What Was the First and Last Revelation of the Quran?
Answered by Shaykh Anas al-Musa
Question
What was the first revelation of the Quran, and what was the last?
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the Messenger sent as a mercy to the worlds, our Master and Prophet, Muhammad, and his Family and Companions.
First Revelation
The first revelation of the Quran was the statement of Allah (Most High):
“Read (O Prophet) in the Name of your Lord Who created—created humans from a clinging clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous—Who taught by the pen—taught humanity what they knew not.” [Quran, 96:1-5]
This is also confirmed in the hadith of ‘Aisha (Allah be pleased with her), where she mentioned the first encounter of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) with revelation. It includes:
“The angel came to him and said: Read. The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) replied: ‘I am not a reader.’ He (the angel) took hold of me and embraced me tightly until I reached my limit, then he released me and said: Read. I said: ‘I am not a reader.’ He took hold of me and embraced me tightly a second time until I reached my limit, then he released me and said: Read. I said: ‘I am not a reader.’ He took hold of me and embraced me tightly a third time until I reached my limit, then he released me and said: ‘Read (O Prophet) in the Name of your Lord Who created—created humans from a clinging clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous.’” [Quran, 96:1-3] [Bukhari]
Last Revelation
As for the last revelation of the Quran, it was the statement of Allah (Most High):
“Be mindful of the Day when you will all be returned to Allah, then every soul will be paid in full for what it has done, and none will be wronged.” [Quran, 2:281]
This has been confirmed by what was narrated by Ibn ‘Abbas (Allah be pleased with him), who said:
“The last thing that was revealed from the Quran was: ‘Be mindful of the Day when you will all be returned to Allah’” [Quran, 2:281] [Nasa’i]
This is further supported by what Ibn ‘Abbas also mentioned:
“The last verse revealed to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was the verse on usury.” [Bukhari]
The intended verse is the one mentioned at the end of the verses on usury, which concludes with the statement of Allah (Most High):
“Be mindful of the Day when you will all be returned to Allah, then every soul will be paid in full for what it has done, and none will be wronged.” [Quran, 2:281]
Conclusion
Finally, from the above, we can deduce that the order of the verses and chapters of the Quran is not based on the order of revelation; the last revelation of the Quran is found in the first part of it, while the first revelation is found in the last part.
Knowing the Quran’s first and last revelations demonstrates the great care that surrounds it, so much so that it is known precisely what was revealed first and what was revealed last.
May Allah bless the Prophet Muhammad and give him peace, and his Family and Companions.
[Shaykh] Anas al-Musa
Shaykh Anas al-Musa, born in Hama, Syria, in 1974, is an erudite scholar of notable repute. He graduated from the Engineering Institute in Damascus, where he specialized in General Construction, and Al-Azhar University, Faculty of Usul al-Din, where he specialized in Hadith.
He studied under prominent scholars in Damascus, including Shaykh Abdul Rahman al-Shaghouri and Shaykh Adib al-Kallas, among others. Shaykh Anas has memorized the Quran and is proficient in the ten Mutawatir recitations, having studied under Shaykh Bakri al-Tarabishi and Shaykh Mowfaq ‘Ayun. He also graduated from the Iraqi Hadith School.
He has taught numerous Islamic subjects at Shari‘a institutes in Syria and Turkey. Shaykh Anas has served as an Imam and preacher for over 15 years and is a teacher of the Quran in its various readings and narrations.
Currently, he works as a teacher at SeekersGuidance and is responsible for academic guidance there. He has completed his Master’s degree in Hadith and is now pursuing his Ph.D. in the same field. Shaykh Anas al-Musa is married and resides in Istanbul.
