What is written in the Koran. "The world's oldest Koran is in Russia." Overall assessment of translations

I was inspired to write this article by myself. Koran. If what is written there was not written in the Koran, then this article most likely would not exist. I have had to deal with criticism of the Qur'an based on its history or on the basis of its ideas. Until recently, this was the only information I appealed to. However, the Qur'an itself revealed to me a new foundation so that I could once again be convinced of its earthly, human nature.

Note: I strongly do not recommend that staunch Muslims read this article. what is written in it can greatly hurt their feelings.

So, we will consider a series of statements Koran and we will try to draw appropriate conclusions on their basis. Many people know that some parts of the Qur'an are borrowed from bible, the names of many biblical heroes are mentioned in the Quran: Isa (Jesus), Musa (Moses), Ibrahim (Abraham), Davud (David), etc. And this seems to be nothing, but there is one very important point: the Quran, along with itself, recognizes the divinity of the Bible and claims that the books of the Bible were sent by the same unchanging god as the Quran. For example, in Sura 3, verse 3 of the Qur'an, it is written: “He (i.e. God) sent down to you, Muhammad, the Koran - the Scripture is a true confirmation of what was sent down before him, and before that He sent down the Torah and the Gospel” . Here are some more verses: “Following the prophets, We sent "Isa (i.e. Jesus), the son of Maryam, with confirmation of the truth of what was before him in the Torah. And We gave him the Gospel, and in it - light and a righteous path in confirmation of the fact that in the Torah, and sent down guidance for the God-fearing." (5:46); “And they will fight in the name of Allah, killing and dying, in accordance with the true promises from Him, given in the Torah, the Gospel and the Koran” (9:11); “We believe in what has been sent down to us (i.e., the Koran) and what has been sent down to you (i.e., in the Bible). Our god and your god are one and the same, and We surrender to Him.” (29:46). And a whole series of verses of the Koran says that one should be obedient to the Bible and that it was sent by the same god.

Then Muhammad(aka Muhammad or Mohammed) in the Koran accuses Jews and Christians that they are in error and do not observe Toru and Gospel, and they must also take the right path, i.e., become Muslims: “If the Jews and Christians believed in what you believed, then they were on the right path” (2:137). I wonder how Muhammad tested all the Jews and Christians to claim that they are all on the wrong path?

Muhammad claims that the Qur'an was sent to him to confirm the scriptures that were before the Qur'an: “We sent down to you, Muhammad, this Scripture (i.e., the Quran) as the truth to confirm what was said before in the scriptures, in order to protect them from distortion” (5:48). What distortions does Muhammad protect against? One of his most frequent accusations is that Christians believe that Jesus is God's Son. For example, here is what some verses say: "Christians claimed: "The Messiah is the son of Allah"" (9:30); "Allah did not beget a son, and there is no other god along with him"(23:91); “From this the sky is ready to split, the earth to open and the mountains to crumble to dust - from what people attributed to the Gracious son” (19:90-91); “This is what the true word is like,“ Isa, the son of Maryam, about whom there are so many disputes. It is not befitting for Allah to have children. (19:34-35). Actually wonder why Muhammad thinks that having children is something unclean? What about the biblical command? "be fruitful and multiply" ?

Let's leave these questions and turn to the Bible itself to find out who really distorts it: “Again the high priest asked Him and said to Him: Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One? Jesus said: I (Mark 14:61-62); “Jesus said to them: My Father is still working, and I am working. And the Jews sought even more to kill Him because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His Father, making Himself equal with God. (John 5:17-18); And Simon Peter answered and said: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then Jesus answered and said to him: Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonas, because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 16:16-17). These are just a few of the many examples in the Bible where Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus, recognized in the Qur'an as a messenger Allah(4:171), repeatedly claims to be the Son of God.

The Quran also denies Jesus his divine nature: “Jews and Christians recognized as gods besides Allah their scientists and monks, as well as the Messiah, the son of Maryam” (9:31). As for scientists and monks, I disagree: neither the Jews nor the Christians recognized them as gods. But Christians really consider Jesus to be God. And let us again bible judge us: “Thomas said to Him (Jesus) in answer: My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28); “I (i.e. Jesus) and the Father are one” (John 10:30). I only cited a couple of verses, but in general this is a big topic, which is devoted to entire sections in books with many examples from the Bible.

Another of the foundations of Christianity is the trinity of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). These are not three gods (as some believe), but one God, embodied in three forms. Many books are also devoted to this issue, but I will only briefly give a couple of quotes from the Bible. I already brought one of them "I and the Father are One" ), which speaks of the unity of God the Father and God the Son. Another quote goes like this: “For there are three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word (i.e., Jesus), and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one" (1 John 5:7). But Muhammad in this matter also insists on his own: “Believe in Allah and His messengers. And don't say, "God is a Trinity"" (4:171).

The above points are fundamental to gospel and are in direct conflict with the Qur'an. In addition to these points, there are a number of others, some of which I would like to mention.

In the 6th verse of the 61st sura we read: "Remember how" Isa, the son of Maryam, said: "O children of Israel! Indeed, I am the messenger of Allah to you, confirming the truth of what was in the Torah before me, and informing you of the good news about the messenger who will come after me and whose name is Ahmad "" . Of course, Jesus said nothing of the sort. On the contrary, he warns: "and many false prophets will arise and deceive many" (Matthew 24:9,11).

In Matthew 5:34-35 Jesus says these words: “But I say to you: do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor the earth, for it is His footstool; nor Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King." . And despite the fact that Muhammad several times calls to follow the Gospel, he himself does not hesitate to repeatedly violate this commandment of Jesus: "I swear by the sky and the star trails on it" (51:1); "I swear by the earth that plants permeate" (86:12); "I swear by the Lord of the easts and wests!" (70:40). In addition to these verses in the Quran, Muhammad swears many times: by angels, the Quran, the stars, the city, Mount Sinai, Adam, the sun, etc.

There is no point in writing about the numerous discrepancies of many points in the text of the Koran with similar stories of the heroes of the Bible. What is the story of the biblical Joseph worth, to which the 12th sura is dedicated in the Koran "Yusuf". Those familiar with the story of Joseph can read this surah for themselves to find out a number of interesting details that Muhammad added in order, apparently, to spice up the sensations.

The Qur'an repeatedly calls to follow bible: "Say, Muhammad: "O People of the Book! You will not stand on a solid foundation until you follow the precepts of the Torah and the Gospel and what the Lord has sent down to you." (5:68); “Let the followers of the Gospel judge according to what Allah has revealed in it. And whoever does not judge according to what Allah has sent down, he is a sinner.” (5:47). So, on the one hand, the Koran insists on the truth and divine nature of the Bible, on the other hand, it denies its fundamental foundations. The Qur'an testifies against itself!

In addition to the above discrepancies in the teachings of the Bible and the Quran, I would like to note the differences in their inherent characteristic features in order to once again show the doubtfulness of the assertion that the Quran was given by the same God who was given dilapidated and New Testament.

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament were written by more than one person. They have more than 40 authors belonging to different eras and different segments of the population. Despite this, both Testaments are subject to the same thought, a single idea runs like a red thread through the entire Bible. The Koran has one author, and, as we have seen, its teaching can hardly be called consistent with the Bible.

The Old and New Testaments, in addition to religious doctrines, describe the life stories of real people. The Koran, on the other hand, has almost no such stories (except for the stories it takes from the Bible and other sources) and is mostly replete with doctrines.

If any new names are mentioned in the Qur'an, then no supernatural events are associated with them. Even Muhammad himself cannot boast of the presence of such miracles in his life, which so abound in the lives of people in the Old and New Testaments.

If the New Testament, coming Jesus Christ, His life was repeatedly predicted in the Old Testament, the Koran, in contrast to this, has no prerequisites for its appearance.

Conclusion: in spite of all claims Koran about the fact that he was sent by the God of the Bible (or God in general), I cannot agree with this, because. I find in the Koran itself numerous facts pointing to serious internal contradictions in its teaching. The Qur'an "puts itself on the shoulder blades" by itself. It is clear to me that this book, written centuries after the Bible, was not sent by God, but created Muhammad on the basis of already existing scriptures with their significant changes and additions. I came to this conclusion, but how to treat it is up to you.

PS: I apologize if I hurt someone's religious feelings; I pursued a different goal, and I am very sorry if you did not understand it.

Every seventh inhabitant of the planet professes Islam. Unlike Christians, whose holy book is the Bible, Muslims have the Koran. In terms of plot and structure, these two wise ancient books are similar to each other, but the Quran has its own unique features.

What is the Quran

Before you figure out how many suras and how many verses are in the Quran, you should learn more about this wise ancient book. The Koran is It was written in the 7th century by the prophet Muhammad (Mohammed).

According to the admirers of Islam, the Creator of the Universe sent the archangel Gabriel (Jabrail) to convey through Muhammad his message for all mankind. According to the Koran, Mohammed is far from the first prophet of the Almighty, but the last one whom Allah ordered to convey his word to the people.

The writing of the Koran lasted for 23 years, until the death of Muhammad. It is noteworthy that the prophet himself did not put together all the texts of the message - this was done after the death of Mohammed by his secretary Zeid ibn Thabit. Prior to this, followers memorized all the texts of the Koran and wrote them down on everything that came to hand.

There is a legend that in his youth the prophet Mohammed was interested in Christianity and was even going to be baptized himself. However, faced with the negative attitude of some priests towards him, he abandoned this idea, although the very ideas of Christianity were close to him. Perhaps there is a grain of truth in this, since some storylines of the Bible and the Koran are intertwined. This suggests that the prophet was clearly well acquainted with the holy book of Christians.

Like the Bible, the Quran is both a philosophical book, a collection of laws, and a chronicle of the Arabs.

Most of the book is written in the form of a dispute between Allah, the opponents of Islam and those who have not yet decided whether to believe or not.

Thematically, the Quran can be divided into 4 blocks.

• Basic principles of Islam.
• The laws, traditions and rituals of Muslims, on the basis of which the moral and legal code of the Arabs was subsequently created.
• Historical and folklore data of the pre-Islamic era.
• Legends about the deeds of Muslim, Jewish and Christian prophets. In particular, in the Koran there are such heroes of the Bible as Abraham, Moses, David, Noah, Solomon and even Jesus Christ.

Structure of the Quran

In terms of structure, the Qur'an is similar to the Bible. However, unlike it, its author is one person, so the Qur'an is not divided into books according to the names of the authors. At the same time, the holy book of Islam is divided into two parts, according to the place of writing.

The chapters of the Koran written by Mohammed before 622, when the prophet, fleeing the opponents of Islam, moved to the city of Medina, are called Meccan. And all the others that Muhammad wrote in his new place of residence are called Medina.

How many suras are in the Quran and what is it

Like the Bible, the Koran consists of chapters, which the Arabs call suras.

In total, this sacred book consists of 114 chapters. They are not arranged according to the order they were written by the prophet, but according to their meaning. For example, the very first written chapter is considered to be Al-Alaq, which tells that Allah is the Creator of everything visible and invisible, as well as the ability of a person to sin. However, in the holy book, it is recorded as the 96th, and the first in a row is Surah Fatiha.

The chapters of the Qur'an are not uniform in length: the longest is 6100 words (Al-Baqarah), while the shortest is only 10 (Al-Kawthar). Starting from the second chapter (Bakara sura), their length becomes shorter.

After the death of Mohammed, the entire Quran was evenly divided into 30 juz. This is done so that during the sacred reading of one juz per night, a faithful Muslim could read the Koran in full.

Of the 114 chapters of the Qur'an, 87 (86) are suras written in Mecca. The remaining 27 (28) are Medina chapters written by Mohammed in the last years of his life. Each sura from the Qur'an has its own title, which reveals a brief meaning of the entire chapter.

113 of the 114 chapters of the Qur'an begin with the words "In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful!" Only the ninth sura, At-Tauba (from Arabic means "repentance"), begins with a story about how the Almighty deals with those who worship several gods.

What are ayat

Having learned how many suras are in the Koran, it is worth paying attention to another structural unit of the holy book - an ayat (an analogue of a biblical verse). Translated from Arabic, "ayat" means "signs."

These verses vary in length. Sometimes there are verses longer than the shortest chapters (10-25 words).

Due to problems with the division of suras into verses, Muslims have a different number of them - from 6204 to 6600.

The smallest number of verses in one chapter is 3, and the largest is 40.

Why the Quran should be read in Arabic

Muslims believe that only words from the Koran in Arabic, in which the sacred text was dictated by the archangel Mohammed, have miraculous power. That is why any, even the most accurate translation of the holy book, loses its divinity. Therefore, it is necessary to read prayers from the Koran in the original language - Arabic.

For those who do not have the opportunity to read the original Quran, in order to better understand the meaning of the holy book, it is worth reading tafsirs (interpretations and explanations of holy texts by the companions of Muhammad and famous scholars of later periods).

Russian translations of the Quran

Currently, there is a wide variety of translations of the Koran into Russian. However, all of them have their shortcomings, so they can only serve as an initial introduction to this great book.

Professor Ignatius Krachkovsky translated the Koran into Russian in 1963, however, he did not use comments on the holy book of Muslim scholars (tafsirs), so his translation is beautiful, but in many ways far from the original.

Valeria Porokhova translated the sacred book in verse. Surahs in Russian in her translation rhyme, and when reading the sacred book it sounds very melodious, somewhat reminiscent of the original. However, she translated from Yusuf Ali's English interpretation of the Qur'an and not from Arabic.

Quite good, although containing inaccuracies, are the popular translations of the Koran into Russian today by Elmir Kuliev and Magomed-Nuri Osmanov.

Surah Al-Fatiha

Having figured out how many suras are in the Quran, we can consider a few of the most famous of them. The head of Al-Fatih is called by Muslims the "mother of Scripture", as she opens the Koran. Sura Fatiha is sometimes also called Alham. It is believed that it was written by Mohammed was the fifth, but the scholars and companions of the prophet made it the first in the book. This chapter consists of 7 verses (29 words).

This surah in Arabic begins with the traditional phrase for 113 chapters - "Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim" ("In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful!"). Further in this chapter, Allah is praised, and also asks for His mercy and help on the path of life.

Surah Al-Baqarah

The longest surah from the Qur'an Al-Baqarah is 286 verses. Its name means "cow" in translation. The name of this sura is associated with the story of Moses (Musa), the plot of which is also in the 19th chapter of the biblical book of Numbers. In addition to the parable of Moses, this chapter also tells about the progenitor of all Jews - Abraham (Ibrahim).

Also, Surah Al-Baqara contains information about the basic tenets of Islam: about the unity of Allah, about a pious life, about the upcoming Day of God's judgment (Qiyamat). In addition, this chapter contains instructions on the conduct of trade, pilgrimage, gambling, the age for marriage and various nuances regarding divorce.

Bakara sura contains information that all people are divided into 3 categories: believers in Allah, rejecting the Almighty and His teachings and hypocrites.

The "heart" of Al-Baqarah, and indeed of the entire Koran, is the 255th verse, called "Al-Kursi". It tells about the greatness and power of Allah, His power over time and the universe.

Sura An-Nas

The Qur'an ends with Surah Al-Nas (An-Nas). It consists of only 6 verses (20 words). The title of this chapter is translated as "people". This sura tells about the fight against tempters, regardless of whether they are people, jinn (evil spirits) or Shaitan. The main effective remedy against them is the utterance of the Name of the Most High - in this way they will be put to flight.

It is generally accepted that the two final chapters of the Qur'an (Al-Falak and An-Nas) have protective power. So, according to Mohammed's contemporaries, he advised reading them every night before going to bed, so that the Almighty would protect them from the machinations of dark forces. The beloved wife and faithful companion of the prophet said that during his illness, Muhammad asked her to read aloud the two final suras, hoping for their healing power.

How to read the holy book of Muslims

Having learned how many suras are in the Koran, what are the names of the most famous of them, it is worth familiarizing yourself with how Muslims usually treat the holy book. Muslims treat the text of the Koran as a shrine. So, for example, from a board on which the words from this book are written with chalk, you cannot erase them with saliva, you need to use only clean water.

In Islam, there is a separate set of rules on how to properly behave when reading suras. Before you start reading, you need to take a small bath, brush your teeth and dress in festive clothes. All this is due to the fact that reading the Qur'an is a meeting with Allah, for which you need to prepare with reverence.

While reading, it is better to be alone so that strangers do not distract from trying to comprehend the wisdom of the sacred book.

As for the rules for handling the book itself, it must not be placed on the floor or left open. In addition, the Quran must always be placed on top of the other books in the stack. Pages from the Koran cannot be used as wrappers for other books.

The Quran is not only the holy book of Muslims, but also a monument of ancient literature. Every person, even those who are very far from Islam, after reading the Koran, will find in it a lot of interesting and instructive things. In addition, today it is very easy to do this: you just need to download the appropriate application from the Internet to your phone - and the ancient wise book will always be at hand.

The oldest and most complete list of the Koran is kept in Russia. Its researcher Efim Rezvan, having completed his painstaking collection of the manuscript literally from a sheet, shared with the special correspondent of "Gazeta" Nadezhda Kevorkova his reflections on the importance of this monument of world significance.

- The list of the Quran that you are holding in your hands - why is it called the Quran of Osman?

- From the point of view of Muslims, this is the very first list of the Koran, from which all subsequent copies were made. Muslims believe that this is the Quran written during the time of the third righteous caliph Osman. According to legend, it was over this list that he was killed by conspirators, and his blood was shed on these pages. There are dark spots with traces of blood on the pages of the manuscript.

- What time does this manuscript date from science?

- We did a radiocarbon analysis of the manuscript in Holland. Unfortunately, even the most modern techniques give an error of 100-200 years. We can say that this manuscript is not younger than the 2nd century AH, that is, it belongs to the 8th-9th centuries. I did not do a blood test, so as not to invade the sacred area for Muslims.

At the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, Western Quran studies established the opinion that the first list appeared only in the 3rd century AH, that is, in the 10th century. According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad dictated texts shortly before his death, collecting a book. Analysis of the manuscript confirmed the correctness of the Muslim tradition. So it is worth listening carefully to the Muslim point of view on the history of the composition of the text of the Koran.

- Is there any difference in this text from later lists?

- Minimum. The text of Osman's Quran does not go beyond the generally accepted in the Islamic world.

- How did Muslims manage to avoid discrepancies?

- The Islamic community, through the mouths of its leading scientists, did a lot of work to streamline the lists of the Koran, to withdraw unacceptable lists from circulation.

In Syria, recently during the restoration of the cathedral mosque under its roof, fragments of the Koran were discovered, which contain texts that somewhat go beyond the accepted canon.

The texts of the Koran could not be destroyed. They were either buried as a person is buried - wrapped in a shroud, buried in the ground with a certain ritual, or kept in special rooms in mosques.

In Islam, there is ijma - the consensus opinion of authoritative scientists of this era. It is not fixed in writing, however, it was this ijma that authorized the text of the Koran that we have today.

- Can you guess where it was written?

- Paleographic analysis gives a clear idea that it was created in Arabia or Northern Syria.

- What is the history of the discovery of the manuscript?

- In 1937, a part of this manuscript was acquired by Academician Krachkovsky, and it is stored in the St. Petersburg Academic Collection.

I began to study it, then surprisingly it turned out that another part of this manuscript is kept in a mazar in a small village in the south of Uzbekistan, not far from the Afghan border.

With the help of friends living in Uzbekistan, France, Germany, I managed to establish the history of this list and prepare it for publication.

The book was published in Russian and English, became the book of the year in Russia, received a UNESCO diploma. Now the book has been invited to the Iranian Qur'anic exhibition in Tehran.

- Did you try to buy Osman's Koran from Russia?

- It's impossible. At the end of the 19th century, a Russian diplomat of Arab origin bought the part that is now kept in St. Petersburg. The other part, consisting of 63 sheets, was kept in Uzbekistan in this village until 1983.

In 1983, a large anti-religious campaign began in the USSR, and the manuscript was confiscated by the KGB. After perestroika in 1992, instead of 63 sheets, only 13 sheets were returned to the community. Some people have 50 sheets in their hands. However, three sheets were recently confiscated by Uzbek customs. I still managed to include them in the book. I found 2 leaflets in the Samarkand library. One leaf - in Tashkent.

- Legally, who now owns the Koran of Osman?

- To various organizations - the Academy of Sciences, the Katta-Langara community, the Samarkand City Library, the Bukhara Regional Library, the Institute of Oriental Studies in Tashkent. The confiscated sheets from the customs were handed over to the Department of Muslim Affairs of Uzbekistan.

What does the word Koran mean?

- Reading, recitation. The list of the Qur'an is called "mushaf". If you say "Mushaf" in an Islamic country, they will bring you the Koran.

- How many manuscripts of the Koran of such antiquity are there in the world?

- This is the most complete and most ancient. There are no more than 5-7 lists of the same size. I mean lists containing about half of the sheets. There are many fragments of 5, 7, 15 sheets.

What material is it written on?

- On parchment. This is sheepskin, specially processed. The parchment is very large, since one sheet was the skin of one sheep.

- What is the design of the text in Osman's list - is the text already divided into chapters?

The Quran is the direct speech of God. The people who wrote it down believed that words created by people should not be added to the text of the holy book. Therefore, the names of suras, that is, chapters, and the number of verses (verses) are not indicated there. Empty spaces are left between the suras. Approximately 50-70 years later, an ornament was introduced into these empty places, the names of the suras and the number of verses were written. At the same time, grammar corrections were made in red ink, since the Arabic written grammar was just taking shape. The development of Arabic script is inextricably linked with the history of fixing the text of the Koran.

- Which translation of the Koran into Russian seems to you the most accurate?

- Academic translation of Krachkovsky of the 50s of the XX century. All the best translations of the Koran into European languages ​​were created in the same years and made by scientists. All these translations are accused of being difficult to read. But they are not so because scientists did not know modern languages ​​well, but because they tried to convey the meaning of words as accurately as possible. All the rest bring the reader their own idea of ​​the content, which is very different from the original. Let's say that Sablukov's text is a text written by a Christian missionary. The text of the Quran is very complex. It can be made light only by distorting it. Millions of people know the Qur'an by heart, but this does not mean that a modern speaker of Arabic understands the entire range of meaning of the words of the Qur'an. There is a huge amount of commentary in the Islamic world, and people understand the text of the Qur'an through commentaries. The text of the Koran now and for centuries lives in the comments. Let every generation translate the Koran - this is a great book, everyone reads his own in it. The time for a new academic translation has not yet come. I think in 10-15 years such translations will appear.

- Do you like the often heard idea that the Qur'an is poorly digested and chaotically recorded stories from the Bible and the Gospel?

- No, this ignorant idea is not close to me. The Middle East was seething with religious teachings, and Arabia in those days was the last bastion of Semitic paganism. The text of the Qur'an was the answer to this. A believing Muslim will believe that it is the Almighty who has given answers to the most important questions. A secular scholar will say that the prophetic movement was a reflection of social change. No matter how you approach this topic, it is clear that the text of the Koran has sprouted through the oldest religious tradition in the Middle East. There is a gigantic literature on isolating parallel places with biblical literature.

In recent years, in the United States, and in Russia as well, there have been calls to rewrite the Koran and delete from it everything that the new ideologists consider superfluous. Such books have already been printed and distributed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This is an unacceptable idea as such a list will never be accepted by Muslims. Much can be found in the Qur'an, as in the Bible. Each generation reads its own - both in the Koran and in the Bible. I repeat, the Koran, like centuries ago, is explained in comments and interpretations. There are polar points of view on the understanding of the most important provisions. There are tolerant tafsirs (collections of commentaries), there are radical interpretations - for example, Saeed Qutba (one of the ideologists of the opposition in Egypt, who was executed in 1966). But no one will allow to rewrite the Koran. Attempts to do this are a huge mistake, which is used by extremist forces in order to get new followers into their ranks.

The Quran is the "Bible of Islam". What does the word "quran" mean? Muslim scholars argued about the pronunciation, meaning and meaning of the word. The Qur'an (Qur'an) comes from the Arabic root "kara" a - "read" or, more precisely, "pronounce recitative, recite." The Qur'an is the revelations that Allah sent down to Muhammad and which the Prophet then expounded. This holy book of Islam is sometimes called kitab (book) or dhikr (warning).

The Quran is divided into 114 chapters, or, in Arabic, sur. This word, whose origin is unclear, apparently originally meant "revelation", then - "a collection of several revelations or passages from a revelation." The word "sura" is found in some verses of the Qur'an, in which non-believers are invited to compose one or more equivalent suras (for example, sura 2, verse 21; sura 10, verse 39; sura 11, verse 16), and also where Allah declares, that he gave signs (ayat) through the sura (sura 24, verse 1); in addition, this word is found in the chapter instructing Muslims to go to war for their Prophet (sura 9, verse 87).

One of the oldest copies of the Quran, presumably compiled under Caliph Osman

Subsequently, for the convenience of reading aloud, the Quran was divided into thirty parts (dzhuz) or into sixty parts (hizb - sections).

Each of the 114 suras (chapters) of the Qur'an is divided into verses, or verses. Since there was no verse numbering in the first manuscripts of the Qur'an, the division of suras into verses became the subject of controversy, several options appeared. Hence the differences in determining the number of verses (within the same canonical text) - from 6204 to 6236. Each sura contains from 3 to 286 verses, in an ayat - from 1 to 68 words. According to estimates given by the American researcher Philip Hitty, there are only 77,934 words and 323,621 letters in the Quran, which is four-fifths new testament.

The Qur'an would become much smaller if the numerous repetitions, inevitable and even necessary in such a work, were removed from it. The English orientalist Lane-Poole quite rightly remarks: "If we discard Jewish legends, repetitions, appeals of transitory significance and personal demands, then Muhammad's speeches take up very little space."

The order of the suras in the Quran depends on their size: the shortest (and at the same time the oldest) suras are at the end of the Quran. The main "compiler" of the text of this book, Zeid ibn Thabit, and his collaborators could not proceed from the content of the verses, since the fragmentary nature of the revelations prevented this. They could not think of the chronological order of the suras and verses, since the time for establishing it had already been lost. However, there are two exceptions to this arrangement of suras in order of decreasing length: firstly, the last two suras (113th and 114th, the ones that were not in Ibn Masud's Qur'an) are not the shortest; however, they have a completely special character; in essence, these are spells against an evil spirit; secondly, the first sura ( fatiha- "opening") is placed at the beginning of the book (although it contains only seven verses) no doubt because it has the form of a prayer; it is usually ended with the word "amen", which is not done at the end of the reading of other suras; there is an instruction to read it as often as possible (Sura 15, verse 87).

This artificial arrangement of the suras adopted by Zayd and his associates could not satisfy thoughtful minds. Already in the early period, interpreters noticed sharp differences in the style of individual parts of the Qur'an and saw a few cursory allusions to events in the life of Muhammad. So the question arose about the dating of the suras.

Of course, such a dating had to be based on finding out the reasons that caused individual revelations, and for this there was not enough exact information. However, Sura 8 seems to be related to the battle of Badr, 33rd - from battle at the moat, 48th - from agreement in Hudeibiya, in Sura 30 there is a mention of the defeat, inflicted on the Byzantines by the Iranians about 614. There are very few such data, and they all refer to the Medinan period of the Prophet's life. Muslim interpreters did their best to discover in certain verses of the Qur'an any hints of historical facts, but the results they obtained turned out to be disputable too often.

Therefore, a direct study of the style of the Qur'an seems to be more reliable for establishing the chronology of its text than assumptions of a historical nature. Some Arabic interpreters have already made attempts in this direction before. Samarkandi, for example, noted that the Meccan and Medinan groups of suras each have their own special expression for addressing believers (“O you who believe!”). In short, when classifying the texts of the Qur'an, they can be divided into two groups: the Meccan (before hijri) and Medina (after the Hijra). Not being absolute, this criterion gives certain positive results.

We continue our conversation about Islam, about its substantive content, that is, about cult and dogma content. Today we will talk about the Quran. Last time, in an introductory lecture, I said that the Koran is, so to speak, the main value of Muslims, which, without any doubt, occupies the first place in the hierarchy of values. Muslim culture is generally Qur'an-centric, one might say. The Qur'an and law are two things that largely determine the main features of Islam. Well, we will talk about law in the future, but today about the Koran. In the introductory lecture, I already talked about it quite a lot, but this is a topic that can be talked about endlessly, and we will inevitably return to it in the course of our course.

So, according to Muslim tradition, according to Muslim historians, Muhammad until the age of 40 was a Meccan merchant, a prosperous merchant, married to a rich woman Khadija, who owned camel caravans and was engaged in trade. However, being a merchant, according to Muslim tradition, he loved solitude, often left, wandered around the outskirts of Mecca alone, thinking about religious problems. One of his favorite retreats was Mount Hira or Jabal al-Nur near Mecca.

And at the age of 40 (which means about 610 AD), he had a voice in a dream, and the words sounded: “Read! In the name of your Lord, who created - created man from a blood clot. Read! For the sake of your most generous Lord, who taught writing, taught man what he did not know. Here are the Koranic words. This is the 96th sura, verses 1-5. What is a sura and what are ayats, we will find out a little later today. Muslim tradition unanimously believes that these are the first words of the Qur'an, what Muhammad first heard, and it begins with the word "read" - caviar. "Karaa" - to read, and hence al-Kur'an (Quran). As the biography of Muhammad says, which arose, however, the earliest of those that have come down to us, two centuries after the death of Muhammad, Muhammad was frightened, and here is the command "read!" repeated three times, and then only Muhammad said: “But I don’t know what to read.” And then these words sounded, after the triple imperative “read!”.

European scholars generally agree that these verses, or verses of the Qur'an, are among the earliest. Why is the 96th sura, and not the 1st, since these are early verses, the earliest? More on this today, but only a little later. According to the Qur'an and according to Muslim tradition, these words sounded on the night of predestination (Laylat al-Qadr). She is mentioned in the 97th sura of the 1st ayat. And they sounded on the 27th of the month of Ramadan. This is the month of fasting for Muslims, when divine light fills the world.

Then these revelations continued periodically in the form of such short fragments. Muhammad memorized them. Initially, for the first two years, Muhammad did not dare to go out with a public sermon and retold it only to Khadija, his wife, his cousin Ali, and his closest people. The fact is that initially Muhammad was afraid that he would become either a kahin (a soothsayer, a traditional institution in pre-Islamic Arabia) or a poet. He did not like either one or the other, neither divination, nor poetry, so this fear arose in him. But nevertheless, thanks to Khadija, thanks to his cousin Ali, he is gradually convinced of his prophetic mission, and somewhere around the year 612 he comes out with an open sermon.

The sending down, tanzil, as Muslims say, of the Qur'an lasted for 22 years. There is no consensus in Muslim tradition. There are commentators and Muslim authors who say 22 years old (this is the most common point of view), there are those who say that 20 years old, there are 23 years old, but this is not so important. This is the period of sending down the Koran, when in small fragments, as the Muslim tradition will later add based on the Koran, Muhammad receives revelation through the angel. Originally in the Qur'an, in the early surahs, it is stated that Muhammad heard these words from the holy spirit. In a later period, this holy spirit is already identified with the angel Gabriel, 2nd sura of the Koran, 97th ayat.

Suras and verses

The word "Quran" itself occurs 66 times in the text, sometimes denoting the entire text, and sometimes part of it, and sometimes just reading the sacred text. The words "truth", "revealing", "distinguishing" (furqan) are used as synonyms in the Qur'an, a very important word - it means the distinction between good and evil, and the main synonym of the Qur'an is al-Kitab - "book" literally, Scripture . The Qur'an consists of 114 parts, which are called suras. In Arabic, sura literally means "row, rank." In the Qur'an itself, this word means "the most important, the most important." In turn, each of the 114 suras consists of verses. The word "aya" (plural "ayat") occurs in the Qur'an no less than 400 times in different meanings.

Initially, this word meant a certain natural phenomenon, any, then a supernatural phenomenon, testifying to divine omnipotence, a sign, a miracle, and, finally, in a special meaning - the minimum unit of the Qur'anic text. Well, an ayat can be likened to a biblical verse: just as the chapters of the biblical books were divided into verses and numbered for ease of citation, so the Qur'anic text was divided into suras and into verses, verses.

The suras are not uniform in size in the Qur'an. The smallest, because there are several of them, the suras consist of only three verses, and the largest (this is the 2nd sura of the Qur'an) consists of 286 verses.

The verses themselves are not the same in size. The shortest ayat has only one word, while the longest ayat has no less than 68 words. Muslims were very fond of and love to count everything, and it was calculated that there are only 77,934 words and 323,621 letters in the Koran, or harfa, if you follow the Arabic terminology. This is about 4/5 of the New Testament in volume.

Each sura has its own name. For example, the largest, 2nd sura of the Koran, is called "Al-Baqara" ("Cow"), the 24th sura - "An-Nur" ("Light"), the 35th - "Malyaika" ("Angels" ) and so on. The name of the sura, as a rule, does not reflect its content. There are very few surahs in the Qur'an that have the same title as the content. For example, the 12th sura of the Koran "Yusuf" ("Joseph") is completely devoted to the story of Joseph, the biblical Joseph, the great-grandson of Abraham.

What is important to keep in mind? For Muslims, if the Qur'anic text itself is divinely revealed, then the names of the suras are not considered the text of the Qur'an, because they were given later, so the name does not refer to the Qur'anic text. This was done, so to speak, for convenience.

Following the name of the sura is basmala, a prayer formula: "In the name of God, the merciful, the merciful." It precedes every sura, with the exception of only one, the 9th sura of the Qur'an. Why is that? Presumably, the 8th and 9th were originally a single sura. Indirectly, this is evidenced by the fact that the early Byzantine polemicists, Christian polemicists, spoke not about 114, but about 113 chapters of the Koran. Well, then the 8th sura was divided into two for some reason, but as a sign that the 9th sura is an additional sura, it was deprived of the basmala. But this is one of the hypotheses.

"In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Merciful." Again, the basmala is not considered the revealed text of the Quran, therefore it is not numbered in the Quran, with the exception of only the 1st sura of the Quran "Al-Fatiha", where it is included in the text of the sura, therefore in the 1st sura the basmala is numbered.

Ayats are numbered, and in the European tradition such a citation of the Koran is accepted: the first number indicates the number of the sura, for example, 24 (this means sura “Light”), and the second number, as a rule, through two ...