Quran, Hadith and Sunnah
The Holy Quran (Qoran, Koran or Kuran)
To Muslims, or followers of
Islam, the Quran is the actual Word of God, it is the verbal revelation to His
Messenger, and it was written down as it was revealed to him. While was
still alive, Muhammad (pbuh), as instructed and commanded by God, arranged and
organized Quran in chapters and verses in the same way we find it today.
Throughout history, there
has never been an area in the whole world that has been colonized by a foreign
power like the Middle East. Yet neither colonization nor people could change
even one word in the original Arabic text since it was originally
written. Nothing has been taken out and nothing has been added to it. It is
obvious that we can not say that the Quran stayed intact -without a single
change- all these years because of Muslims, people, presidents or kings, and
most certainly not by the foreign invaders, rather, because of its holiness and
by the power of ALLAH.
The Quran we have today
anywhere in the world in any language, is the same1400 years old Quran, which
you will find in the early hand written originals in the museum in Saudi
Arabia. It has 114 chapters with the same number of verses.
Hadith (Hadeeth) and Sunah
(Sunna or Sunnah)
Though, some may think that
the Quran is the record of Muhammad's life, the Quran is not that at all,
actually the name 'Muhammad' occurs in the Quran only five times.
Mohammed's life and the way
he did things, after being chosen by God as a Messenger, was built on every thing
that was revealed to him, in Arabic, this is called "Sunna".
Things that he said when he was asked a specific Question or in a certain
situation is called "Hadith". Since the best one to interpret
the meaning of the scriptures, no doubt, has to be the one who received them
first hand from God, Muhammad (pbuh) used to interpret the Quran in his
"Hadith" too. Both Hadith and Sunna are "divine
inspiration" from God. This "divine inspiration" is necessary so
that we may exactly understand the intended " interpretation or meaning
" of the "Quran", otherwise the interpretation would be "unguided".
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