The word Qur’ân, ‘a reading,’ comes from the verb qara’a, ‘to read,’ though some lexicographers derive it from qarana, ‘to join,’ and interpret it as meaning the ‘collected whole.’ It is also called El Forqân, ‘the discrimination,’ a word borrowed from the Hebrew and also applied in the Qur’ân to divine inspiration generally. The individual portions of the Qur’ân were not always written down immediately after their revelation, as we find that Mohammed often repeated them several times until he