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THE QURAN
VIII
INTRODUCTION
1. The Quran and Its Message
No book, throughout the last thirteen centuries, has been so
widely read nor has shaped more human minds than the Quran.
This is to be explained not only by its being a unique literary
masterpiece and by the phenomenal rise of interest in Islam
during the last two decades, but also, and mainly, by the
dominant and decisive role it plays in Islam, which is, by far,
greater than that played by Sacred Books in other religions.
To Muslims, who constitute no less than one fifth of mankind,
the Quran is the literal and infallible word of Allah conveyed in
human language, and the unchallenged source of religious beliefs
and practices, and of the shari'a, or law, which governs all the
believer's actions, be they done in private or public. No book,
moreover, is more often recited, quoted orally or in writing and
studied or committed to memory in whole or in part than the
Quran. Hence the followers of other religions are amazed at the
great hold the Quran has upon the Muslim's mind and its
influence on his life.
Actually the Quran has a tremendous effect on the believers
who recite it in its original language. Its language, as an eminent
scholar felt, is overwhelmed by the power of the Divine word:
hence the majesty of its style, which is neither prose nor verse,
and its captivating rhetoric, which reflects the power of the
Divine whence it originated. 'Nothing,' it is declared in the
Quran, 'is like it,' and those who are in doubt about its divine
origin are challenged to produce anything similar. This explains