President Bush clearly declared that the U.S.-led assault in Afghanistan
is not an attack on Islam.  Still, pictures with Muslims thrusting an open
Quran into the lens of a television camera, its Arabic text clearly
visible, have led Americans to ask seriously, "What is the Quran and its
message?"
        In recent weeks bookstores around the country have reported skyrocketing
sales of the Quran.  Islamic scholar Anne Cooper says the name for Islam's
holy book comes from the Arabic word Iqraa, which means read, recite, or
proclaim the message aloud.  She says Muslims believe the prophet Muhammad
was called by God, and the Quran is God's direct message given to Muhammad
through the angel Gabriel.
        The Quran is comprised of 114 chapters known as suras (degrees or steps we
climb).  There are 6,666 verses or ayas (signs from God).  The suras are
divided mainly into two parts, the Meccan and the Medinan Suras.  The
revelations given to the prophet Muhammad came over a period of about 20
years in both Mecca and Medina.
        The revelations came to Muhammad in his native Arabic, which is vital to
anyone wanting to understand the heart of Islam.  The Arabic-language
revelations are the miracle that authenticates Muhammad's claim to be a
prophet.  The angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad when he was 40 and said,
"Read," even though it is widely believed that Muhammad could neither read
nor write.  This was startling to Muhammad and yet he faithfully repeated
what he received.
        Muhammad's first vision occurred in the year 610.  Though illiterate and
deeply troubled, Muhammad was faithful to what he received.  The rest of
his life Muhammad directly transmitted what he heard.  No Muslim believes
Muhammad is the author of the Quran, only a transmitter of the messages he
received.
        Cooper says, "During Muhammad's lifetime some people recorded passages on
leaves of date-palm, or bark of trees.  The companions of the Prophet
committed these passages to memory, some of them knowing the entire Quran.
It had not been put into book form."
        After his death, one of Muhammad's secretaries compiled the Quran.  Cooper
says, "Tradition records that he collected not only from the hearts of men,
but also from pieces of parchment or papyrus, flat stones, palm leaves,
shoulder blades, ribs of animals, pieces of leather and wooden boards."
Muslim theologians always assume the authenticity of the text as it appears
today, and they do not question the divine origin, inspiration and
authority of the Quran.
        Unless you read Arabic you will have to be content with an interpretation.
 A local Muslim told me,  "The first fact to recognize is that it is an
Arabic Quran."  The Arabic words are considered to be God's words, so the
language itself is part of the revelation.
        Though you can read the English translation, most Muslims assert that the
Quran is untranslatable.  That's because the angel Gabriel gave Muhammad
the direct, divine transcript of a book that is in heaven.  Thus, the Quran
is a divine book and any English reading of the Quran ultimately is not
authoritative.  It must remain in the language of revelation, the language
in which it was given, which is Arabic.
        In order to appreciate what the Quran means to a Muslim, Cooper says we
ought to hear it recited.  Since the Quran was revealed in Arabic, Cooper
believes the Arabic of the Quran is an essential part of the message and
part of the appeal of the Quran for the Muslim lies in the beauty of
hearing the Arabic.
        By contrast, Christians believe that the Bible can be translated into any
language that humans can speak.  Though certain Christian groups throughout
history have claimed the Bible must be rendered in Greek or Latin or the
English King James Version, most Christians believe those are distortions
of the Christian understanding of the Bible.
        Theologian Timothy George says the Bible is "culture-permeable.  It can be
translated and transmitted to every people group, every language group on
the face of the earth because Christianity says that the Gospel we proclaim
is a world-embracing universality, as limitless as the gracious love of the
Divine Creator."
        One Muslim told me he respects the Bible because the Quran says he should.
 But he said the Bible has been corrupted.  When I turned the discussion to
Muhammad and his founding of Islam during the 7th century, he responded
immediately, "Islam always has existed.  It was begun by God in heaven, not
by Muhammad in the 7th century in Saudi Arabia."

Don Follis is an Urbana minister.  Reprinted with permission from the
Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette, copyright 2001.