《古兰经》在穆罕默德先知（ﷺ）的二十三年先知生涯中分段降示。每当出现问题，或每当真主想要给先知（ﷺ）及其追随者特别的教诲时，真主就会派天使吉卜利勒携带一段《古兰经》降下，吉卜利勒便将其诵给先知（ﷺ）听。因此，《古兰经》不像先前的启示经典那样一次性完整降示，而是在一段时间内分次降示。

The Qur’aan was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) in sections throughout the twenty-three years of his prophethood. Whenever a problem arose or whenever Allaah wanted to give the Prophet (ﷺ) and his follower’s special advice, Allaah would send angel Jibreel with a part of the Qur’aan, which he would recite to the Prophet (ﷺ). Thus, the Qur’aan was not revealed all at once in its complete form like the earlier books of revelation, but in parts over a period of time.

当吉卜利勒首次向先知(ﷺ)诵读《古兰经》的一部分时，先知(ﷺ)试图跟着他逐字重复。之后，安拉让吉卜利勒告诉他不要这样做。相反，他被告知要认真聆听《古兰经》。当先知(ﷺ)这样做时，安拉使他能够毫不费力地记住一切。安拉在《古兰经》中说：

When Jibreel first recited a part of the Qur’aan to the Prophet (ﷺ), the Prophet (ﷺ) tried to repeat it after him, word for word. Allaah later had Jibreel tell him not to do so. He was told instead to listen to the Qur’aan carefully. When the Prophet (ﷺ) did that, Allaah caused him to be able to remember everything without any effort on his part. Allaah said in the Qur’aan,