Linguistically the word Qur’an means ‘reading’ and came to be referred to as ‘the text which is read’. The Qur’an also calls itself al-kitab, which lexically implies a written book. Thus the significance of writing, reading and reflecting upon the Qur’an has been emphasised from the very beginning of Islam. The qur’anic material is divided into suwar 2., meaning ‘chapters’ in Arabic. According to the historian Phillip Hitti, the collected written text of the Qur’an is one of the youngest epoch-making books and the most widely read book ever written.3.

The Qur’an is the supreme authority in Islam as it is the fundamental and essential source of the Islamic creed, ethics, laws, and guidance. For Muslims, the Qur’an is of Divine origin. It is the speech of the Creator and not the word of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ 4. Rather, it was revealed to him, and through him to mankind, in word and meaning. Az-Zarqani, a 9th century scholar of the Qur’an, summarises the description of the book. He writes:

The Qur’an is the Arabic speech of God, which He revealed to Muhammad ﷺ in wording and meaning, and which has been preserved in the compiled written pages of the Qur’an, and has reached us by recurrent reporting.5