'Nuzul Al-Quran'

Tomorrow is a public holiday for everyone of us here in Brunei regardless of race and religion, and in other Islam countries in the world a well. We will be celebrating Nuzul Al-Quran. There are some among us including those who will be going to the ICC later this evening who do not know what Nuzul Al-Quran is all about with some of our younger readers even asking 'apakan nuzul ani sebenarnya?' and why celebrate on the 17th Ramadhan?

The answer to that is this short paragraph which I quoted from BB in a 1999 article - "The 17th Ramadhan is one of the significant dates in the Islamic calendar or 'takwim' as it is the date of the Revelation of Al-Quran also known as Nuzul Al Quran, which falls today. The Revelation of Al-Quran is very meaningful to mankind as it influences the life of the people and this event can be considered as the biggest historical event in mankind's civilisation."

I read somewhere that there have been some arguments that the revelation was not on the 17th but rather on the 24th. The majority opinion is that the Al-Quran was first revealed on the 17th Ramadhan (6th August 610 CE) which was based on Verse 41, Surah Al-Anfaal and the minority opinion was the 24th Ramadhan (13th August 601 CE) based on Verse 41 Surah Al-Qadr and Verse 1 to 4 Surah Ad-Dukhan.

Based on reading the surahs alone, we will not be able to decipher the verses to find the exact dates, as Al-Wahidi Al-Nisaburi, an Islamic Scholar considered as one of the best classical scholars in this field wrote: 'The knowledge about Tafsir of the ayat is not possible without occupying oneself with their stories and explanation of (the reasons) for their revelation.' Wallallahualam. The only person who knew the exact date was the All Mighty and Rasulullah SAW. To Muslims, what's more important is that the Al-Quran was revealed and it was first revealed in the month of Ramadhan.

According to the scholars, the whole Al-Quran descended (nuzul) or came down from the lauh al-mahfuz on the night of Laitul Qadr to Baitul Izzah (lowest of the heavens or the earth's heaven) but was revealed to the Prophet slowly over a period of 23 years. The first verses being Verse 1 to 5 of Surah Al-Alaq translated as 'Read in the name of your Lord, who created, created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is most bountiful. (He who taught) the use of the pen taught man which he knew not.'

The first revelation came down when the Prophet was meditating in the Hira Cave. According to Imam Bukhari as narrated by Aishah RA: "Al-Harith bin Hisham asked Rasulullah SAW: 'Ya Rasulullah. How is the divine inspiration revealed to you?' Rasulullah SAW replied, 'Sometimes it is "revealed" like the ringing of a bell, this form of inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and I grasp whatever he says'".The last revelation was verses 278 to 281 of the Surah Al-Baqarah. Rasulullah SAW passed away nine days after the last revelation.