Misconception: Muhammad sas wrote the Qur'an ?

thank you! The Quran is really unique and beautiful. N its sad to see Muslims that they rather consult imams when they haf a doubt rather than the Quran. We have God's words in our hands and we shld only use it the most. People give more importanace to hadiths than the Quran. Astaqfiruallah! One Shld use the Quran only as the rule book and the hadith as a videotape of how Prophet Mohammed pbuh lived! Thank u again

Just to clarify, though the Quran was written down by the companions, they were not the authors, God was the author, and he taught the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) verbally through the angel Gabriel.

Also, every time a verse was revealed, trusted companions were asked to write it down in the presence of the Prophet.

to many Non-Arabic speaking people the challenge to write one ayyat equal to ahe smallest ayyat is a silly challenge and is fixed as to there is no one to fairly judge such an attempt.

However, if one learns just a few phrases of colloquial Arabic and a single ayyat of the qur'an it becomes apparent as to what that challenge entails and just how miraculous it is.

Arabic is a very paradoxical language. It has some of the worlds most beautiful poetry and music. Yet it is nearly impossible to write Arabic Poetry or Music that can convey a message. to be rather blunt and risk angering my Arabic speaking Brothers and sisters, the spoken Arabic used to conduct daily business or to convey messages is not a very pleasant sounding language to most people. I have often heard it described as sounding like a camel coughing up a hair ball.

Yet, the Qur'an is the most pleasant sounding book ever written. It flows as the most beautiful music and is a poem without equal. However, it has a very clear message that can not be described in poetry or Music, but it does. It is impossible in Arabic to write such beauty and have it contain any message or convey any constructive thought. But, it does. In Arabic Culture, Poetry is considered a waste of time as it serves no valid purpose. But, the Qur'an does contradict that and is the only Arabic writing that does so.

About the only task I can think of, that comes close to the Qur'anic challenge would be to challenge somebody to write the US constitution set as a song to the tune of Mozart's 5th symphony and still have it make full legal sense. that actually would be an easy task compared to writing on ayyat equal to the smallest ayyat in the Qur'an.

I do not believe Muhammad(PBUH) would have been able to write the Qur'an even if he had been a linguistic scholar and genius. But, here he was an Illiterate salesman, with no writing skills and he writes it. If somebody had done something like that as a school course, there would be an immediate outrage that the person Cheated and he did not write it.

That is what Muhammad(PBUH) did, he did not write it. However he did not cheat as he never claimed authorship

format_quote Originally Posted by don532

Greetings.
I have read many stories regarding the origins of the Qur'an and stories attempting to refute its authenticity. I have two questions I would like to ask for the Muslim perspective on, if I may.

1. What is the real story regarding the burning of existing Qur'ans at some point by a caliph and one being preserved?

2. What is the real story regarding Gabriel pressing on the Prophet until he couldn't breath and telling him to recite, resulting in the Prophet being afraid and wanting to throw himself off the mountain?

Any clarification would be appreciated. If this has been discussed before and there's a link or links that answer these questions, I would be glad to follow such link(s) and read. Peace.

I will attempt to answer number one as best as I can. Hopefully somebody else will be able to fill in what I miss and correct any errors I may make.

I believe this had to do with font style rather than content. Arabic has several different letter styles. I am aware of 7 types in current use. I believe 4 different font styles are traditionaly used for Qur'an. If I recall correctly all of the original Qur'ans were gathered together and I believe that only those of a particular style or several styles were kept and the rest destroyed. The reason being for keeping continuity for the originals down to even the penmanship. Hopefully someone can come along with the source for this and fill in what I missed.

For number 2

I believe that is from a Hadith, but I am not certain which one. At least part of it is described in a Hadith by Bhukari:

Volumn 001, Book 001, Hadith Number 003.
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Narated By 'Aisha : (The mother of the faithful believers) The commencement of the Divine Inspiration to Allah's Apostle was in the form of good dreams which came true like bright day light, and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in seclusion in the cave of Hira where he used to worship (Allah alone) continuously for many days before his desire to see his family. He used to take with him the journey food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food like-wise again till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, "I do not know how to read."

The Prophet added, "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how to read (or what shall I read)?' Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, 'Read in the name of your Lord, who has created (all that exists) has created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous." (96.1, 96.2, 96.3) Then Allah's Apostle returned with the Inspiration and with his heart beating severely. Then he went to Khadija bint Khuwailid and said, "Cover me! Cover me!" They covered him till his fear was over and after that he told her everything that had happened and said, "I fear that something may happen to me." Khadija replied, "Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations with your Kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests generously and assist the deserving calamity-afflicted ones."

Khadija then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqa bin Naufal bin Asad bin 'Abdul 'Uzza, who, during the PreIslamic Period became a Christian and used to write the writing with Hebrew letters. He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost his eyesight. Khadija said to Waraqa, "Listen to the story of your nephew, O my cousin!" Waraqa asked, "O my nephew! What have you seen?" Allah's Apostle described whatever he had seen. Waraqa said, "This is the same one who keeps the secrets (angel Gabriel) whom Allah had sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live up to the time when your people would turn you out." Allah's Apostle asked, "Will they drive me out?" Waraqa replied in the affirmative and said, "Anyone (man) who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should remain alive till the day when you will be turned out then I would support you strongly." But after a few days Waraqa died and the Divine Inspiration was also paused for a while.

Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah Al-Ansari while talking about the period of pause in revelation reporting the speech of the Prophet "While I was walking, all of a sudden I heard a voice from the sky. I looked up and saw the same angel who had visited me at the cave of Hira' sitting on a chair between the sky and the earth. I got afraid of him and came back home and said, 'Wrap me (in blankets).' And then Allah revealed the following Holy Verses (of Quran):

'O you (i.e. Muhammad)! wrapped up in garments!' Arise and warn (the people against Allah's Punishment),... up to 'and desert the idols.' (74.1-5) After this the revelation started coming strongly, frequently and regularly."

God? but why use an in-between, if the message is from God? why not direct to Mohammed?

format_quote Originally Posted by AvarAllahNoor

God? but why use an in-between, if the message is from God? why not direct to Mohammed?

At first I was going to ignore this question.

But, I do realise it is a valid question for a Non_Muslim to ask.

I do not really know the answer.

But, I do see many advantages in it having been revealed to just one person. It reduces the chance of error by having other's either intentionaly or accidently misunderstand and say "That is not what I heard"

Here we have for all times a written document that can be pointed to and shown, This is what was said. One version no errors or misunderstanding.

format_quote Originally Posted by AvarAllahNoor

God? but why use an in-between, if the message is from God? why not direct to Mohammed?

According to authentic Hadith, there were several ways of which the Quran was revealed to the Prophet salallahu 'alayhi wassalaam. How they were, we were told. But as to why it was done such way, we honestly don't know. Only Allah knows that.

Here's one Hadith describing several other ways. Some of the Message did come directly to Muhammad without in-betweens.

Volumn 001, Book 001, Hadith Number 002.
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Narated By 'Aisha : (The mother of the faithful believers) Al-Harith bin Hisham asked Allah's Apostle "O Allah's Apostle! How is the Divine Inspiration revealed to you?" Allah's Apostle replied, "Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell, this form of Inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes ' off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and I grasp whatever he says." 'Aisha added: Verily I saw the Prophet being inspired Divinely on a very cold day and noticed the Sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over).

Book of Revelation, Kitab Sahih Bukhari

format_quote Originally Posted by jamaaljad

Really?

Really.

all other religious writings are said to be the Inspired word of God(swt) We believe the Qur'an is the acutal words God(swt) spoke through Gabriel and were dictated to Muhammad.