The Qur'an

In my opinion, the Qur’an is one of the most fascinating things within Islam. At its core, the Qur’an is the Holy book of Islam, as is the Bible for Christianity and the Torah is for Judaism. However, the Qur’an possesses a unique aspect in that it is the spoken words of Allah, not just the written words. This is to say, as much as the various Abrahamic religions all have the word of God within them, the Qur’an takes it a step further in that it is spoken from God.

I find this notion fascinating because it not only legitimizes Arabic as Holy Scripture, but it gives the Qur’an a breath of life. For example, when you open the Bible and read it, within its pages it tells the tales of the Gospel, Deuteronomy, Ephesians, etc that all involve god and how he is intertwined in our lives. However, due to the fact that the Qur’an is spoken by Allah, a new kind of dialogue emerges between the Muslim and Allah. It’s a call and response dialogue between the devotee and Allah that makes Islam more personal. So much so, that when you open and read the first Surah of the Qur’an, Bismi Allahi alrrahmani alrraheemi, you are quite literally initiating a conversation between you and Allah through submission. It is as if the Qur’an is alive. That is an absolutely fascinating part of Islam.