The role of the Quran in the Islamic religious tradition

Bismillah.

Muslims are a diverse group of believers who all unite under the belief that the Quran is their holy writ and that it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by God. Muslims have always united under this belief while they have differed in the interpretation of the what the text actually means and how it applies today. As such the Quran for Muslims is a living text which affects their daily lives and is part and parcel of their way of life. This can be seen from the artistic depictions of Quranic verses to taxi-drivers listening to its recitation as they go about their business. For the Muslim the Quran is their link with the divine.

The role of the Quran in Islamic religious tradition is central, there is no other text that is comparable to it, nor is there any text like it linguistically in the Arabic language. The Prophethood of Muhammad started with its revelation and it ended when all of it was revealed. Muhammad was the guide, the teacher, and the interpreter of the holy book. It defined his role, explained his functions and even corrected his mistakes so as to teach Muslims morals through his life. 

The Quran does not claim to be the first revealed book from God but reaffirms the history of revelations before it of the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospel. It also acknowledges the Hebrew prophets of old – Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Elias, Zechariah and many others, including Jesus. The Quran speaks of a brotherhood of prophets and a community of believers, always emphasising the oneness of God and the Day of Judgement. A belief that Jews, Christians and Muslims all share. It uses the term, ‘People of the Book’ to describe Jews and Christians in particular and tells Muslims that they also worship the same God.

As Muslims believe the Quran to be beyond space and time, the holy text is interpreted and reinterpreted in every age by scholars who look at the Quran with fresh eyes in the light of their own times to see how it can be applied. The process of interpretation has taken many dimensions from ethical, spiritual, legal, lingual, moral, historical and contextual. This has ensured that a vast diversity of interpretations is always happening to the text and that scholars and laypeople alike engage with the holy book for answers and guidance in their lives. The Quran, its reading and interpretation is the true example of diversity within Islam and goes directly against the idea of Muslims and Islam being monolithic and not being part of a vast intellectual tradition.