Qur'an

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The '''Qur'an''' () is the central holy book of Islam. The Qur'an is considered by Muslims to be  "The Word of Allah (God)". This book is believed to have been revealed to the prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. Some Muslims call it the *Final Testament*.

For Muslims, the Qur'an is Allah's last revelation, the last in a chain of many revelations such as the *Tawrat* (Torah), the *Zabur* (Psalms), the *Injeel* (Gospel), the *Scrolls of Abraham*, and the *Scrolls of Moses*. 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. Although Muslims recite Qur'an and try reading it with translation. 

For most self-identified Muslims, the Qur'an is used with the hadith to interpret Sharia law (Islamic holy law). It is by far the most important and authoritative document, however, and supersedes hadiths and all earlier revelations, such as the Torah and the Bible. Saudi Arabia holds that the Qur'an is the country's constitution, although it is supplemented by more recent documents in modern Arabic. 

For Shi'a Muslims, the Qur'an is used together with interpretations by special imams, especially such being a descendant from Muhammad's family, the *Ahl al-Bayt*. Others use the Islamic methodology of  (), which refers to interpreting the Qur'an with/through the Bible. This approach adopts canonical Arabic versions of the Bible, including the Tawrat and the Injil, both to illuminate and to add exegetical depth to the reading of the Qur'an. Notable Muslim  (commentators) of the Bible and Qur'an who weaved biblical texts together with Qur'anic ones include Abu al-Hakam Abd al-Salam bin al-Isbili of Al-Andalus and Ibrahim bin Umar bin Hasan al-Biqa'i.

### The first and last verse 
The first verse revealed is:

(5) اقرَأ بِاسمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذي خَلَقَ (1) خَلَقَ الإِنسانَ مِن عَلَقٍ (2)  اقرَأ وَرَبُّكَ الأَكرَمُ (3) الَّذي عَلَّمَ بِالقَلَمِ (4) عَلَّمَ الإِنسانَ ما لَم يَعلَم
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.96 : 1

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  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.

## Related pages
*Quranism
*Muslim Hebraists

## References 
## Other websites 
* Quran Archive - Texts and Studies on the Quran
* Al-Quran  project with more than 145 translations in 35 different languages
* Quran Word by Word // QuranAcademy.org
*Quran in audio wav format and books in English