parts of the Qur’an memorized in Arabic because it is required for salat, the daily prayers. The ideal is to memorize the whole Qur’an regardless of whether one understands what they are saying.

This is a central tenant of Islam: understanding comes second to practice. Submission is the heart of everything.

Though there are many references to what we would now call the five pillars throughout the Qur’anic text, there is no one codified set of practices that are attributed to Muhammad within the Qur’an itself. Instead, an ‘expanded pack’ called Hadith details information not included in the Qur’an but may provide insight into the life of the Prophet, including how to pray, purification, and daily Muslim life. This is the basis of Shariah.

These texts attributed to the life and practice of Muhammad constitute the model for how modern Muslims should live. That is following submission, faith, and doing what is beautiful.