Majid Fakhry, An Interpretation of the Qur’an; English Translation of the Meanings; A Bilingual Edition (2002)

Following the death of the Prophet in 632 A.D., a copy of the Qur’an based on this written or oral material was compiled by Zayd and entrusted to the care of Hafsah, daughter of the Caliph ‘Umar and widow of the Prophet. However, due to the divergent readings of the sacred text and the danger of faulty oral transmission, a definitive edition was compiled in 651 A.D. by order of Uthman, the Third Caliph, and this edition, known as Mushaf Uthman (or Uthman’s Codex), has remained ever since the authorized version of the Qur’an, read, chanted and meditated upon by millions of Muslims throughout the world.

The Medinan Surahs, on the other hand, belong to the period of Hijrah (or emigration to Medina), which began in 622 A.D., marking the start of the Muslim calender. For the most part they are written in a prosaic and discursive style, and embody the fundamental principles of Islamic legislation, known as the shari’ah or holy law. This legislation covers social, economic and political matters, such as marriage and divorce, inheritance and alms-giving, the relation of Muslim subjects to their rulers and so on. Those subjects are specifically commanded to obey “God, the Messenger and those who wield authority among you” (Surah 4/62) and to submit their differences to God and the Messenger, who was succeeded as head of the Muslim community by the so-called Caliphs, or “successors of the Messenger”.

In Medina, originally called Yathrib, Islam became for the first time both a religious and political movement, so that one could speak thereafter of the rise and consolidation of the Muslim community (Ummah), with the Prophet at its head. In that respect, the Prophet now wielded a political authority in addition to his spiritual authority as the Messenger of God, and in this double capacity he was able to confront his erstwhile enemies at Mecca, his native town. After repeated skirmishes outside Medina and a variety of “expeditions” further afield, the Muslims, led by the Prophet, were able to capture Mecca in the eighth year of the Hijrah, or 630 A.D. Thereupon, the Prophet’s first move was to enter the Ka’ba, or Sacred Shrine, and destroy the pagan idols - said to number 350 - housed in it, and to institute the rite of pilgrimage to this Sacred Shrine, which Abraham was said to have founded centuries earlier.

The Qur’an has defined clearly the relation of Muslims to other religious communities of the Near East, notably the Sabians, Christians and Jews. The Sabians (Sabi’ah) were recognized as monotheists and, like Christians and Jews, were tolerated (Surah 5/73). However, infidels (kafirun) were not, and the Qur’an calls upon Muslims to fight them to the death, unless they embrace Islam. However, it does qualify this stipulation in a variety of ways, one of which is not to initiate

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Majid Fakhry, An Interpretation of the Qur’an; English Translation of the Meanings; A Bilingual Edition, Garnet Publishing Limited, UK, Consulted online at “Quran Archive - Texts and Studies on the Quran” on 29 Mar. 2024: http://quran-archive.org/explorer/majid-fakhry/2002?page=11