Book

Allah’s Books
It is important to remember that during the time of Muhammad 650 AD, all books were handwritten, extremely rare and very precious. At this time only a tiny minority of people in society knew how to read and write, the rest of the population was illiterate. Paper was extremely expensive and very fragile, so most writing was made on vellum (animal skin), palm bark, and clay or stone tablets. Almost all history, news, stories and teachings were passed along by the oral tradition. The principle reason why the Qur’an uses poetic rhyme and meter is to make it easy for an Arab-speaking person to memorize. This is also why the verses of the Qur’an are recited during Muslims’ five daily prayers, so that successively the entire congregation would memorize the Qur’an.
Therefore, when the Qur’an refers to a “book”, we must not imagine that it is a printed and bound modern book, but keep that word in an appropriate context.
The Qur’an refers to three types of “books”.
The first type is a written book; (Chapter 6:7, Chapter17:93, Chapter 29:47-49, Chapter 52:2-3)
The second type is the “Master Book” of all Knowledge kept by Allah. (Chapter 10:61, Chapter 17:58, Chapter 20:52, Chapter 27:75, Chapter 34:3, Chapter 56:77-79)
The third type are books of divine guidance such as the Torah, Gospel, and Qur’an. (Chapter 22:16, Chapter 28:48-49, Chapter 42:12)
The divine guidance of the Qur’an comes in two categories:
Orders/commandments; (Chapter 7:170, Chapter 16:64, Chapter 16:89, Chapter 19:97, Chapter 20:1-4, Chapter 20:113, Chapter 21:10, Chapter 22:16, Chapter 27:1-3, Chapter 28:85, Chapter 32:2, Chapter 38:1, Chapter 39:41, Chapter 42:17, Chapter 44:2-6,)
Wisdom and parables; (Chapter 4:113, Chapter 17:39, Chapter 36:2, Chapter 43:63, Chapter 45:2)