The Koran

The Koran, stylized also as the Qur’an, is the central religious text of the religion of Islam. Though its true attribution is unconfirmed, it is generally agreed to have been written by the prophet Muhammad at some point between 600 and 700 A.D. The content of the book was allegedly transmitted to Muhammad from God, as he transcribed his words over a period of two decades. “Koran,” translated from Arabic, roughly means “The Spoken Word.” The Koran is regarded as one of the foundational texts of human religion and thus, has affected virtually every line of premodern and modern philosophy, spirituality, and even scientific inquiry.

While other religious texts such as the Torah and Bible are highly descriptive, moralistic, and composed by several authors over several centuries, the Koran is an expository work with only one author. Additionally, the Koran regards itself as an intrinsically holy text, while other religious works were generally ascribed their sacredness retroactively. It contains two major parts: first, the Surah, followed by the Ayah. The Surah and Ayah distinguish Islam explicitly from other world religions, contending that prior religions have poorly understood the will and significance of the one true God. Today, the Koran is primarily interpreted with respect to the Muslim people, its most consistent adherents through history. Nevertheless, the text is rich with insightful descriptions and metaphors that relate to many cultural groups through time and are amenable to scholarly study.

The Koran’s main subjects are Allah (or God) and Muhammad the prophet. Even though Muhammad is human, the text ascribes a great holy significance to his name, arguing that he was willed into existence to fulfill his spiritual role. The Koran rejects the Christian belief that Jesus Christ is equivalent to God. It agrees only that Jesus was an extremely enlightened prophet, similar to Muhammad, and that his story should be central to the study of Islam and humankind’s relationship with God. The text roundly rejects Judaism, arguing that the Torah falsely claims that the Jews are God’s preferred race and deliberately misleads its readers to follow a false God. However, it elevates another race to Allah’s preferred position: the Arabic people. Primarily for these reasons, the Koran is an extremely contentious text. It claims that the holy land of Jerusalem belongs to the Islamic people and no others; and that the Israelite clan’s contradicting claim that God gave the Jewish people the land is false.



The Koran argues that it should only be read in its original language, Arabic. Over the following centuries, and the application of different languages to the text, different interpretive camps have emerged which lay contradicting claims on the Koran’s meaning. Even today, differing views on the text still lead to ideological tensions that have erupted in violence. Many Muslim experts on the Koran, who are often considered the text’s main interpretive authority, have argued that the Koran can be meaningful and useful in any language and for any culture, but also that it loses much of its meaning when translated out of Arabic.

After explicating Allah’s message to the Arab people, the Koran ends with a prediction of the end of the world. It claims that the sun will rise from the west instead of the east while the people of earth are busy with the trivial matters of their lives, mainly doing business and eating. Mohammed asserts that all Allah’s adherents must do is wait for their final exaltation.

The Koran employs some of the most beautiful language and storytelling ever written in the Arabic language. Being such a rich and involved text, it is perhaps unsurprising that it has stirred emotions from joy to anger, to despair, for more than a millennium.