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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Qur'an and Hadith Chapter Three : the Qur'an **1.The Preliminary Details THE REVELATION OF THE QUR'AN** The Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet of Islam from the beginning of his mission to the end of his life, that is from the 27th Rajab in the 40th year of his life upto the 28th Safar (or 12th Rabi'u 'l-Awwal) 11 A.H. - a total span of 22 years 5 months 1 day (or 15 days).

The first revelation was the first five verses of surah Iqra' which begins with the words "Read". And the last verse connected with the shari'ah was: "This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed my favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion" (5:4) revealed in Ghadir Khumm. NAME The only proper name of the final Book of Allah is al-Qur'an (القرآن) which means the Recital', 'the Recited'.

For example, Allah says: "The month of Ramadan, that in which was sent down the Qur'an". (2:185). There are some other adjectives used in the Qur'an which throw light on some particular excellence or quality of the Book. For example: (a) Al-Furqan (الفرقان): that which distinguishes truth from falsehood; distinction: "Blessed is He who sent down the Distinction upon His servant…" (25:1) (b) Al-Kitab (الكتاب): the Book: "This is the Book, there is no doubt in it.

(2:2) (c) Adh-Dhikr (الذكر): the Reminder: "Verily We have sent down the Reminder and most certainly We are its protectors". (15:9) (d) An-Nur (النور): the Light: "…and We have sent down to you a manifest Light". (4:175) But these words are not exclusively reserved for the Qur'an. It should also be noted that the word "al-Mushaf" is not found in the Qur'an, although the Muslims have been using it for the Book since a long time. SURAH & AYAH The Qur'an is divided into surahs.

Unto the last century, many cities had a wall around them for defense purposes; that wall was called sûr. A sûrah thus is a part of the Qur'an complete in itself. In English, it is usually translated as 'chapter'. The sûrah contains 'âyât (plural of ayah= sign) usually translated as 'verses'. It is not a good translation because "verse" is associated with poetry while the Qur'an is not poetry. However, I will use this word because it is now commonly understood.

An 'ayah is not necessarily a complete sentence. Sometimes one complete surah, sometimes one or more 'ayat were revealed, according to the need.