How the Quran was revealed and preserved

8 min read

Welcome to this new path. You already pray and you know a few short surahs. Now it is time to get to know the Quran itself: where it came from, how it reached you, and why Muslims are confident that the words in a mushaf (a printed copy of the Quran) today are the same words the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, recited. The Quran is the word of Allah, the Arabic name for God, the One God.

It began in Ramadan, through the angel Jibril

The Quran began to come down in the month of Ramadan, on a blessed night called Laylat al-Qadr (the Night of Decree). Allah says:

Indeed, We sent the Qur'an down during the Night of Decree.
Quran 97:1 (Saheeh International translation of the meaning)

It came through the angel Jibril (Gabriel), peace be upon him. The Quran calls him the Trustworthy Spirit and the Pure Spirit, and Allah tells the Prophet:

Say, [O Muhammad], "The Pure Spirit has brought it down from your Lord in truth to make firm those who believe and as guidance and good tidings to the Muslims."
Quran 16:102 (Saheeh International translation of the meaning)

The Pure Spirit here is Jibril. The Quran was brought down to strengthen believers, including you, and to guide them. Receiving revelation was heavy. Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, the Prophet's wife, said:

I saw him when the revelation was descending upon him on a very cold day. When it had left him, his forehead was dripping with sweat.
Sahih al-Bukhari 2 and Sahih Muslim 2333

Little by little, over about 23 years

The Quran did not arrive as a finished book in one day. It came in parts, a few verses or a whole surah at a time, often in answer to what was happening in the Prophet's life and community. Allah says:

And [it is] a Qur'an which We have separated [by intervals] that you might recite it to the people over a prolonged period. And We have sent it down progressively.
Quran 17:106 (Saheeh International translation of the meaning)

The companion Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, gave the timeline: the Prophet began receiving revelation at forty, stayed in Makkah for thirteen years receiving it, then lived ten years in Madinah, and died at sixty-three. That is about 23 years of revelation.

Kept in hearts and on pages

From the very start, the Quran was kept in two ways at once: memorized and written. The Prophet recited each new passage to his companions (the believers who lived with him). Many learned it by heart, and some, such as Zayd ibn Thabit, may Allah be pleased with him, wrote it down as scribes of the revelation. They wrote on what they had: pieces of parchment, flat animal bones, and palm stalks.

Every Ramadan the angel Jibril went over the Quran with the Prophet, and in the year the Prophet died they went over it twice.

Gathered into one book

Soon after the Prophet's death, many companions who knew the Quran by heart were killed in the battle of al-Yamamah. Umar ibn al-Khattab feared that parts of the Quran could be lost, and he urged the first caliph (leader of the Muslims), Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with them both, to gather it. Abu Bakr gave the task to Zayd ibn Thabit. Zayd felt the weight of it:

By Allah, had he ordered me to move one of the mountains, it would not have been harder on me than what he ordered me to do in collecting the Qur'an.
Sahih al-Bukhari 4986

Zayd collected the Quran from the written pieces and from the memories of the companions. The pages stayed with Abu Bakr, then with Umar, then with Hafsah, Umar's daughter, may Allah be pleased with her.

Years later, in the time of the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, may Allah be pleased with him, Islam had spread far and people in different regions began to differ over how they read the Quran. Uthman had Hafsah's pages copied into standard copies, each called a mushaf, and sent one to every region. Every mushaf printed today follows the text of those copies.

How was the Quran kept safe while the Prophet was alive?

Allah's own promise

Behind all this human care stands a promise from Allah Himself:

Arabic: إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا ٱلذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُۥ لَحَٰفِظُونَ

How to say it: Innaa nahnu nazzalnadh-dhikra wa innaa lahoo lahaafizoon

Meaning: Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will be its guardian.

Scholars of tafsir (explanation of the Quran) explain that Allah took it upon Himself to protect the Quran from anything being added to it, taken from it, or lost. Today Muslims all over the world, including children, memorize it completely, and when you open a mushaf you are reading the same words the Prophet recited.

Remember

The Quran is the word of Allah, brought by the angel Jibril over about 23 years, memorized and written from the start, and protected by Allah's own promise.

In the next lesson you will see how to start reading the Quran yourself as a new Muslim, even if Arabic is completely new to you.

Sources

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Up next: Reading the Quran as a new Muslim

Step 1: Living with the Quran, 8 min

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