As-salamu alaykum,
This app was created for Muslims who want a dedicated app to easily read and recite the Quran with the Arabic, transliteration, and translation all in one place. May Allah grant you ease in your journey in Islam and may you become among those who memorise the Quran front to back.
Jazakallah Khair.
The Revelation of the Quran
The Quran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the year 610 CE during the month of Ramadan, through the angel Jibril (Gabriel), when he (SAW) was 40 years old. The Quran was revealed in stages over the course of 23 years, until the death of Muhammad (SAW).
When ayahs (verses) were revealed to the Prophet (SAW), he dictated them to his companions so they could memorise and write down the revelation, allowing the preservation of the Quran. The Prophet (SAW) could not make copies of the Quran himself as he could not read or write.
After the Prophet (SAW) died, many companions who had memorised the Quran died in the Battle of Yamamah. In order to ensure the preservation of the Quran, Abu Bakr, the Caliph at the time, tasked Zayd ibn Thabit to collect all the individual copies and to make a master copy, only using copies that had been written in the presence of the Prophet (SAW). This master copy was further verified by multiple people who had memorised the entire Quran at the time of the Prophet (SAW). This guaranteed that every verse that got into the final master copy had truly been revealed to the Prophet (SAW).
When the master copy was created, it was given to Abu Bakr As-Saddiq. After the death of Abu Bakr, it was given to Umar ibn Al-Khattab, the second Caliph, and then to his daughter Hafsa (a widow of the Prophet (SAW)) after Umar passed away.
Using the master copy, Caliph Uthman ibn Affan tasked 12 of his companions to prepare copies of the Quran in the same way Zayd ibn Thabit had done. Once these were complete, he compared them to the original version still held by Hafsa.
When the Quran was collected in a single volume, called an ‘Uthmani mus-haf’, Caliph Uthman sent copies to different provinces under Muslim rule, accompanied with reciters.
To this day, countless Muslims (many of whom are non-Arabic speakers) have memorised the Quran in its entirety, preserving the message of Islam in the hearts and minds of millions around the world. Those who have memorised the Quran are called ‘Hafiz’, which relates to one of the names of Allah, Al-Hafiz (which can be translated to ‘the Ever-Preserving/the Guardian/the Protector’).
Thanks to the dedication and effort of the early Muslims, there is only one version of the Quran, making it the most authentic and best-preserved holy book in the world (the only differences occurring in the way the Arabic gets translated). May Allah bless the Prophet (SAW) and all those who have helped preserve and spread this sacred and infallible text from our Lord.
(This history of the revelation of the Quran is brief and has skipped a lot of information. If you would like to learn more about, I recommend the video ‘How To Prove The Quran Has Been Preserved Accurately’ on the OnePath Network on YouTube.)
Differences in Translation
When reading a translation of the Quran, it is imperative for the reader to understand that the translation loses a lot of depth and emotion, as the translated language is usually not as descriptive as Arabic. As a result, translations cannot capture the emotion, detail, and descriptiveness which is present in an Arabic Quran. For a reader to fully grasp the entire meaning of this sacred text, one should try to learn Arabic (learning Arabic is encouraged but not imperative for Muslims, as long as they are aware that the translation they may be familiar with may not be entirely accurate).
One example of how something can be translated differently is Allah’s name ‘Ar-Rahman’, which opens almost every surah of the Quran. Some translations ‘the Entirely Merciful’, whereas others use ‘the Most Compassionate’. However, the Arabic meaning is so much deeper than either of these translations.
(To fully understand how descriptive Arabic is, there are around 12,000,000 words in Arabic, compared to ~250,000 words in English – according to the Oxford English Dictionary.)
All of this is to say that, when reading the English translation of an Arabic text, it is important to keep in mind that the translation cannot capture the full depth of emotion present in the original, and in order to fully understand the original, one should learn Arabic.
Learning About the Meanings of Quran
When the Quran was being revealed, certain chapters were revealed at certain times. For example, Surah Taha was revealed at a time when idolaters of the Quraysh family attacked Islam, claiming that the Quran was revealed as a stress to Mohammad (SAW); Allah refuted these attacks in the second and third ayahs of Surah Taha which can be translated to “We did not reveal the Qur'an to you to cause you distress // it is only a reminder for him who fears Allah.”
In order to fully understand the meaning of the ayahs and surahs of the Quran as much as possible, one should strive to read the Tafsir (the Quranic commentary/explanation). Some good sources for Tafsir are:
- The Islamic Studies website , and
- The Honey for the Heart website (this website also has extensive information about other Islamic topics, such as how to discipline yourself, Ramadan reminders, hadith, du’a, and so much more).
The importance of reading and studying Tafsir cannot be overstated. For a person to be able fully understand the word of their Lord, one must try to make an effort to learn more about teachings and meanings in the blessed Quran.
Reciting The Arabic Quran with The Correct Pronunciations
Pronouncing Arabic correctly can be hard for non-Arabic speakers, even with the transliteration. To encourage people to learn how to correctly pronounce the Quran, Allah decreed that the reward for someone who has difficulty reciting the Quran is double that of someone who recites perfectly. The Prophet (SAW) said, “Verily the one who recites the Qur’an beautifully, smoothly, and precisely, he will be in the company of the noble and obedient angels. And as for the one who recites with difficulty, stammering or stumbling through its verses, then he will have twice that reward.” The Prophet also said, “Whoever recites a letter from the Book of Allah, he will be credited with a good deed, and a good deed gets a ten-fold reward. I do not say that Alif-Lam-Mim is one letter, but Alif is a letter, Lam is a letter and Mim is a letter.” (Essentially, the person who recites the Quran beautifully gets 10 good deeds for each letter recited, and the one who struggles gets 20 good deeds per letter.)
When you come across something in the Quran that you struggle to pronounce, you can listen to videos of others reciting the specific ayah or surah to hear how they pronounce it. Similarly, the website ‘Quran.com’ allows people to listen to individual Arabic characters.
This introduction to the Quran is very brief and brushes over a lot of information. If you want to learn more about the Quran and Islam, please start studying because there is so much to learn.
Likewise, as there is so much to learn in Islam, do not feel bad for not being able to implement the teachings of the Quran into your life as soon as you learn about them. One of the reasons why the Quran was revealed over 23 years is so the early Muslims had time to strengthen their faith and to adjust to the changes Islam brought about.
I hope that while using this app, you learn more about your Lord and about Islam.
May Allah grant you peace while reading and reciting the Quran, and may Allah make us among the people of Jannah. Ameen.
(Note – The number of verses, words, and letters at the start of each chapter are based on work done by Abdulrazzaq Abbawi working with Noon Centre for Quran Research and Studies. Depending on the counting methodology, figures may differ from source to source.)