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The Qur'an has influenced a great number of people over the centuries, especially in the Middle East. The text of the Qur'an can be found at www.quranexplorer.net.
The Qur'an has influenced a great number of people over the centuries, especially in the Middle East. The text of the Qur'an can be found at www.quranexplorer.net.
Several commentaries on the Qur'an exist. These are labelled as "tafsir" (the word for "commentary.") Allah himself is regarded as the greatest Tafsir. Muhammad is the second-best (his tafsir is called "hadith," the Words of the Prophet). The Companions of the Prophet also produced their own tafsirs. It is important to note that "tafsir" is NOT scripture, it is a companion to understanding scripture.
It is also important to note that Muhammad is not worshiped as a God. The Muslims are monotheistic, even more so than Christians. The Qur'an states that God has no equals, nor was he begotten by a greater being, ''nor has he begotten any other being.'' Muslims may occasionally view Jesus and the Holy Spirit as infringing on God's divinity. The Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity can be regarded as tantamount to polytheism.
However, Muslims do love Christians and Jews (doctrinally and personally). They are both called the People of the Book. The Christians are viewed as having the "right idea" about religion, but also as having gone astray in calling Jesus the Son of God. The Jews get a little rougher treatment by the Qur'an, but they are still regarded as more enlightened than polytheists.
==Translation==
The Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in what the Angel said was "clear Arabic." This has come to mean (for many reasons) that Arabic is the most beautiful language of all. The Qur'an also contains a challenge: if you do not believe that the Qur'an is the word of God, try to make something just as beautiful and good as it! This is the doctrine of inimitability (no copy can be made), or "i'jaz." These two doctrines, along with the inherent difficulty of translation (compounded by the fact that Arabic is not a Germanic nor Romance language), severely limit the value of translations of the Qur'an. In other words, the only Qur'an is the Arabic Qur'an. English versions of the Qur'an are regarded as commentaries.
Two of the most famous and widely-read English translations of the Qur'an are those by A. Yusuf Ali and M. Marmaduke Pickthall.
==Sources==
==Sources==