Long-form studies on the compilation, readings, abrogation and themes of the Qur'an, in English and Arabic, each with its references.
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Muhammad’s Jibril (Gabriel)
جبريل محمد
Jibril in the Islamic narratives is the messenger who carried (transported) the revelations to Muhammad. Despite Jibril’s vital role in establishing Islam as a religion, Muhammad was silent about him for years. Jibril is...
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Chronological Sequence of the Qur’ān
الترتيب التاريخي للقرآن
One difficulty that faces the student of the Qur’ān is that its order is not based on the principle of chronological sequence. Because of its relation to theological issues, Muslim scholars gave careful attention to the...
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Compilation of the Qur’an
جمع القرآن
According to Islamic beliefs, the Qur’ān was revealed when Muhammad began proclaiming his faith and reciting portions of it for his followers to memorize. When the Meccans persisted in rejecting Muhammad and his follower...
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Critical Analysis
التحليل النقدي
The views of Muslim scholars are divided regarding the manner of the “revelation” of the Qur’ān into three views:
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The Qur'an and people of other Faiths
القرآن وأتباع الديانات الأخرى
The basis for dealing with people of other faiths who interacted with Muhammad can be found in sura al-Tawba (Q 9). First, the sura provided value judgments regarding the other religions. Second, it organized a set of pr...
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Introduction
المقدمة "القرآن"
Religion is man’s systematic search for God and truth. It is a collection of beliefs and thoughts regarding deity and its relation to man. When one is considering the claims of a religion, one must consider the source of...
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Abrogation and the Abrogated
الناسخ والمنسوخ
In the fifth year of Muhammad’s call in Mecca, where the people of the Quraysh, pagans and Muslims were gathered, Muhammad came and joined their gatheirng. Shortly thereafter, he recited to them the first verses of sura...
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Muqatta'at (The Stand-alone Letters)
فواتح السور
Some Qur’ānic suras begin with one or more individual letters of the alphabet, most commonly referred to as muqatta‘at, which translated, means “disjointed letters”. They are also called fawatih, or “openers”, because th...
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Paradise and Hell
الجنة والنار
Islam is a religion that espouses life after death. It speaks of reward in paradise (al-Janna) and punishment in hell (al-Nār). In this article the Islamic beliefs of paradise and hell will be presented here together bec...
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Preface
A book of terror or a book of peace? An inspired text or a political agenda? How is one to know the truth about the Qur’an? Where does one even begin? How can an English-speaking reader ever hope to wade through the hist...
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Variant Readings-Study Update
ما استجد في دراسة القراءات المختلفة
the subject of the variant readings of the Qur’ān was introduced to the reader. (See the article “Variant Readings of the Qur’ān,” ) From the time of Muhammad, there have been multiple readings of the Qur’ān (including t...
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The Qur'ān Confesses the Uniqueness of Christ among all People
القرآن يعترف بفرادة المسيح بين العالمين
The Qur’ān declares the unique and miraculous birth of Christ among all people. The Qur’ān also describes Christ using four adjectives and gives him four titles that were not given to any other messenger. This [attention...
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The Qur’ān Testifies to the Truth of the Bible
القرآن يشهد على صحة الكتاب المقدس
The Qur’ān testifies in several different verses that it has come “confirming” and “verifying” the Scriptures. The following statements confess the divine origin of the Scriptures:
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Variant Readings of the Qur’ān
قراءات القرآن المختلفة
The roots of the variant readings of the Qur’ān go back to the time of Muhammad. The historical record shows an event that sheds light on the presence of differences in the various readings of the Qur’ān among the Muslim...
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Women in the Qur’ān
المرأة في القرآن
The Qur'ān is the source of all personal status laws in Islamic countries. Therefore, the rules of religious jurisprudence concerning the position and treatment of women are also based on the Qur’ān. In order to fully un...
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Accusations of Spousal Infidelity
اللعان أو الملاعنة
If a husband accuses his wife of committing adultery without bringing forth four witnesses who will affirm that the adultery occurred, he falls under the punishment for such an act. However, he can redeem himself by prov...
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The Scientific “Miracles” of the Qur’ān
إعجاز القرآن
In order to demonstrate the so-called i‘jāz (“inimitability”) of the Qur’ān, Zaghlūl El-Najjār, a prominent promoter and “specialist” in this subject, publicly discusses the most common examples claimed by supporters of...
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Punishment for Zina (Illicit Sexual Behavior) in Islam
عقوبة الزاني والزانية في الإسلام
According to Islam, the punishment for illicit sexual behavior, which is based in part on Q 24.2, is flogging or stoning, depending on the marital status (non-married virgin or a married person) of the one committing the...
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The Slander: Al-’Ifk Incident
الإفك
Q 24.11 refers to a group of people who have slandered a woman. Though the verse does not identity the accusers or the victim of the false allegations, Islamic sources provide disparate interpretations of this verse and...
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The Hajj and the ‘Umra
الْحَجُّ وَالْعُمْرَةُ
Before Islām, the Arabs used to perform their pilgrimage in the month of Dhū-l-Hijja every year. They performed the very same ceremonies that Muslims continue to perform today. The Talbiyya [answering the call], the Ihra...
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Who are the Hanifs?
من هم الأحناف؟
The name Hanifs is derived from the root word hanafa. In the Arabic language dictionaries we find the following definition:
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The “Samaritan” before Samaria
سامري ما قبل السامرة
Apparently, the existence of the word es Sâmarîy (“the Samaritan”) in the Qur’ānic text in Q 20:95 (“Said he, ‘What was thy design, O Sâmarîy?’”) has confused the most significant Islamic scholars about the meaning of th...
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The Muslim Woman and Her Male Slave
ملك اليمين والتمييز الجنسي بين الرجل والمرأة
The Muslim woman has no right to sexually enjoy the male slave. This right is reserved only for the Muslim man, who can force his female slave (who has no rights) to have sexual intercourse with him. Islam also forbids t...
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Timeline of Muhammad’s life
الجدول الزمني لحياة محمد
Muhammad tells his wife, Khadīja, that he received the revelation of the first sūra of the
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The Alexander Legends
أساطير الإسكندر
By the time he was thirty years old, Alexander III of Macedon—more commonly known as Alexander the Great—had assembled one of the largest empires of the ancient world through the extraordinary success of his military cam...