Originally posted by Setekh
Ummm, what is your evidence for the Koran being written by Mohammed? To my knowledge, the Koran (lit. "recitations") were actually recordings of Mohammed (actually, I think it's spelled Muhammad) by his follwers when he was speaking, often in a state of trance (why he could not always record his own words).
I have to respond here to point out where you're correct and incorrect, Steak.
First, the Prophet was illiterate. He could not have written his words down himself. He would have required a scribe. His illiteracy is an important facet of al-Islam:
It was there one night toward the end of his quiet month that the first revelation came to him when hew was forty years old. He was asleep or in a trance when he heard a voice say: "Read!"
He said: "I cannot read."
The voice said again: "Read!"
He said: "I cannot read."
A third time the voice, more terrible, commanded: "Read!"
He said: "What can I read?"
The voice said: "Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth. Createth man from a clot. Read: And it is they Lord the Most Bountiful, Who teacheth by the pen, Teacheth man that which he knew not."
When he awoke the words remained "as if inscribed upon his heart"
The voice, of course, is Gabriel bringing Allah's word to Mohammed.
Al-Qu'ran does not mean "the recitations". It is closer to "The Reading" or "The Lecture", and is analogous to "Scripture" in the sense of holy writings.
There are two sets of writings from the Prophet. The first are the trance transcriptions--the words of Allah, which are held seperate from the transcriptions of the Prophet's own words.
The transcriptions of al-Qu'ran, to my mind, are probably the most likely to be 'faithful' to the original. Whilst the Prophet could not, himself, verify their accuracy, he also taught all the words of al-Qu'ran to anyone who wanted to learn them. Many, apparently learned the words verbatim. These people would be able to guage the accuracy of the transcriptions. Further, they could discuss the transcriptions with the Prophet himself, to assure themselves and each other that they were accurate. I do not, of course, make any claim to the actual veracity of the transcriptions, only the logical likelihood of their accuracy.
If you have any questions about al-Qu'ran, I keep a copy here by my desk. I suppose I ought to keep a copy of the Bible as well, for these discussions. I'm just not sure which one I should get.
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