It was in the last 10 days of Ramadan that the Holy Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (saw). A couple of days ago I took my students through a journey of the Quran, I asked them to "Imagine the Quran comes to your door as an unknown guest and we ask it the typical questions we would ask a guest, what questions would you ask? And does it respond?" Let’s do it practically:
Who are you? / What is your name?
إِنَّ هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ “𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏…” Quran - 17:9
Where did you come from?
بَلْ هُوَ قُرْآنٌ مَجِيدٌفِي لَوْحٍ مَحْفُوظٍ “𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑸𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏, (𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒅) 𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒅” Quran - 85:21-22
Who sent you?
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ “𝑩𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝑾𝒆 (𝑮𝒐𝒅) 𝑶𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉, (𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝒃𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑), 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 (𝑸𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏) 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓? 𝑨𝒏𝒅, 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅, 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒊𝒕 [𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒖𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏]” Quran - 15:9
Which language do you speak?
إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ “𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒅, 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝑨𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒊𝒄 𝑸𝒖𝒓'𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅.” Quran - 12:2
When did you come?
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ “𝑾𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒂𝒏...” Quran - 2:185
إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ “𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 (𝑸𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒏) 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓 (𝑳𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒍-𝑸𝒂𝒅𝒓).” Quran -97:1
How have you got here?
إِنَّا أَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ لِلنَّاسِ بِالْحَقِّ “𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 (𝑶𝒉 𝑴𝒖𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒅) 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒇𝒐𝒓 [𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇] 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅.“ Quran - 39:41
Who have you come for/to visit?
لَقَدْ أَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكُمْ كِتَابًا فِيهِ ذِكْرُكُمْ ۖ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ “𝑪𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒍𝒚, 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 (𝑶𝒉 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅!) 𝒂 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅?”. Quran - 21:10
Why have you come?
هُدًى لِلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِنَ الْهُدَىٰ وَالْفُرْقَانِ “ ....... 𝒂 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈)”. Quran - 2:185
Amazingly and uniquely (meaning no other religious scripture does this) the Glorious Quran speaks for itself and does not require anyone to justify or explain who it is, or why it is here, or who it came from. Then after making all these divine claims it then challenges humanity saying:
وَإِنْ كُنْتُمْ فِي رَيْبٍ مِمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَىٰ عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا بِسُورَةٍ مِنْ مِثْلِهِ “𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 (𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌) 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑾𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑶𝒖𝒓 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒕 (𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏)...” Quran 2:23