The Qur'an

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
al-Qurʼān
Original Title: القرآن‎
Central Theme:
Synopsis:
First published: 610-632
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Source: Read The Qur'an here
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The Qur'an (also Romanized as "Quran" and "Koran") is the holy text of the Islamic faith. According to Muslim tradition, it was dictated to the Prophet Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel. The Bible and the Jewish Torah are consider incomplete texts that have deviated from the true meaning of God (called Allah, which means "God" in Arabic), and the Qur'an is considered the final revelation of Allah. It was originally written down between 610 and 632 CE.

It differs from the Jewish and Christian Bible, in that the work is not a collection of various other works, but rather a collection of sayings in verse attributed to Allah/God given to The Prophet Muhammed via the Archangel Gabriel. Think of it as God: The Collected Poems. Its sections are ordered by length, not by theme (as in the Christian Bible) or chronologically (as in the Tanakh).

The Qur'an is traditionally considered best read and understood in the original Arabic, but to spread knowledge of Islam, translations of the Qur'an have been made available in multiple languages (including an English translation on this wiki).

Tropes used in The Qur'an include:
  • Always Lawful Good: Angels.
  • All There in the Manual: By itself, the Qu'ran is not considered the end all and be all of the Islamic faith, though it is considered the essential starting point. Most readings are accompanied by hadiths, or commentaries, as well as, for active practitioners, the guidance of Muslim religious leaders who give advice on how to follow Muslim tradition in their daily lives in specific instances not explicitly addressed in the Qu'ran itself. This last is similar to the Catholic Church dictates to its practitioners.
  • Archangel Gabriel: Supposedly revealed the Qur'an to Muhammed.
  • Big Good: Allah is stated to be this. Also Muhammed.
  • Double Standard:
    • There is no denying the text contains many examples of this.
    • A woman's testimony is worth half that of a man.
    • 2:228: "Women who are divorced shall wait, keeping themselves apart, three (monthly) courses. And it is not lawful for them that they should conceal that which Allah hath created in their wombs if they are believers in Allah and the Last Day. And their husbands would do better to take them back in that case if they desire a reconciliation. And they (women) have rights similar to those (of men) over them in kindness, and men are a degree above them.Allah is Mighty, Wise. "
  • Friend to All Living Things: Muhammed. Also Allah. Anyone who kills a sparrow or anything bigger unjustly will be held accountable.
  • Humans Are Special: The angels and the Jinns where ordered to bow down to us. One of the Jinns,ʾIblīs, refused to bow down and was banished for this.
  • In the Original Klingon: The Arabic translation is considered the most accurate, being the original language the Qur'an was written in. All other translations are considered degraded and imperfect but have been made nonetheless to spread the word of Allah.
  • Invisible to Normals: Angels and Jinns.
  • Never Learned to Read: Muhammad was illiterate.
  • Our Angels Are Different: The angels of The Quran are definitely of the Eldritch Abomination variety. They are described as having anywhere from two wings to thousands, and they do not eat or drink. They are also huge. It would take 700 years to go the distance between the ear-lobes and shoulders of the angel who carries Allah's throne, and the Archangel Gabriel has 600 wings that span from the Eastern to the Western horizon. They're invisible to humans but animals can see them.
Angels are the messengers of Allah. It is literally impossible for an angel, no matter how powerful, to disobey Allah, because they have no free will. This means there is no evil or Fallen Angels, and that everything they do is commanded by Allah. They carry out Allah's will by doing things like praising and worshiping him, cursing women who will not have sex with their husbands, testing people by giving them wealth or healing their illnesses, and throwing the wicked into hell and mercilessly tormenting them for all of eternity. Belief in them is considered one of the five Articles of Faith in Islam, and Gabriel is said to have revealed The Quran to Muhammad.
  • Our Jinns Are Different: Well, they were made from smokeless fire for one thing. Like humans and unlike angels, they have free will, which means they can be good or evil, follow different religions, marry, etc... They are usually invisible to humans.
  • Our Godhead is Different- The Christian Trinity and the status of Jesus as divine are specifically denied. The Jewish concept of God's covenant with Israel and its status as "the Chosen People" is ignored in light of a more universal message to humanity, rather than to Israel.
  • Polyamory: Well, polygamy. The Qur'an allows limited polygamy, one of whose requirements is, essentially, that it be polyamorous as well (the man is required to treat all his wives equally in all respects). We should note that the Muslims originally frowned on polygamy--Muhammad himself was faithful to his first wife and did not marry again until after her death--and it was only allowed when war had created a lot of widows.
  • Pride: Iblis believes he's superior to humans because he was made from smokeless fire and humans were made from clay.
  • Retcon: The Qur'an is considered to do this to all the Jewish and Christian texts, as they are considered imperfect, incomplete versions of the revelations of Allah.
  • Satan: He's a Jinn called Iblis or Shaytan.
  • Sex Is Evil: Averted. Celibacy and asceticism are strongly discouraged, even though it's not haram in and of itself.
  • Spell My Name with an "S"
  • Spell My Name with a "The"- Al-lah means "the God" in Arabic.
  • Talking Animals / Speaks Fluent Animal: In Sunni and Shi'a accounts, Muhammad is said to have conversations with camels, birds, and other animals.
  • Trope Namer