The Holy Qur'an is the culmination of Allah’s revelation.

What is the Holy Quran? What does it contain?

The Holy Quran is the Holy Book or the Scripture of the Muslims. It lays down for them the law and commandments, codes for their social and moral behavior, and contains a comprehensive religious philosophy. The language of the Quran is Arabic. It is a compilation of the verbal revelations given to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) over a period of twenty-three years.

The Holy Quran is divided into 114 Chapters and each Chapter consists of individual verses. The Chapters (called Surah in Arabic) are of varying lengths, some consisting of a few lines while others run for many pages. The text of the Holy Quran has remained unchanged over the past 1500 years. The millions of copies of the Quran circulating in the world today are all identical down to a single letter. And this is not strange since God says in the Holy Quran that He Himself will guard this book:

“Surely it is We Who have revealed the Exposition, and surely it is We Who are its guardians” (15:10)

To the Muslims, the Quran is the Word of God and contains complete guidance for mankind. Much of the Quran is about God, His attributes and man’s relationship to Him. However, it also contains directives for its followers, historical accounts of certain prophets and peoples, arguments for accepting Muhammad as a genuine Prophet and good news for the believers and warnings for the disbelievers.

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The Holy Qur'an is the glorious culmination of Allah’s revelation.

(41:42) Falsehood may not enter it from the front or from the rear. *It is a revelation that has been sent down from the Most Wise, the Immensely Praiseworthy.

* "Falsehood . . . . from before it" means that none can succeed in proving anything wrong or any teaching false in the Qur'an by making a frontal attack on it; . . . . nor from behind it" means that nothing can be discovered till Resurrection which may be opposed to the truths and realities presented by the Qur'an; no new science, if it is really a "science", can be propounded, which may contradict the knowledge contained in the Qur'an; no new experiment or observation can be made to prove that the guidance given to man by the Qur'an in respect of the beliefs, morality, law, civilization or culture, and economic, social and political lift is wrong. That which this Book has declared as the Truth can never be proved to be falsehood and that which it has declared as falsehood can never be proved to be the truth. Furthermore, it also means that whether falsehood makes a frontal attack, or makes a surprise attack by deception, it cannot defeat the message, which the Qur'an has brought. In spite of all sorts of open and secret machinations of the opponents, the message will spread and none shall be able to defeat and frustrate it.

The Holy Qur'an contains miraculous teachings. If people follow these teachings, they will enjoy happiness and success here, 6-feet under and in the Hereafter.

(50:37) Verily there is a lesson in this for everyone who has a (sound) heart and who listens with an attentive mind.*

*. In other words, either one should have so much of native intelligence that one may think right of his own accord, or if not so, he should be so free from prejudice and neglect that he may listen with attention when another person tries to make one understand the truth.

Below are examples of Quranic teachings on all disciplines that we need to reflect and follow:

(?? ???????? ???????? ???????? ????????? ????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????? ???????? ?????? ?????????? ???????? ????? ?????????? ?????? ?????????? ???????? ????? ???? ?????? ???????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ???? ???? ???????? ???????? ?????? ??????? ??????? (????: 1? 2).

(22:1) O mankind, fear the (wrath of) your Lord! Indeed, the earthquake of the Hour (of Judgement) will be an awesome thing.1

1. According to the early commentators, this earthquake will be a prelude to Resurrection. This will probably take place when the earth will begin to rotate in the reverse order, and the sun will rise in the west. In a lengthy tradition reported by Ibn Jarir, Tabarani and Ibn Abi Hatim from Abu Hurairah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) has stated that when the first Trumpet will be blown, there will be a general confusion. At the second, all people will die and at the third, they will be brought back to life and presented before Allah. At the first blowing of the Trumpet, the earth will begin to rock like a boat which is beaten about by huge waves, or like a hanging lamp which is moved from side to side by a strong wind.

This condition has been depicted in the Quran at several other places. For instance (Surah Al-Waqiah, Ayat 6 ); (Surah Al-Haqqa, Ayats 13-14 ); (Surah Al-Muzzammil, Ayats 14, 17-18 ); (Surah An-Naziat, Ayats 6-9 ) and (Surah Al-Zalzalah, Ayats 1-3 ).

According to other commentators, this earthquake will occur when the dead will be brought back to life and presented before their Lord. Though this is supported by some traditions, we prefer the first interpretation (in spite of the fact that the tradition reported by Abu Hurairah is weak) because that is supported by clear verses of the Quran.

?(22:2) On the Day when you witness it, the suckling woman shall utterly neglect the infant she suckles,2 and every pregnant woman shall cast her burden, and you will see people as though they are drunk, when they are not drunk; but dreadful shall be Allah's chastisement.3

2. This is to show the intensity and horror of the earthquake. At that time, there will be so much confusion and terror that mothers will forsake their dear children at the very time they will be suckling them.

3. It should be noted that it is not meant to depict here the condition of the Resurrection but to impress upon the people the dreadful torment of the Hour in order to admonish them to mend their ways. This is supported by the subsequent passage.

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?????? ?????:( (?? ???????? ???????? ???????? ????????? ?????????? ??????? ?? ??????? ?????? ???? ???????? ???? ????????? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ??????? ????? ?????? ??????? ????? ???? ?????????????? ????????? ????????? ???? ?????????????? ????????? ?????????? (?????: 33)

?(31:33) O people, fear (the wrath) of your Lord, and dread the Day when no father will stand for his child, nor any child stand for his father.* Surely Allah's promise is true.** So let the life of this world not beguile you,*** nor let the Deluder delude you about Allah.****

?*. “Allah’s promise”: the promise of Resurrection, when the court of Allah will be established and everyone will be called to render an account of his deeds.

?**. The life of the world involves the people, who only see the superficial, in different kinds of misunderstandings. Someone thinks that life and death only belong to this world, and there is no life after this; therefore, whatever one has to do, one should do it here and now. Another one who is lost in his wealth and power and prosperity, forgets his death and gets involved in the foolish idea that his grandees and his power are everlasting. Another one overlooking the moral and spiritual objectives regards the material gains and pleasures in themselves as the only objectives and does not give anything any importance but the standard of living, no matter whether his standard of humanity goes on falling lower and lower as a result thereof. Someone thinks that worldly prosperity is the real criterion of truth and falsehood: every way of life that ensures this is the truth and everything contradictory to it is falsehood. Someone regards this very prosperity as a sign of being Allah’s favorite and assumes the law that whoever is leading a prosperous life here is Allah’s beloved no matter by what means he might have achieved this prosperity, and whoever is leading a miserable life in the world, even if it be so due to his love of the truth and his uprightness, will live a miserable life in the Hereafter, too. These and other such misunderstandings have been called deceptions of the worldly life by Allah.

?***. Al-gharur (the deceiver) may be Satan or a man or a group of them, or even man’s own self, or something else. The reason for using this comprehensive and meaningful word in its absolute form without identifying a particular person or thing is that for different people there are different means that cause them deception. Any particular means or cause that deceived a person to be misled and misguided from the right way to the wrong way will be algharur in his particular case.

?“To deceive about Allah” are also comprehensive words, which include countless kinds of deceptions. The deceiver deceives one man with the idea that there is no God at all, and another man with the idea that God after making the world has handed over its control and administration to the men and is no more concerned with it; he misleads another one, saying, “There are some favorite ones of God: if you attain nearness to them, you will surely win your forgiveness whatever you may do, or may have done, in the world;” he deceives another one, saying, “God is All- Forgiving and All-Merciful: you may go on committing sins freely, and He will go on forgiving each sin of yours.” He gives another person the idea of determinism and misguides him, saying, “Everything that you do is pre-ordained: if you commit evil, it is God Who makes you commit it: if you avoid goodness, it is God Who makes you avoid it.” Thus, there are countless types of such deceptions with which man is being deceived concerning God. When analyzed, it comes to light that the basic cause of all errors and sins and crimes is that man has been deceived concerning God in one way or the other, and that is how he has been misled to some ideological deviation or moral error.

?****. This verse is, in fact an answer to the disbelievers’ question as to when the Hour of Resurrection will come, which they asked when they heard the Prophet(peace be upon him) mention it and the promise of the Hereafter, again and again. The Quran has answered this sometimes by citing the question and sometimes without citing it, because the addressees knew what they were asking. This is one of those verses, which answer the question without citing the question itself.

?The first sentence: “Allah, with Him is the knowledge of the Hour”, is the real answer to the question. The four sentences that follow constitute the argument to support it. The argument means this: “O man, you do not have the knowledge even about those things with which you are most closely and intimately concerned in life. How then can it be possible for you to know as to when will the whole world come to an end? Your prosperity and adversity mainly depend on the rain. However, its control and regulation is entirely in the hand of Allah. He sends down the rain whenever and wherever and in whatever measure He pleases and withholds it whenever he pleases. You do not at all know how much of the rain will fall at a particular place at a particular time and which land will remain without it, and which land will be adversely affected in spite of it. Your wives conceive by your own sperm-drop, which perpetuates your race in the future, but you do not know what is taking shape in their wombs, and in what form and with what good or evil it will emerge. You do not even know what you are going to meet with the next day. A sudden accident can change your destiny; but you are unaware of it even a minute before its occurrence. You do not know where your present life will eventually come to an end. Allah has kept all this information within Himself alone; and has not given you any knowledge of any of these. You actually desire that you should have the knowledge of each of these things so that you may make necessary preparations beforehand, but you have no other course open to you than to depend only on Allah’s decree and disposal in these matters. Likewise, about the end of the world also there is no alternative but to rely on Allah’s decree and decision. The knowledge of this also has neither been given to anybody, nor can it be given. Here, another thing also should be understood well, and that is: This verse does not give a list of the unseen and hidden things, which are known to no one but Allah. Here only some of the most apparent things have been pointed out only to serve as an illustration. These are the things with which man is most deeply and intimately concerned, yet he is unaware of them. From this it would be wrong to conclude that these are the only five unseen and hidden things which are known to no one but Allah. As a matter of fact, ghaib applies to every such thing which is hidden from the creation but is in the knowledge of Allah, and such things are countless and limitless.?