The Revealed Books and the Qurʾān

All praise is due to Allāh. May Allāh raise the rank of Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and protect his nation from that which he feared for them.

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Believing in the Revealed Books

It is obligatory upon every Muslim to believe in all the books that Allāh revealed to His Prophets. Allāh the Exalted said:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي نَزَّلَ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِ وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ مِن قَبْلُ

O you who believed, believe in Allāh and His Messenger and the Book that He revealed to His Messenger and the Book that He revealed before. [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, 136]

Among the books Allāh revealed are the Tawrāh revealed to Mūsā, the Injīl revealed to ʿĪsā, the Zabūr revealed to Dāwūd, and the Qurʾān revealed to Muḥammad ﷺ. Whoever denies any of the books Allāh revealed has blasphemed.

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The Qurʾān is the Speech of Allāh

The Qurʾān is the speech of Allāh revealed to our Master Muḥammad ﷺ. It is not the speech of an angel, nor the speech of a human. Allāh the Exalted said:

وَإِنَّهُ لَتَنزِيلُ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ نَزَلَ بِهِ الرُّوحُ الْأَمِينُ عَلَىٰ قَلْبِكَ لِتَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُنذِرِينَ بِلِسَانٍ عَرَبِيٍّ مُّبِينٍ

And indeed it is a revelation from the Lord of all creation, brought down by the Trustworthy Soul upon your heart so that you would be among the warners, in a clear Arabic tongue. [Sūrat al-Shuʿarāʾ, 192-195]

The speech of Allāh is an eternal and everlasting attribute. The Qurʾān as a revealed expression is the word of Allāh conveyed to us in Arabic through Jibrīl ﷺ and transmitted to us through continuous and unbroken chains. All of the revealed books are expressions of the one eternal speech of Allāh.

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The Qurʾānic Revelation

The word Qurʾān has two usages. It is used in reference to the revealed expression sent to Muḥammad ﷺ, and in reference to the speech which is the eternal attribute of Allāh. That eternal speech is not a letter or a sound, neither Arabic nor any other language.

Imām Abū Ḥanīfah said:

اللهُ يَتَكَلَّمُ بِلَا آلَةٍ وَلَا حَرْفٍ وَنَحْنُ نَتَكَلَّمُ بِآلَةٍ وَحَرْفٍ

Allāh speaks without an instrument and without a letter, and we speak with an instrument and a letter.

The Revealed Expression is made of letters. Some of those letters precede other letters, and whatever is like that is a created event. However it is not the authoring of an angel or a human. It is an expression of the eternal speech of Allāh, and for this reason it is called the speech of Allāh.

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The Qurʾān Abrogates All Previous Books

The Qurʾān is the final revelation from Allāh. It abrogates all the books that came before it and supersedes their laws. No previous law remains binding after the coming of Muḥammad ﷺ except what the Qurʾān and the Sunnah have confirmed.

Allāh the Exalted said:

وَأَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَمُهَيْمِنًا عَلَيْهِ

And We revealed to you the Book in truth, confirming what came before it of the Book and as a guardian over it. [Sūrat al-Māʾidah, 48]

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The Preservation of the Qurʾān

Allāh has guaranteed the preservation of the Qurʾān until the Day of Judgment. It has been transmitted through continuous and unbroken chains of narration, memorized in the hearts of millions, and written in countless copies across every generation. No book in human history has been preserved with such precision and completeness.

Allāh the Exalted said:

إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ

Indeed We revealed the Reminder and indeed We are its guardian. [Sūrat al-Ḥijr, 9]

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The Obligation to Follow the Qurʾān

Believing in the Qurʾān is not merely an article of faith held in the heart. It requires following what it commands, avoiding what it prohibits, and taking knowledge of the Religion from those who have mastered its sciences under qualified scholars across unbroken chains of transmission.

Allāh the Exalted said:

وَهَٰذَا كِتَابٌ أَنزَلْنَاهُ مُبَارَكٌ فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَاتَّقُوا لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

And this is a Book We have revealed, blessed, so follow it and fear Allāh so that you may receive mercy. [Sūrat al-Anʿām, 155]

For the correct understanding of the Qurʾān’s decisive and ambiguous verses and the methodology of the scholars in interpreting them, see the IKF article on Clearing Allāh of Place, Direction, and Resemblance to Creation.

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This article is part of IKF’s Ilm al-Aqīdah series, drawn from the works of the scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah.