Muslims (followers of
Islam) believe in the Quran which is the word of Allah (God). At the bottom of this page
is a section from the holy Quran. The Quran is in Arabic, in its exact unaltered form,
translations however exist.
"The holy Quran was revealed to Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) in sections throughout the 23 years of his prophethood. Whenever a problem arose or whenever Allah wanted to give the Prophet special advice, Allah would send angel Jibreel (Gabriel) with a part of the Quran which he would recite to the Prophet. Thus the Quran was not revealed all at once in ints complete form like the earlier books of revelation, but in parts over a period of time."
Source: Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips (Islamic studies Book 1)
In this Book, the Holy Prophet's life, the history of the Arabs and the events which occurred during the period of the revelation of the Quran have not been mingled with the Divine Verses, as is the case with the Bible. The Quran is the pure word of God. Not one word therein is not divine. Not a single word has been deleted from its text. The Book has been handed down to our age in its complete and original form since the time of Prophet Muhammad. From the time the Book began to be revealed, the Holy Prophet had dictated its text to the scribes. Whenever some Divine Message was revealed, the Holy Prophet would call a scribe and dictate its words to him. The written text was then read out to the Holy Prophet, who, having satisfied himself that the scribe has committed no error of recording, would put the manuscript in safe custody. The Holy Prophet used to instruct the scribe about the sequence in which a revealed message was to be placed in a particular Surah (chapter). In this manner, the Holy Prophet continued to arrange the text of the Quran in systematic order till the end of the chain of revelations. Again, it was ordained from the beginning of Islam that a recitation of the Holy Quran must be an integral part of worship. Hence the illustrious Companions would commit the Divine verses to memory as soon as they were revealed. Many of them learned the whole text and a far larger number had memorized different portions of it.
Besides, those of the Companions (pbut) who were literate used to keep a written record of several portions of the Holy Qur'an. In this manner, the text of the Holy Qur'an had been preserved in four different ways during the lifetime of the Holy Prophet (PBUH):
This is a very small section from the Quran to serve as a taster.
In the Name of Allāh, the Most
Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
And when the stars have fallen and scattered;
And when the seas are burst forth (got dried up);
And when the graves are turned upside down (and they bring out their contents)
(Then) a person will know what he has sent forward and (what he has) left
behind (of good or bad deeds).
O man! What has made you careless concerning your Lord, the Most Generous?
Who created you, fashioned you perfectly, and gave you due proportion;
In whatever form He willed, He put you together.
Nay! But you deny the Recompense (reward for good deeds and punishment for
evil deeds).
But verily, over you (are appointed angels in charge of mankind) to watch
you,
Kirāman (honourable) Kātibīn writing down (your deeds)
They know all that you do.
Verily, the Abrār (pious and righteous) will be in delight
(Paradise);
And verily, the Fujjār (the wicked, disbelievers, sinners and
evil-doers) will be in the blazing Fire (Hell),
In which they will enter, and taste its burning flame on the Day of
Recompense,
And they (Al-Fujjār) will not be absent therefrom (i.e. will not go
out from the Hell).
And what will make you know what the Day of Recompense is?
Again, what will make you know what the Day of Recompense is?
(It will be) the Day when no person shall have power (to do) anything for
another, and the Decision, that Day, will be (wholly) with Allāh.