The Muslim Safety Forum

The Qur'an is literally translated to be "the recitation"; also called "The Noble Qur'an" and is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe the Qur'an, in its original Arabic, to be the literal word of Allah (god) and is that which was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad over a period of twenty-three years until his death, and believe it to be God's final revelation to humanity.

The Qur'anic verses were originally memorised by Prophet Muhammad's companions as Muhammad recited what was revealed to him it was written down by one or more companions on whatever was at hand, from stones to pieces of bark. Compilations of the Qur'an began under the Caliph Umar, but it was Uthman who decided upon a definitive copy and destroyed all other versions that had resulted from the differences of pronunciation of the words.