The Encyclopedia of World Religions

370 S Qur’an

The central themes of the Qur’an are the fun damental teachings of Islam. God is one, and God is unique; there is no other like him. He created all that is, including human beings. The duty of human beings, as of all creatures, is to serve their Creator. They do this by following his command ments. These commandments cover every sphere of life, not simply RITUAL or religious observances. At the end of time God will raise all people from the dead. He will welcome the righteous into the gardens of paradise, but the evil he will dispatch to HELL . SIGNIFICANCE It is almost impossible to overestimate the sig nificance of the Qur’an in the Islamic world. It embraces all of life. The first words a baby hears should come from the Qur’an. So should the last words that a dying person hears. Between birth and death the Qur’an provides guidance and com fort. Some even ascribe to it magical power. Muslim thinkers have tried in several ways to describe the special status of this book. The Qur’an itself refers to a heavenly book of which the earthly revelations are copies. Many say that the Qur’an is an attribute or characteristic of God, namely, his speech. Some have insisted further that that speech is not something external to God. For them the heavenly Qur’an is itself an essential part of God. Further reading: Michael Cook, The Koran: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000); Farid Esack, The Qur’an: A Short Introduction (Oxford: Oneworld, 2002); The Koran: With a Parallel Arabic Text, N. J. Dawood, trans. (New York: Penguin Books, 2000); Kristina Nelson, The Art of Reciting the Qur’an (New York: American University in Cairo Press, 2001).

poetry whose beauty is incomparable. Translat ing poetry is difficult in any case. One can repro duce the literal meaning, but not the allusions and effects upon which poetry depends. Muslims have been reluctant to translate the Qur’an at all. The Qur’an preserves the very words of God, and any translation would no longer present God’s own words. The verses of the Qur’an are gathered into 114 units known as surahs. It is a little mislead ing to call surahs “chapters.” Some of them are extremely long; others consist of only four lines, more like a stanza than a chapter. In general, the longer surahs are toward the beginning of the Qur’an; the shorter ones are toward the end. Mus lims also distinguish between those surahs that the prophet received when he was living in Mecca, and those he received after he had immigrated to Medina. The Medinan surahs tend to be longer than the Meccan ones. Therefore, the revelations of the Qur’an run roughly in reverse chronological order. The latest revelations come first, the earliest ones come last. All surahs except the ninth begin with a phrase known as the Basmalah: “Bismillah al-Rahman al Rahim,” “In the name of God [A LLAH ], the Mer ciful, the Compassionate.” Muslims use the first surah, known as the Fatihah, very frequently in their WORSHIP . It reads: In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

The Merciful, the Compassionate. Master of the Day of Judgment. Thee do we serve and Thee do we beseech for help. Keep us on the right path. The path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors. Not (the path) of those upon whom Thy wrath is brought down, nor of those who go astray. (Shakir tr., altered)