Qur'an

The Qur'an (Arabic: al-Qur'ān, "the recitation") is the foundational sacred text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be the literal and uncreated speech of God (Allah) communicated to the Prophet Muhammad through the archangel Jibrīl (Gabriel) over approximately twenty-three years, from 610 CE until the Prophet's death in 632 CE. The first revelation, traditionally identified as the opening verses of Sūrah al-ʿAlaq (96:1–5) beginning "Iqra" ("Recite"), is held to have occurred in the cave of Ḥirāʾ near Mecca. The text is organised into 114 chapters (sūrahs) of unequal length, each composed of verses (āyāt), and is conventionally divided into thirty parts (juzʾ or sipārah) to facilitate recitation and memorisation. Revelations are classified as Makkī (Meccan) or Madanī (Medinan), reflecting whether they were received before or after the Hijrah of 622 CE; Meccan sūrahs typically emphasise tawḥīd (divine unity) and eschatology, while Medinan sūrahs address law, governance, and community organisation.

As a source of Islamic law, the Qur'an is the primary and supreme source of the Sharīʿah, followed by the Sunnah, ijmāʿ (consensus), and qiyās (analogical reasoning). Its compilation is attributed to the early caliphate: an initial collection under Abū Bakr after the Battle of Yamāma (632 CE), in which many ḥuffāẓ (memorisers) perished, and the establishment of a standardised codex (the muṣḥaf ʿUthmānī) under the third caliph ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān around 650 CE, with variant manuscripts ordered destroyed to preserve textual uniformity. The Qur'an is regarded as inimitable (iʿjāz), a doctrine grounded in the challenge verses (e.g. 2:23, 17:88) inviting opponents to produce its like. The science of its interpretation is tafsīr, and the rules governing its recitation are tajwīd; the discipline of qirāʾāt preserves the canonically transmitted readings, of which seven (later expanded to ten) were authenticated by Ibn Mujāhid in the tenth century.

The Qur'an addresses creed (ʿaqīdah), worship (ʿibādāt), ethics, narrative accounts of earlier prophets, and detailed legal injunctions on matters including inheritance (Sūrah al-Nisāʾ), fasting and pilgrimage (Sūrah al-Baqarah), and commercial dealings. Sūrah al-Fātiḥah, the opening chapter, is recited in every unit of the five daily prayers. The text underpins all branches of the Islamic sciences and remains, in 2026, the most widely memorised book in the world, with the institution of the ḥāfiẓ (one who has committed it entirely to memory) sustained across the Muslim world. It exists in numerous translations, though Muslims regard only the original Arabic as the Qur'an proper, translations being treated as interpretations of meaning.

For the CSS Islamic Studies paper, the Qur'an is a core examinable topic. Candidates are routinely asked to discuss its compilation and preservation, the distinction between Makkī and Madanī revelations, its status as the primary source of law, the doctrine of iʿjāz, and the disciplines of tafsīr and tajwīd. Comparative questions may contrast Qur'anic teachings with those of earlier scriptures, while applied questions test its guidance on social, economic, and political order in an Islamic state.