The Koran is the holy book of Islam, one of the major religions of the world. According to Muslim tradition, the Koran was given to the prophet Muhammad in visions and messages over a period of 20 years. The book is regarded as the true word of Allah, or God. Allah recited the messages to Muhammad. The word Koran in Arabic means “recitation.” The Koran is the final authority in Islamic social, religious, and legal matters.

Structure

The Koran is divided into 114 chapters called suras. Each chapter has a title taken from some important word in the chapter such as “The Cow,” “The Bee,” or “The Poets.”

All chapters begin with a prayer. The oldest chapters, which are found toward the end of the book, are very poetic. They have short sentences and rhymes. The chapters that come from the latter part of Muhammad's life appear at the beginning of the Koran and have much longer sentences and verses.

Message

During the time of Muhammad, Arabs worshiped many gods. The Koran emphasizes that there is only one God, Allah. Allah's message to Muhammad is both a warning and a promise. The warning is to all who refuse to believe in the one God. Those who believe in Allah and do Allah's will are promised a reward that will last forever.

Resurrection, or rising from the dead, is an important subject of the Koran. Other topics include angels and devils, heaven and hell, and the idea that all humans are subject to the will and power of Allah.

There are chapters about marriage and divorce laws. The Koran also explains how possessions are to be divided when the owner dies. Other sections tell the duties of parents to their children, of masters to their servants, and of the rich to the poor.

The Koran often includes stories about prophets and people in the Bible. The lesson, or moral, is the important part of these stories.

Language

The Koran was revealed to Muhammad as “an Arabic book.” In countries where other languages are spoken, the Koran is still recited in Arabic. However, there are translations of the Koran into Turkish, Urdu, and English. The Koran has also been translated into most other European languages.

History

Muhammad received the first message while he was in Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia, in AD 610. Mecca is the holiest Muslim city. In the first vision Muhammad saw the angel Gabriel. The angel told him, “You are the Messenger of God.” Muhammad received messages from time to time until he died in 632. Muhammad and his followers memorized the messages and sometimes wrote them down.

After Muhammad's death, his followers feared that the knowledge of the Koran would be lost. In 633 a battle took place between the followers of Muhammad's teachings and those who opposed them. Many who knew the Koran by heart were killed in the battle. Muhammad's followers decided to collect all the messages and to put them together in one book.

People in various parts of the Islamic empire understood the messages in the Koran differently. The caliph, or Muslim leader, wanted one final edition of the Koran. He asked a group of Islamic followers to sort through and gather all the written material. He then wanted them to compare it with what people had learned by heart. This is how an official edition was compiled.