The Quran is Allah’s divine message to all mankind. The words are His words. The Quran was revealed to the last Messenger for mankind. There had been previous Divine Messages (such as the Torah and Injeel) before the Quran which were limited to one nation at a time.
Firstly, the whole of Quran was sent down from Lauh Mahfuz (اللَّوْحُ الْمَحْفُوظُ the preserved tablet) in the heavens to the worldly sky "Baitul-‘Izzah" on the night of Al-Qadr. ("Lauh" = Tablet, "Mahfuz" = Preserved)
Quran 97:3 (Surah Al-Qadr):
"Lailatul-Qadr (The Night of Decree) is better than a thousand months."
Secondly, from "Baitul-‘Izzah", the Quran was sent to the Prophet s.a.w ayah by ayah by angel Jibril a.s. for 23 years beginning on 17th Ramadhan which is called Nuzul Al-Quran.
The Prophet was 40 years old when he first received the revelation at the Hira Cave on Jabal Nur in Makkah. Revelations ended at the passing of the Prophet s.a.w at 63 years old of age.
The first Surah revealed
The first Surah to be revealed was the first 5 ayaat of Surah Al-'Alaq. The rest of the ayaat in this Surah were revealed at other times.
[Quran 54:40]
"And We have certainly made the Quran easy to remember. So is there anyone who will be mindful?"
Is there anyone willing to get guidance from it? The Quran is made easy to get advice from it. The Quran is also made to be memorized. Allah made the Qur’an easy for remembrance as millions of people generation after generation memorized the Quran cover to cover.
Surah Al-Hijr (15:1): "Alif, Lam, Ra. These are the verses of the Book and a clear Qur'an"
تِلْكَ آيَاتُ الْكِتَابِ وَقُرْآنٍ مُّبِينٍ
Allah made the Quran clear. What is the definition of being clear? Clear does not mean simple. Someone engaging in deep learning of the Quran will find that it is not that simple. He has to put lots of effort to learn everything about the Quran. Just like a professor who wrote lots of mathematical formula on the whiteboard. Those formulas were not easy to derive, but the students found his solutions and teachings clear. Clarity is when something make sense. A complicated thing is easy when you find clarity. The scholars of Qurán Tafseer acts like the Professor in our analogy. We cannot fully understand some ayaat in the Quran since we lack the classical Quranic language and the contexts of the ayaat. The scholars researching and making Tafseer were not easy. But when we read their Tafseer, it is easy for us to understand clearly the guidance. The Qur’an ease our human burden through Quranic guidance.
[Sahih al-Bukhari 5027] Narrated `Uthman:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The best among you (Muslims) are those who learn the Qur'an and teach it."
Learning and teaching is not only about recitation but more importantly is about understanding.
A good teacher is when students understand what is being taught using simple everyday examples. The aim is to get guidance (“huda, hidayah”). A bad teacher is when he is using bombastic words to impress people but nobody understands what he is teaching.
A scientist will not be able to teach kindergarten kids as good as a kindy teacher will. The kindy teacher may not have the knowledge of the scientist but she can achieve much more with the kids.
The students in turn need to know the skills of learning. There is only so much a Teacher can teach but it is up to the student to personally know how to study.
> Increase in knowledge is not proportional to increase in “iman” (guided faith).
> Increase in sincerity is proportional to increase in guidance.
By only glorifying knowledge will lead you away from guidance.
By glorifying guidance is a start of getting both knowledge and guidance from your Master.