From the very first human created by God, until the last Prophet, the beloved Muhammed, sallalahu alayhi wa salaam, God gave the status of prophethood to a large number of believers, those who believed in one God as the sole Creator of the universe and all that it contains.
Of these a very small number, he sent as Messengers, who came with the same message, no matter to which people they were sent, nor in what period of history.
The message was always the same;” There is no being worthy of worship besides God”.
The five principal Messengers were; Prophets Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus son of Mary, and Muhammed, the blessings of God on all of them.
Each of these Messengers were given powers by God, as proof to the people that their message was the truth and that they should believe in it and follow the guidance shown to them. These powers corresponded to the culture and the interests of the people.
Prophet Moses (PBUH) was sent to the tribe of Israel when they were being persecuted by the Pharoah of Egypt. At that time, there was great interest in magic , sorcery and all types of deception. God gave Moses the power to turn his staff into a snake, which, when the magicians of the court of Pharoah saw it, they knew that it was not done by trickery but was real. Also, when he drew his hand out of his cloak, it came out shining white. When he led the tribe of Israel out of Egypt and was being pursued by the army of Pharoah, he struck the waters of the sea, generally believed to be the Red Sea, the waves parted and allowed them to pass through, closing behind them and drowning Pharoah and his army. Besides these and other miracles, God gave him the Tablets, on which were written the Torah, which became the first five books of the Old Testament.
At the time of Jesus son of Mary, (PBUH), the interest was in medicine and healing, so God in His wisdom and mercy, gave Jesus son of Mary the power to cure and heal people. He performed many miracles, raising the dead, curing the blind, those afflicted by leprosy and many other illnesses. By virtue of these peoples recovery being obvious, it followed that what Jesus son of Mary said was the truth. He performed many other miracles, many of which are written about in the New Testament of the Bible. God sent down to Jesus son of Mary the Injil, which were subsequently called the Gospels. These Gospels are not the same as the four Gospels of the New Testament and as far as is known, they have been lost to mankind.
Prophet Muhammed, sallalahu alayhi wasalaam, was born in 570 AD, and at that time the Arab nation had a great love for the spoken word, poetry, recitation and calligraphy. At that time and still today, Arabic is a very rich and subtle language with such an extensive vocabulary that is possible to express oneself by use of the most subtle shades of meaning. Almighty God, in His wisdom and mercy, over the course of 23 years, sent down Revelations through the Archangel Gabriel to His Messenger. Muhammed (saw) could neither read nor write as he had no education as such, but whatever Gabriel revealed to him was instantly memorized by Muhammed(saw) allowing him to repeat it to someone who could write it down. All these revelations were subsequently compiled and became the Noble Quran.
Muslims believe absolutely in the Quran being the word of God, it is one of the tenets of faith for Muslims, therefore to disbelieve in it or attempt to change it would put that person outside the boundaries of Islam. The Quran has now been in existence for more than 1400 years and in all that time, not one word has been changed, added or taken away.
It is the final Revelation from God and the knowledge it contains is a guidance and a mercy to mankind until the Final Day. One very important point is that the Quran is only the Quran when it is in the Arabic language, precisely as it was revealed. Once it is translated into another language, it becomes known as an attempt at a translation, because this knowledge comes from God and nobody, not even the prophets and messengers have knowledge equal to the knowledge of God. Inasmuch as the Quran is to last until the last day of this world, it has knowledge in it which is not understood by mankind in the 21st century. If this sounds strange to you, just think that if you were alive 100 years ago and somebody came to you and started talking about computers, modern technology, putting a man on the moon, you would think he was mad and you would have no idea what he was talking about. Thus it is with the Quran.
Anyone who reads the Quran with an open mind and without prejudice as to what they expect to find will testify that it could only have been written by a being, other than a human being, who possesses knowledge and wisdom beyond any possibility of our understanding i.e God. Indeed, it is difficult to find words to describe the qualities of Almighty God. All the qualities of God are infinite, that is to say, without limits. They are limitless not only in their knowledge but also in their number.
The reader needs to keep in mind that the Quran was revealed 1400 years ago to an illiterate shepherd, who had no access to any kind of knowledge. Some examples of His knowledge in the Quran are; the revelation of the big bang, the fact that the earth is round, that there is an atmosphere surrounding the earth, how the sun and the moon and the earth revolve around each other.
In the field of biology, that man is made from the elements of the earth, the stages of the formation of a baby in the womb, in such detail as has been known for less than 100 years, which even today, amazes gynaecologists in its detail and accuracy.
Finally, and the above is only some of the revelations,(bearing in mind that Muhammed, (PBUH), lived in the desert, where water was scarce and precious to the Arabs) the simple fact that all living beings are made of water.
Another miracle of the Quran is the ease with which it can be memorized. We are indeed told that He has made it easy for us, and the proof of this is the millions of Muslims who have committed the whole of the Quran to heart. Somebody who does this is called a hafiz, that is a guardian of the Quran. Children learn it from an early age in the madrassah, the Islamic school, and many can recite it by heart by the age of 6 or 7, bearing in mind that for most of them, Arabic is a foreign language and many can recite it despite the fact that they do not understand it.
Adults who, at school, would have great difficulty memorizing poetry or some lines of Shakespeare, can recite pages of the Quran. This is another way in which the authenticity of the Quran is safeguarded. If there were to be an attempt to change even a tiny part of it, it would be noticed straightaway and corrected. The Quran is the final Revelation of God Almighty and therefore the knowledge in it is also to last until the Day of Judgement.
There is knowledge in there which we cannot comprehend today because God has yet to reveal the understanding of it. So we have to say that some things we cannot understand, because God’s knowledge is infinite and man’s knowledge is very limited. God says at the beginning of the Quran that this book is guidance and a Mercy to all of mankind.
If you follow the guidance, you will be on the Straight Path, the path that, with all its tests and trials, leads to Paradise and God will show Mercy unto you and forgive your sins. All praise and glory be to God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that they contain.
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