Reading the Quran

Hello all!

This seemed like an appropriate place for this topic (please let me know if there is a more appropriate place for this, however!)

I started reading the Quran about two years ago, got 1/3 of the way through, then did not return to it until recently. My purpose is to further my understanding of Islamic faith and to find some commonalities between it and other religions.

So my question is to those who are familiar with this text. Is there anything I should keep in mind while reading the Quran to better understand what I am reading? Perhaps anything I should know about the social context this was written in or the imagery that is presented in it?

I have also heard that the Quran is really meant to be heard as opposed to read. Do you find this to be true?

Thank you all so much,

Best to you!

I'm in the middle of reading it. Honestly I'm just keeping in mind that the Qur'an is to Muslims as the Bible is to Christians. It's the individuals' choice on what they take from it.

I'm enjoying finding familiar stories with names filtered through other languages.

I would recommend picking up an accompaniment book such as Approaching the Qur'an by Michael Sells . There are a lot of cultural, historical, and sociopolitical gaps which are lost in transliteration that are not likely to be understood simply by reading the Qur'an itself. It's also important to note that different transliterations carry with them different doctrinal, dogmatic, and personal biases which one wouldn't be aware of without the help of some context.

Hello,

I know this post is a bit dated, but I thought I'd offer some advice in case you're still reading the Qur'an. I am an American Muslim and I think I can help you with a bit of perspective.

To begin, you should keep in mind that the Qur'an is not chronological. The order of the surahs (chapters/books) are not important. The first surah was not the first one revealed. So, don't try to look for any type of chronology when reading the Qur'an.

Secondly, the Qur'an is meant to be paired with the hadith (practices and beliefs of the prophet). The Qur'an is kind of like a general attitude guide whereas the hadith is more like a behavioral guide. You'll probably notice that there are very many details in the Qur'an.

Third, the Qur'an was revealed in pieces, a couple verses at a time, in response to whatever was happening in the society at that time. Unlike the Bible, the Qur'an does not claim to be a literal guide through time. Some advice given in the verses were for specific events that were occurring then, and may no longer be relevant in today's age. We just take the main idea from whatever is written and don't get bogged down with the details.

Fourth, as I'm sure you're aware, the actual Qur'an is written in Arabic. Unless you are reading the Arabic text, you are not reading the Qur'an. You are reading someone's translation of the Qur'an. Arabic is an incredibly rich language and many of the concepts are hard to translate into English. In order to more fully understand the meaning of any verse, you might want to read 3 or 4 translations and get your own idea of the actual message.

Fifth, you will find many verses that are just 'nonsense' words. For example, the first verse of the second surah is "Alif. Lam. Meem." That seems like nonesense, but those are three Arabic letters. Together they also don't make any sense in Arabic. It is believed that these verses will make sense as language progresses.

Well, I hope this is helpful. Wish I would've seen the post sooner. If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up at any time. I'm no scholar, but I do understand the context of the Qur'an. So I can at least help you with those questions. I'd also be interested in your thoughts as you went through the Qur'an.

Best,
Angela

I'm incidentally not a Muslim and not an American either, but I do have a few questions about this, if I may.

rvrdncr1 wrote: To begin, you should keep in mind that the Qur'an is not chronological. The order of the surahs (chapters/books) are not important. The first surah was not the first one revealed. So, don't try to look for any type of chronology when reading the Qur'an.

Why is so atrocious when Jews simply recite their scriptures out of order but the Qur'an is not merely just fine but indeed nothing short of perfect, being written out of order?

Secondly, the Qur'an is meant to be paired with the hadith (practices and beliefs of the prophet). The Qur'an is kind of like a general attitude guide whereas the hadith is more like a behavioral guide. You'll probably notice that there are very many details in the Qur'an.

Is that really so clear? It seems to be a widespread view among scholars and most denominations of Islam, but the book itself heavily implies that it is sufficient as is, and that any and all instructions not stated in it are to be disregarded. Of course it also commands to follow and obey the Messenger. The confusion and disagreements that follow are trivial to explain, but why would we say that one opinion on this is more accurate than the other?

Third, the Qur'an was revealed in pieces, a couple verses at a time, in response to whatever was happening in the society at that time. Unlike the Bible, the Qur'an does not claim to be a literal guide through time. Some advice given in the verses were for specific events that were occurring then, and may no longer be relevant in today's age. We just take the main idea from whatever is written and don't get bogged down with the details.

I have two verses here claiming that it was revealed within a night, one verse saying that the Qur'an was revealed during the month of Ramadan. There are also verses confirming what you said, but how do we tell which, if any, are accurate? A similar question goes to what you said after that in the passage quoted above. Are you correct or wrong about the Qur'an being time-specific? On the one hand it says that it can be abrogated by God, but on the other it also says that it is perfect and mustn't be altered, and that God himself is likewise unchanging. I understand that we cannot accept a statement and its opposite at the same time and in the same way, but why do we pick the ones we do as opposed to the respective alternatives?

Fourth, as I'm sure you're aware, the actual Qur'an is written in Arabic. Unless you are reading the Arabic text, you are not reading the Qur'an. You are reading someone's translation of the Qur'an. Arabic is an incredibly rich language and many of the concepts are hard to translate into English. In order to more fully understand the meaning of any verse, you might want to read 3 or 4 translations and get your own idea of the actual message.

Fifth, you will find many verses that are just 'nonsense' words. For example, the first verse of the second surah is "Alif. Lam. Meem." That seems like nonesense, but those are three Arabic letters. Together they also don't make any sense in Arabic. It is believed that these verses will make sense as language progresses.

Just checking whether I understand this correctly. You say that the actual Qur'an is written in Arabic. I'll set aside that modern Arabic isn't quite the same as ancient Arabic and that the Qur'an is written and recited in the latter because translating it and adapting it to modern languages would be a corruption. And on top of all of that you say it is believed that the opening verses of a number of Surahs are really written in neither modern nor ancient Arabic, but rather in some sort of future Arabic and would be understood by neither ancient nor modern scholars, but by future ones who for all we know might understand the ancient Arabic modern scholars are already struggling with all the worse. As a follow up question, do you hold that the Qur'an is meant to be understood in its entirety by any generation of people at all? If yes, then why is it made so that none would? If no, then what is its purpose?