The Quran: revelation and preservation
Islamic Studies · Key Stage 2 · The School
Revealed over twenty-three years
Muslims believe the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ through the angel Jibril. It began around 610 CE. It continued for about twenty-three years, until his death. It came in passages rather than all at once. The passages often responded to events. That is why Muslim scholars study the circumstances of a passage alongside its words.
Memory first, then writing
The Quran was preserved in two ways at the same time. It was MEMORISED. It still is, by people called huffaz who know the whole text by heart. It was also WRITTEN DOWN by scribes during the Prophet's lifetime. Within about twenty years of his death, a single written copy had been compiled and distributed. The two methods check each other.
How it is arranged
The Quran has 114 chapters called SURAHS. Each surah is made of verses called AYAHS. The surahs are not in the order they were revealed. They are roughly ordered by length, longest first. The short opening chapter al-Fatihah comes before them. Knowing the order is not chronological explains something odd: the first revelation sits near the end of the book.
The first revelation was 96:1–5, iqraʾ — read. Among the last was part of Surah Al-Baqarah, which is chapter 2. So the first words revealed sit near the END of the mushaf, and one of the last sits near the beginning. The order in the book is not chronological, and knowing that is why tafsir asks WHEN a passage came and what was happening at the time.