what is the status of the Quran for Muslims?

The cross : How does the Quran reach Prophet Muhammad?

Pierre Lory: Muslim tradition reports that Mohammed was seized with a kind of ecstasy, during which he heard the voice of the angel who dictated sentences, a few verses or an entire sura to him. He had around him secretaries to whom he dictated in turn. And all these fragments brought together after his death have been put together in an order neither chronological nor thematic, which has not changed since.

What does the Quran represent for Muslims?

PL: The Koran is for them the word of God, really. Muslims say that it is an “uncreated” word, that is to say that it existed eternally with God. When a Muslim recites the Koran, it is the word of God that enters him, in an almost physical way. This takes on an almost sacramental dimension, to speak in Catholic language.

It has been said, moreover, that the Koran was in a way the equivalent of Christ among Muslims: it is the divine Word that is offered to men. This is why the Koranic text is much more sacred among Muslims than the Bible is for Christians.

Its language and the arrangement of its words are therefore themselves sacred…

PL: Yes, and when it is written on paper, the writing itself becomes deeply sacred, imbued with the divine word. The Koran is not just a message, it is a theophany. So much so that by reciting the Koran, one rises towards God, since one assimilates the very words that God has given to men.

In mystical currents, for example, meditation on the Koran counts a lot: by soaking up its words, our human qualities gradually become divine qualities. That’s what the Sufis say.

Is there a sacredness of the object itself?

PL: Of course. For Muslims, for example, you should never put the Koran in an impure, dirty place. In a library, it is always placed in a high place, so that it is not below the others… It is bound, isolated, handled with great care.

The history of the publishing of the Koran testifies to this: the printed Koran is very recent! The edition dates from the 1920s, well after Gutenberg. Previously, it was handwritten: the Koran was copied by pious people, who put a lot of faith in their task. There was a long hesitation before automatically printing the sacred text. Today, the question no longer arises.

When the pages of the Quran are burned or torn, how can one understand the feeling of a Muslim?

PL: By way of comparison, one would have to imagine the feeling of a traditionalist Catholic when faced with trampled hosts. Of course, the violence that can ensue is unjustifiable. But it hurts a lot of Muslims deeply, that’s for sure.

This also has consequences on the interpretation that we can have of the Koranic text…

PL: Because the Quran is considered the eternal word of God, many traditional Muslims believe that it should be interpreted in a completely literal sense. It’s quite a debate – which fills libraries! – to know how to interpret it and to what extent it should be historicized.

The Koranic text can be read in two ways: either we consider that the Koran is a divine, eternal word, in which case it does not depend on history. But that’s a bit awkward, because the Quran alludes to historical events. How are these events to be understood in eternity? That would be tantamount to saying that everything has been decided by God from all eternity. In other words, to claim that the Quran is an eternal book implies predestination, because everything told in it was already foreseen in divine foreknowledge.

The other interpretation considers that the Koran was revealed to free men: it brings lights to enlighten the choices. If men are free, they can decide for themselves. All of Muslim thought is shaped by this question.