KORAN, k6 ran or la)-riin' (Ar. lec tion, front 1.-ura'u, to read; cf. the later Ileb. Milira, the written Book, i.e. the Bible). The sacred book of the :Mohammedans. The name was given by Mohammed himself to a single revelation, or a collection of revelations, and was afterwards applied to the body of his utterances as gathered together in one book. forming the basis for the religious, social. civil, commercial, military, and legal regulation of Islam. The Ko ran is also known under various other names, such as: Furlihn (salvation) ; (the vol ume); Al-Kitab the Book, in the sense of `Bible') ; Al-Dliikr (the reminder, or the admoni tion).
According to the orthodox views the Koran is coeval with God, untreated, eternal. Its first transcript was written from the beginning in rays of light upon a gigantic tablet resting by the throne of the Almighty, and upon this tablet are also found the divine decrees relating to things past and future. A copy of it, in a book bound in white silk, jewels, and gold, was brought down to the lowest heaven by the angel Gabriel, in the blissful and mysterious night of Ai-Kadr, in the month of Ramadan. Portions of it were, dur ing a space of twenty-three years, communicated to Mohammed, at both Mecca and Medina, either by Gabriel in human shape. "with the sound of bells," or through inspiration from the Holy Ghost, "in the Prophet's breast," or by God Him self, "veiled and unveiled, in waking or in the dreams of night." Traditions vary with respect to the length of the individual portions revealed at a time, between single letters, verses, and entire chapters (or suras). Setting aside the fanciful and semi-mystical speeulations. there i,: general agreement among Mohammedans that the earliest revelation is represented by verses 1 to 5 of sura xevi., which begins with the wools, "Proclaim the name of thy Lord, who has created all things." At the beginning of his career 'Mohammed did not make any efforts to have his utterances pre served. While it is possible that he was able to read and write. he certainly did not write any of the suras himself. It was only as his move ment spread that the importance attached to the Prophet's 'revelations' suggested the necessity of giving them a more permanent form. and in the second part of his career, after the flight to Ale dina (622), he appears systematically to ha VO dictated his revelations to a scribe: and it would appear that also revised the form of earlier utterances which had been either orally preserved or written down promiseuously by some of his zealous followers. Within a year of Slohammed's
death (632) the first attempt at a collection of the Prophet's utterances was made by Abu bekr. Ile intrusted the task to %aid ilm Thabit. the last secretary of Mohammed. Copies of these utterances already existed, and it was from these that Zaid prepared an authoritative compilation to be known henceforth as the Koran. This vol. nine passed, after the death of Abu-bekr, into the hands of Omar, and by Omar was intrusted to the keeping of Hafsa, one of the Prophet's wives, the daughter of Omar. Differences of opinion in regard to the, text of the Koran still prevailed alter Zaid's edition was completed, and accordingly a second redaction was instituted in the thirtieth year of the Hejira by Caliph Othman, not for the sake of arranging and cor recting the text, but in order to insure unity. This work was intrusted to four editors of recog nized authority, of whom Zaid was one. With respect to the succession of the single chapters, 114 in number, no attempt was made at estab lishing continuity, but they were placed side by side according to their respective lengths; so that immediately after the introductory exor dium follows the longest chapter, and the others are ranged after it in decreasing size, though this principle is not strictly adhered to. They are not numbered in the manuscripts, but bear dis tinctive, often strange-sounding, headings; as: the Cow, Congealed Blood, the Fig, the Star, the Towers, Saba, the Poets, etc., taken from a par ticular matter or person treated of in the respec tive chapters. Every chapter or sura begins with the introductory formula, "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate." It is further stated at the beginning whether the sum was re vealed at 'Mecca or at _Medina. Every chapter is subdivided into smaller portions (Ayah, Ileb. Oth, sign, letter), varying in the ancient copies (of Medina, Cufa, Basra, and Damascus, and the `vulgar edition') between 6000 and 6036. The number of words in the whole book is 77,639, and an enumeration of the letters shows an amount of 323,015 of these. Other (encyclical) divisions of the book are into 30 ajsa and into 60 obssib, for the use of devotional readings in and out of the mosque. Twenty-nine sums commence with certain letters of the alphabet, which are sup posed by Mohammedans to be of mystic import, but which arc probably monograms of private collectors or authorities.