Introduction to Islam (Part 2 of 5: Revelation)
In yesterday’s blog post I began a brief introduction to Islam. I focussed primarily on the founding of Islam and Muhammad.
Today I would like to look at the divine revelation which Islam claims to have received, which is found principally in the Qur’an/Koran.
As I said yesterday, I have done my best to ensure factual accuracy in all these posts and have used Islamic sources as much as possible to ensure that I’m not propagating Christian misconceptions of Islam. I did send this to some Muslim friends for comment, but I have yet to hear back. If you are a follower of Islam and believe that I have misrepresented your religion, please drop me an email and I will remedy the situation.
The Qur’an
As mentioned in my previous post, the Qur’an (literally, “the recitation”) is a compilation of the messages given to Muhammad.
Christians and Muslims understand the concept of scripture differently. Christians describe the Bible, in the words of St. Paul, as being “God breathed” (theopneustos). As Dei Verbum explains:
“In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted” – Dei Verbum, Chapter 3
Muslims, on the other hand, view the Qur’an as the word of God in the most literal sense, believing that the text bears no imprint of the writer’s character whatsoever. Rather, they believe that the Qur’an is the literal word of God, dictated to Muhammad, written down verbatim.