How it began
In the year 610, Muhammad ﷺ was 40 years old and often went to a cave called Hira, outside Mecca, to reflect and pray. One night the angel Gabriel came to him with the first word of the Quran: Iqra, “Read” or “Recite.”
Read in the name of your Lord who created: He created man from a clinging form. Read! Your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen, who taught man what he did not know.
Quran 96:1–5
The revelation continued for 23 years, until the Prophet's death in 632. Many passages came in response to real events and real questions people were asking. The word Quran itself means “the recitation.”
What's inside
The Quran has 114 chapters, called surahs, and more than 6,000 verses. It runs about 600 pages in a standard Arabic print, divided into 30 equal parts so it can be read in a month.
It isn't arranged as one long story. Instead it moves between:
- who God is, and our relationship with Him
- stories of earlier prophets, including Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Mary and Jesus
- guidance on worship, family, money, justice and character
- reminders about death, judgment and the life to come
- invitations to look closely at nature and think
In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are signs for people of understanding.
Quran 3:190
The chapter Muslims recite every day
The first chapter, Al-Fatiha (The Opening), is recited in every prayer, at least 17 times a day:
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to God, Lord of all the worlds, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment. You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help. Guide us to the straight path: the path of those You have blessed, not of those who earned Your anger, nor of those who went astray.
Quran 1:1–7
Kept word for word
During the Prophet's lifetime, scribes wrote the Quran down as it was revealed, and many of his companions memorized all of it. Soon after his death it was gathered into a single book, and around the year 650 standard copies were sent out to the major cities.
In 2015, the University of Birmingham radiocarbon-dated pages of a Quran manuscript in its collection to between 568 and 645, within or very close to the Prophet's lifetime. The text matches the Quran read today.
It is We who sent down the Reminder, and We will surely preserve it.
Quran 15:9
Millions of Muslims today, many of them children, have memorized the entire Quran. If every printed copy disappeared, it could be written out again from memory.
Arabic and translations
Muslims consider the Arabic text to be the Quran itself. Translations are called “translations of the meaning,” because no translation can carry everything in the original. That's why Muslims everywhere pray in Arabic, whatever language they speak at home.
Good English translations include The Clear Quran by Mustafa Khattab, Saheeh International, and M.A.S. Abdel Haleem's translation from Oxford University Press. You can read them free at Quran.com.
New to the Quran? Try chapter 1, The Opening, or chapter 19, Mary. If you'd like a printed copy of your own, just ask us.
Quran quotes are English translations of the meaning, adapted from Saheeh International and M.A.S. Abdel Haleem. Tap a reference to read the verse in Arabic with other translations.