THE AGE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE QURAN

THE AGE OF TECHNOLOGY AND THE QURAN A CPS International Initiative I N the Introduction of his English translation of the Quran, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan writes: ‘The Quran is a book of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. It did not come to him in the form of a complete book, but in parts over a period of 23 years. (…) Whenever any part of the Quran was revealed, it was written down on papyrus (a type of paper), or in Arabic, qirtas (6: 7). During this process, people committed the verses to memory. (…) The writing of the Quran by hand continued till the printing press was invented and paper began to be manufactured on a large scale, thanks to the industrial revolution.’ The world has become aware of Islam and the Quran as these are directly connected to World Peace. Therefore, it is the duty of believers to make the Quran available to the world at large in a manner and in a language that is understandable. The 21st century brought with it newer modes of learning from the books. Now, it was not enough just to print a book or make its translations available. Wireless connectivity and internet have revolutionized the field of books. In an age where human beings find themselves pressed for time and always on the go, audio books emerged which the busy person could listen to while travelling. To lighten the cumbersome load of carrying bulky books in your bags, e-books were invented. To ease the strain from your eyes, and to read some particular passages from a book without troubling to leaf through its pages, you can now just command your Voice Assistant device to read a particular passage. This article is written by Mohammad Usman. He is the sub-editor of Spirit of Islam (SOI). He has been associated with SOI since 2015. He proofreads, edits, translates, and writes for SOI. The intersection between language and technology is his area of special interest. His passion has found expression through many initiatives of CPS International, New Delhi. He has been closely working with dedicated members of CPS International to bring into fruition the technological developments mentioned in this article. ~Fathima Sarah (Publisher)