Professor A. R. Momin |
The Quran, which is believed by Muslims to be the last testament in a long series of divine revelations, is a compact text of about 500 pages. It is divided into 114 chapters, known as Suras. The Quran was revealed to the Prophet, who was unlettered, incrementally over a period of 23 years. Since the Quran was destined to be the last and final message of God, its preservation in its original form and language was of utmost importance. The Prophet adopted, under divine instruction, two methods for the preservation of the text: memorization and writing. As soon as the verses of the Quran were revealed, the Prophet would memorise them and recite them in his prayers and in the course of his conversations. He also encouraged his companions to invoke and memorise the verses of the Quran as much as possible. During his lifetime, scores of his companions, including some women, had memorised the entire text of the Quran.
The Prophet appointed a number of his companions—reportedly 40--to write down the verses of the Quran as and when they were revealed. After dictating the revealed verses, the Prophet used to ask the scribe to read out what he had written. The chapters and verses of the Quran were arranged according to his instructions, which were divinely mandated. During the time of the Prophet, the verses of the Quran were written on stone tablets, ribs of palm branches, camel ribs, shoulder blades, pieces of wooden board and parchment. Continued 
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The 'Iranian Schindler' who saved Jews from the Nazis
By Brian Wheeler
Thousands of Iranian Jews and their descendants owe their lives to a Muslim diplomat in wartime Paris, according to a new book. In The Lion's Shadow tells how Abdol-Hossein Sardari risked everything to help fellow Iranians escape the Nazis.
Eliane Senahi Cohanim was seven years old when she fled France with her family. She remembers clutching her favourite doll and lying as still as she could, pretending to be asleep, whenever their train came to a halt at a Nazi checkpoint. "I remember everywhere, when we were running away, they would ask for our passports, and I remember my father would hand them the passports and they would look at them. And then they would look at us. It was scary. It was very, very scary." Mrs Cohanim and her family were part of a small, close-knit community of Iranian Jews living in and around Paris.
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