Ma'anar kalmar Qur'ani a harshen Larabci ita ce "karatu", kuma daga baya aka fara kiranta da "rubutun da ake karantawa". Alqur'ani kuma yana kiran kansa da al-kitab, wanda a ma'anar harshe yana nufin littafi da aka rubuta. Don haka, muhimmancin rubutawa, karatu da yin tunani a kan Alqur'ani an jaddada shi tun farkon Musulunci. Abubuwan da ke cikin Alqur'ani an raba su zuwa suwar, wato "babi" a harshen Larabci. A cewar masanin tarihi Phillip Hitti, rubutaccen Alqur'ani da aka tattara shi ne ɗaya daga cikin littattafai mafiya sabon zamani da suka canza tarihi, kuma shi ne littafin da aka fi karantawa a duniya a kowane lokaci.

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.

Alkur'ani shi ne ikon hukunci mafi girma a Musulunci, domin shi ne tushe kuma asali na akida, da'a, dokoki, da shiriya ta Musulunci. Ga Musulmai, Alkur'ani asalinsa daga Allah yake. Maganar Mahalicci ce, ba kalmar Annabi Muhammad ﷺ ba. 4 Sai dai an saukar masa da ita, ta hanyarsa kuma aka isar da ita ga mutane, a cikin kalmominta da ma'anarta. Az-Zarqani, malamin Alkur'ani na karni na 9, ya takaita bayanin littafin. Ya rubuta cewa:

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:

Alkur'ani maganar Allah ce ta Larabci, wacce Ya saukar wa Muhammadﷺ a cikin lafazi da ma'ana, kuma wacce aka kiyaye a cikin shafukan rubutu da aka tattara na Alkur'ani, kuma ta isa gare mu ta hanyar ruwaito mai yawa.5

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