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The '''Qur'ān''' (القرآن) is the central religious text of [[Islam]]. Muslims believe the Qur'an to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind. They also consider the text in its original [[Arabic]], to be the literal word of [[Allah]]<ref>[{{Quran-url-only|2|23}} Qur'ān, Chapter 2, Verses 23-24]</ref> revealed by the angel Jibreel ([[Gabriel]]) to [[Muhammad]] over a period of twenty-three years<ref>''Living Religions: An Encyclopaedia of the World's Faiths,'' Mary Pat Fisher, 1997, page 338,  I.B. Tauris Publishers, </ref><ref>[{{Quran-url-only|17|106}} Qur'an, Chapter 17, Verse 106]</ref>, and view the Qur'an as God's final revelation.<ref>[{{Quran-url-only|33|40}} Qur'an, Chapter 33, Verse 40]</ref><ref>Watton, Victor, (1993), ''A student's approach to world religions:Islam'', Hodder & Stoughton, pg 1. ISBN 0-340-58795-4</ref> 

==Structure and content==

In length, the Qur'an is slightly shorter than the Christian New Testament (at approximately 165,000 words in English).<ref>[http://www.2think.org/hundredsheep/bom/written.shtml Could Joseph Smith have written the Book of Mormon?] - The Hundredth Sheep</ref> The text is not in chronological order, but arranged roughly longest surah (chapter) to the shortest (although this some surahs do deviate from this general order). Ayahs (verses) are generally written in the first person (spoken by Allah), thus they generally lack context. For context, Muslims use Hadith collections (oral traditions which record Muhammad's words and actions) and the Sirat (biography of Muhammad). With these, the surahs can be separated into two categories; Meccan and Medinan.

===Controversial Passages===

The Qur'an justifies and permits things such as; [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Homosexuality|persecution of Homosexuals]], [[Child Marriage in the Qur'an|child marriage]], [[Polygamy in Islam|polygamy]], [[Antisemitism in Islam|hatred of Jews]], [[Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Dhimmitude|institutional religious discrimination]], [[Wife Beating in the Qur'an|legalized domestic violence]], [[slavery]] and [[rape|the rape of slaves]].

====Love and Fear====

"While there are over 300 references in the Koran to Allah and fear, there are only 49 references to love.  Of these love references, 39 are negative such as the 14 negative references to love of money, power, other gods and status. 

Three verses command humanity to love Allah and 2 verses are about how Allah loves a believer. There are 25 verses about how Allah does not love kafirs (unbelievers)

This leaves 5 verses about love. Of these 5, 3 are about loving kin or a Muslim brother. One verse commands a Muslim to give for the love of Allah. This leaves only one quasi-universal verse about love: give what you love to charity and even this is contaminated by dualism since Muslim charity only goes to other Muslims."<ref name="STATISTICAL ANALYSIS">Bill Warner - [http://www.faithfreedom.biz/new-page-128.htm LOVE VERSUS FEAR IN THE KORAN: A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS AND REFORM ACCORDING TO GOLDEN RULE] </ref>

====Non-Muslims and Punishment====

Approximately 67% of the Meccan verses deal with punishing unbelievers for disagreeing with Allah, and more than 50% of the so-called Medinan verses deals with hypocrites and jihad against [[Kafir (Infidel)|unbelievers]].<ref name="STATISTICAL ANALYSIS"></ref> Also, there are nearly 500 verses (roughly one out of every twelve) in the entire Qur'an which speak of [[Jahannam (Hell)|Hell]], and over 400 which speak negatively of encourage hatred or dislaike of Jews, Christians, Idolaters and infidels in general.<ref name="STATISTICAL ANALYSIS"></ref>

====Jihad====

Not including verses which deal with heavenly rewards for those who strive on the path of Jihad, generic mentions of "victory", and Muhammad's negative opinions of those who do not participate in Jihad, there are roughly 164 Jihad verses in the Qur'an.<ref>[http://www.yoel.info/koranwarpassages.htm 164 Jihad Verses in the Koran] - Yoel Natan</ref> These speak clearly and directly of military expedition, fighting, spoils of war, raiding, [[slavery|enslaving]] and looting [[Kafir (Infidel)|infidels]].

==See also==

*[[Qur'an]]'' - A hub page that leads to other articles related to the Qur'an''

{{Translation-links-english|[[Coran - definition|French]] and [[Korán|Czech]]}}

==External links==
* [https://wikiquote.org/wiki/Quran See wikiquote's direct quotations from the Quran]

*[http://quranx.com/ Quranx.com] - easily navigable translations and etymological background for each verse in the Quran
*[http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/Quran/index.htm Skeptic's Annotated Quran]
*[http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/denis_giron/multiple.html Qur'an: A Work of Multiple Hands?] ''-  Denis Giron''

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Qur'an]]
[[Category:Revelation]]
[[Category:Allah]]
[[Category:Qur'anic textual history]]
[[Category:Muhammad]]
[[Category:Supernatural beings]]