The Quran ( ; '''', , literally meaning "the recitation"), also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Al-Coran, Coran, Kuran, and Al-Qur'an, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God (, ''Allah''). It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language.

The Quran is composed of verses (Ayah) that make up 114 chapters (suras) of unequal length which are classified either as Meccan (المكية) or Medinan (المدينية) depending upon the place and time of their claimed revelation. Muslims believe the Quran to be verbally revealed through angel Jibrīl (Gabriel) from God to Muhammad gradually over a period of approximately 23 years beginning in 610 CE, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632 CE, the year of his death.

Shortly after Muhammad's death the Quran was compiled into a single book by order of the first Caliph Abu Bakr and at the suggestion of his future successor Umar. Hafsa, Muhammad's widow and Caliph Umar's daughter, was entrusted with that Quranic text after the second Caliph Umar died. When the third Caliph Uthman began noticing slight differences in pronunciation of the Qur'anic Arabic by those whose dialect was not that of the Quraish, sought Hafsa's permission to use her text and commissioned a committee to produce a standard copy of the text of Qur'an to which added diacritical marks ensured correct pronunciation, and to be set as the standard dialect, the Quraish dialect, now known as ''Fus'ha'' (Modern Standard Arabic) (see Origin and development of the Qur'an). Five of these original Qur'ans (Mus'haf) were sent to the major Muslim cities of the era, with Uthman keeping one for his own use in Medina. Any variations to standardized text were invalidated and ordered to be destroyed, all other versions of the Qur'an copied by scribes subsequently were from this codex. This process of formalization is known as the "Uthmanic recension". The present form of the Quran text is accepted by most scholars as the original version compiled by Abu Bakr.

Muslims regard the Quran as the main miracle of Muhammad, the proof of his prophethood and the culmination of a series of divine messages that started with the messages revealed to Adam, regarded in Islam as the first prophet, and continued with the ''Suhuf Ibrahim'' (Scrolls of Abraham), the ''Tawrat'' (Torah or Pentateuch) of Moses, the ''Zabur'' (''Tehillim'' or Book of Psalms) of David, and the ''Injil'' (Gospel) of Jesus. The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in Jewish and Christian scriptures, summarizing some, dwelling at length on others and in some cases presenting alternative accounts and interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance, sometimes offering detailed accounts of specific historical events, and often emphasizing the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence.

Etymology and meaning

The word '''' appears about 70 times in the Quran itself, assuming various meanings. It is a verbal noun ('''') of the Arabic verb '''' (), meaning “he read” or “he recited.” The Syriac equivalent is '''', which refers to “scripture reading” or “lesson”. While most Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, the majority of Muslim authorities hold the origin of the word is '''' itself. In any case, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammad's lifetime. An important meaning of the word is the “act of reciting”, as reflected in an early Quranic passage: ''“It is for Us to collect it and to recite it ()”''.

In other verses, the word refers to “an individual passage recited [by Muhammad]”. Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example: ''"So when '''' is recited, listen to it and keep silent"''. The word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel.

The term also has closely related synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran. Each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning, but its use may converge with that of '''' in certain contexts. Such terms include '''' (“book”); '''' (“sign”); and '''' (“scripture”). The latter two terms also denote units of revelation. In the large majority of contexts, usually with a definite article (''al-''), the word is referred to as the “revelation” (''wahy''), that which has been “sent down” (''tanzīl'') at intervals. Other related words are: '''', meaning "remembrance," used to refer to the Quran in the sense of a reminder and warning; and '''', meaning “wisdom”, sometimes referring to the revelation or part of it.

The Quran has many other names. Among those found in the text itself are '''' (“discernment” or “criterion”), '''' (“the guide”), '''' (“the remembrance of God”), '''' (“the wisdom”), and '''' (“the word of God”). Another term is '''' (“the book”), though it is also used in the Arabic language for other scriptures, such as the Torah and the Gospels. The term '''' ("written work") is often used to refer to particular Quranic manuscripts but is also used in the Quran to identify earlier revealed books.

History

Prophetic era

Islamic tradition relates that Muhammad received his first revelation in the Cave of Hira during one of his isolated retreats to the mountains. Thereafter, he received revelations over a period of twenty-three years. According to hadith and Muslim history, after Muhammad emigrated to Medina and formed an independent Muslim community, he ordered a considerable number of the ''sahabah'' to recite the Quran and to learn and teach the laws, which were revealed daily. Companions who engaged in the recitation of the Quran were called ''Qari''. Since most ''sahabah'' were unable to read or write, they were ordered to learn from the prisoners-of-war the simple writing of the time. Thus a group of ''sahabah'' gradually became literate. As it was initially spoken, the Quran was recorded on tablets, bones and the wide, flat ends of date palm fronds. Most chapters were in use amongst early Muslims since they are mentioned in numerous sayings by both Sunni and Shia sources, relating Muhammad's use of the Quran as a call to Islam, the making of prayer and the manner of recitation. However, the Quran did not exist in book form at the time of Muhammad's death in 632.

Sahih Bukhari narrates Muhammad describing the revelations as, "Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell" and Aisha reported, "I saw the Prophet being inspired Divinely on a very cold day and noticed the sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over)". The Islamic studies scholar Welch states in the ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' that he believes the graphic descriptions of Muhammad's condition at these moments may be regarded as genuine, because he was severely disturbed after these revelations. According to Welch, these seizures would have been seen by those around him as convincing evidence for the superhuman origin of Muhammad's inspirations. However, Muhammad's critics accused him of being a possessed man, a soothsayer or a magician since his experiences were similar to those claimed by such figures well known in ancient Arabia. Welch additionally states that it remains uncertain whether these experiences occurred before or after Muhammad's initial claim of prophethood.

The Quran states that Muhammad was ''ummi'', interpreted as illiterate in Muslim tradition. According to Watt, the meaning of the Quranic term ''ummi'' is unscriptured rather than illiterate.

Compiling the Mus'haf

According to Shias, Sufis and scarce Sunni scholars, Ali compiled a complete version of the Quran ''mus'haf'' immediately after Muhammad's death. The order of this ''mus'haf'' differed from that gathered later during Uthman's era. Despite this, Ali made no objection or resistance against standardized ''mus'haf'', but kept his own book.

After seventy reciters were killed in the Battle of Yamama, the caliph Abu Bakr decided to collect the different chapters and verses into one volume. Thus, a group of reciters, including Zayd ibn Thabit, collected the chapters and verses and produced several hand-written copies of the complete book.

In about 650, as Islam expanded beyond the Arabian peninsula into Persia, the Levant and North Africa, the third caliph Uthman ibn Affan ordered the preparation of an official, standardized version, to preserve the sanctity of the text (and perhaps to keep the Rashidun Empire united, see Uthman Qur'an). Five reciters from amongst the companions produced a unique text from the first volume, which had been prepared on the orders of Abu Bakr and was kept with Hafsa bint Umar. The other copies already in the hands of Muslims in other areas were collected and sent to Medina where, on orders of the Caliph, they were destroyed by burning or boiling. This remains the authoritative text of the Quran to this day.

The Quran in its present form is generally considered by academic scholars to record the words spoken by Muhammad because the search for variants in Western academia has not yielded any differences of great significance. Historically, controversy over the Quran's content has rarely become an issue, although debates continue on the subject.

Significance in Islam

Muslims believe the Quran to be the book of divine guidance and direction for humanity and consider the text in its original Arabic to be the literal word of God, revealed to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel over a period of twenty-three years and view the Quran as God's final revelation to humanity.

Wahy in Islamic and Quranic concept means the act of God addressing an individual, conveying a message for a greater number of recipients. The process by which the divine message comes to the heart of a messenger of God is ''tanzil'' (to send down) or ''nuzul'' (to come down). As the Quran says, "With the truth we (God) have sent it down and with the truth it has come down." It designates positive religion, the letter of the revelation dictated by the angel to the prophet. It means to cause this revelation to descend from the higher world. According to hadith, the verses were sent down in special circumstances known as ''asbab al-nuzul''. However, in this view God himself is never the subject of coming down.

The Quran frequently asserts in its text that it is divinely ordained, an assertion that Muslims believe. The Quran – often referring to its own textual nature and reflecting constantly on its assertion of divine origin – is the most meta-textual, self-referential religious text. The Quran refers to a written pre-text that records God's speech even before it was sent down.

The issue of whether the Quran is eternal or created was one of the crucial controversies among early Muslim theologians. Mu'tazilis believe it is created while the most widespread varieties of Muslim theologians consider the Quran to be eternal and uncreated. Sufi philosophers view the question as artificial or wrongly framed.

Muslims maintain the present wording of the Quranic text corresponds exactly to that revealed to Muhammad himself: as the words of God, said to be delivered to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. Muslims consider the Quran to be a guide, a sign of the prophethood of Muhammad and the truth of the religion. They argue it is not possible for a human to produce a book like the Quran, as the Quran itself maintains.

Therefore an Islamic philosopher introduces a prophetology to explain how the divine word passes into human expression. This leads to a kind of esoteric hermeneutics that seeks to comprehend the position of the prophet by mediating on the modality of his relationship not with his own time, but with the eternal source his message emanates from. This view contrasts with historical critique of western scholars who attempt to understand the prophet through his circumstances, education and type of genius.

Uniqueness

Muslims believe that the Quran is different from all other books in ways that are impossible for any other book to be, such that similar texts cannot be written by humans. These include both mundane and miraculous claims. The Quran itself challenges any who disagree with its divine origin to produce a text of a miraculous nature.

Scholars of Islam believe that its poetic form is unique and of a fashion that cannot be written by humans. They also claim it contains accurate prophecy and that no other book does.

Text

The text of the Quran consists of 114 chapters of varying lengths, each known as a ''sura''. Chapters are classed as Meccan or Medinan, depending on when (before or after Hijra) the verses were revealed. Chapter titles are derived from a name or quality discussed in the text, or from the first letters or words of the sura. Muslims believe that Muhammad, on God's command, gave the chapters their names. Generally, longer chapters appear earlier in the Quran, while the shorter ones appear later. The chapter arrangement is thus not connected to the sequence of revelation. Each ''sura'' except the ninth starts with the ''Basmala'', an Arabic phrase meaning (“In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful”). There are, however, still 114 occurrences of the basmala in the Quran, due to its presence in verse 27:30 as the opening of Solomon's letter to the Queen of Sheba.

Each sura is formed from several ''ayat'' (verses), which originally means a sign or portent sent by God. The number of verses differ from chapter to chapter. An individual verse may be just a few letters or several lines. The verses are unlike the highly refined poetry of the pre-Islamic Arabs in their content and distinctive rhymes and rhythms, being more akin to the prophetic utterances marked by inspired discontinuities found in the sacred scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. The actual number of ayat has been a controversial issue among Muslim scholars since Islam's inception, some recognizing 6,000, some 6,204, some 6,219, and some 6,236, although the words in all cases are the same. The most popular edition of the Quran, which is based on the Kufa school tradition, contains 6,236 ''ayat''.

There is a crosscutting division into 30 parts of roughly equal division, ''ajza'', each containing two units called ''ahzab'', each of which is divided into four parts (''rub 'al-ahzab''). The Quran is also divided into seven approximately equal parts, ''manazil'', for it to be recited in a week.

The Quranic text seems to have no beginning, middle, or end, its nonlinear structure being akin to a web or net. The textual arrangement is sometimes considered to have lack of continuity, absence of any chronological or thematic order, and presence of repetition.

Fourteen different Arabic letters form 14 different sets of “Quranic Initials” (the "''Muqatta'at''", such as A.L.M. of 2:1) and prefix 29 suras in the Quran. The meaning and interpretation of these initials is considered unknown to most Muslims.

In 1974, Egyptian biochemist Rashad Khalifa claimed to have discovered a mathematical code based on the number 19, which is mentioned in Sura 74:30 of the Quran. This code only manifests itself in a version of Quran that Khalifa published himself and which differs from the one accepted by most Muslims. It is the basis for the beliefs of United Submitters International, a religious group that Khalifa founded.

Content

The Quranic verses contain general exhortations regarding right and wrong and the nature of revelation.

Historical events are related to outline general moral lessons.

Verses pertaining to natural phenomena have been interpreted by Muslims as an indication of the authenticity of the Quranic message.

Literary structure

The Quran's message is conveyed with various literary structures and devices. In the original Arabic, the chapters and verses employ phonetic and thematic structures that assist the audience's efforts to recall the message of the text. Muslims assert (according to the Quran itself) that the Quranic content and style is inimitable.

Richard Gottheil and Siegmund Fränkel in the ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' write that the oldest portions of the Quran reflect significant excitement in their language, through short and abrupt sentences and sudden transitions. The Quran nonetheless carefully maintains the rhymed form, like the oracles. Some later portions also preserve this form but also in a style where the movement is calm and the style expository.

Michael Sells, citing the work of the critic Norman O. Brown, acknowledges Brown's observation that the seeming "disorganization" of Quranic literary expression – its "scattered or fragmented mode of composition," in Sells's phrase – is in fact a literary device capable of delivering "profound effects – as if the intensity of the prophetic message were shattering the vehicle of human language in which it was being communicated." Sells also addresses the much-discussed "repetitiveness" of the Quran, seeing this, too, as a literary device.

Interpretation and meanings

''Tafsir''

The Quran has sparked a huge body of commentary and explication (''tafsir''), aimed at explaining the "meanings of the Quranic verses, clarifying their import and finding out their significance."

Tafsir is one of the earliest academic activities of Muslims. According to the Quran, Muhammad was the first person who described the meanings of verses for early Muslims. Other early exegetes included a few Companions of Muhammad, like Ali ibn Abi Talib, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Abdullah ibn Umar and Ubayy ibn Kab. Exegesis in those days was confined to the explanation of literary aspects of the verse, the background of its revelation and, occasionally, interpretation of one verse with the help of the other. If the verse was about a historical event, then sometimes a few traditions (hadith) of Muhammad were narrated to make its meaning clear.

Because the Quran is spoken in classical Arabic, many of the later converts to Islam (mostly non-Arabs) did not always understand the Quranic Arabic, they did not catch allusions that were clear to early Muslims fluent in Arabic and they were concerned with reconciling apparent conflict of themes in the Quran. Commentators erudite in Arabic explained the allusions, and perhaps most importantly, explained which Quranic verses had been revealed early in Muhammad's prophetic career, as being appropriate to the very earliest Muslim community, and which had been revealed later, canceling out or "abrogating" (''nasikh'') the earlier text (''mansukh''). Other scholars, however, maintain that no abrogation has taken place in the Qur'an.

''Ta'wil''

Ja'far Kashfi defines ''ta'wil'' as 'to lead back or to bring something back to its origin or archetype'. It is a science whose pivot is a spiritual direction and a divine inspiration, while the ''tafsir'' is the literal exegesis of the letter; its pivot is the canonical Islamic sciences. Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei says that according to the popular explanation among the later exegetes, ''ta'wil'' indicates the particular meaning a verse is directed towards. The meaning of revelation (''tanzil''), as opposed to ''ta'wil'', is clear in its accordance to the obvious meaning of the words as they were revealed. But this explanation has become so widespread that, at present, it has become the primary meaning of ''ta'wil'', which originally meant "to return" or "the returning place". In Tabatabaei's view, what has been rightly called ''ta'wil'', or hermeneutic interpretation of the Quran, is not concerned simply with the denotation of words. Rather, it is concerned with certain truths and realities that transcend the comprehension of the common run of men; yet it is from these truths and realities that the principles of doctrine and the practical injunctions of the Quran issue forth. Interpretation is not the meaning of the verse; rather it transpires through that meaning – a special sort of transpiration. There is a spiritual reality, which is the main objective of ordaining a law, or the basic aim in describing a divine attribute—and there is an actual significance a Quranic story refers to.

According to Shia beliefs, those who are firmly rooted in knowledge like the Prophet and the imams know the secrets of the Quran. According to Tabatabaei, the statement "none knows its interpretation except Allah" remains valid, without any opposing or qualifying clause. Therefore, so far as this verse is concerned, the knowledge of the Quran's interpretation is reserved for God. But Tabatabaei uses other verses and concludes that those who are purified by God know the interpretation of the Quran to a certain extent. As Corbin narrates from Shia sources, Ali himself gives this testimony:

Not a single verse of the Quran descended upon (was revealed to) the Messenger of God, which he did not proceed to dictate to me and make me recite. I would write it with my own hand, and he would instruct me as to its ''tafsir'' (the literal explanation) and the ''ta'wil'' (the spiritual exegesis), the ''nasikh'' (the verse that abrogates) and the ''mansukh'' (the abrogated verse), the ''muhkam'' (without ambiguity) and the ''mutashabih'' (ambiguous), the particular and the general...

According to Tabatabaei, there are acceptable and unacceptable esoteric interpretations. Acceptable ''ta'wil'' refers to the meaning of a verse beyond its literal meaning; rather the implicit meaning, which ultimately is known only to God and can't be comprehended directly through human thought alone. The verses in question here refer to the human qualities of coming, going, sitting, satisfaction, anger, and sorrow, which are apparently attributed to God. Unacceptable ''ta'wil'' is where one "transfers" the apparent meaning of a verse to a different meaning by means of a proof; this method is not without obvious inconsistencies. Although this unacceptable ''ta'wil'' has gained considerable acceptance, it is incorrect and cannot be applied to the Quranic verses. The correct interpretation is that reality a verse refers to. It is found in all verses, the decisive and the ambiguous alike; it is not a sort of a meaning of the word; it is a fact that is too sublime for words. God has dressed them with words to bring them a bit nearer to our minds; in this respect they are like proverbs that are used to create a picture in the mind, and thus help the hearer to clearly grasp the intended idea.

Therefore Sufi spiritual interpretations are usually accepted by Islamic scholars as authentic, as long as certain conditions are met. In Sufi history, these interpretations were sometimes considered religious innovations (''bid'ah''), as Salafis believe today. However, ''ta'wil'' is extremely controversial even amongst Shia. For example, when Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini, the leader of Islamic revolution, gave some lectures about Sura al-Fatiha in December 1979 and January 1980, protests forced him to suspend them before he could continue beyond the first two verses of the surah.

Levels of meaning

Unlike the Salafis and Zahiri, Shias and Sufis as well as some other Muslim philosophers believe the meaning of the Quran is not restricted to the literal aspect. For them, it is an essential idea that the Quran also has inward aspects. Henry Corbin narrates a hadith that goes back to Muhammad:

"The Qur'an possesses an external appearance and a hidden depth, an exoteric meaning and an esoteric meaning. This esoteric meaning in turn conceals an esoteric meaning (this depth possesses a depth, after the image of the celestial Spheres, which are enclosed within each other). So it goes on for seven esoteric meanings (seven depths of hidden depth)." Corbin considers the Quran to play a part in Islamic philosophy, because gnosiology itself goes hand in hand with prophetology.

Commentaries dealing with the ''zahir'' (outward aspects) of the text are called ''tafsir'', and hermeneutic and esoteric commentaries dealing with the ''batin'' are called ''ta'wil'' (“interpretation” or “explanation”), which involves taking the text back to its beginning. Commentators with an esoteric slant believe that the ultimate meaning of the Quran is known only to God. In contrast, Quranic literalism, followed by Salafis and Zahiris, is the belief that the Quran should only be taken at its apparent meaning.

Translations

Translation of the Quran has always been a problematic and difficult issue. Many argue that the Quranic text cannot be reproduced in another language or form. Furthermore, an Arabic word may have a range of meanings depending on the context, making an accurate translation even more difficult.

The first complete translation of the Quran was completed in 884 CE in Alwar (Sindh, India now Pakistan) by the orders of Abdullah bin Umar bin Abdul Aziz on the request of the Hindu Raja Mehruk.

Nevertheless, the Quran has been translated into most African, Asian and European languages. The first translator of the Quran was Salman the Persian, who translated sura ''Al-Fatiha'' into Persian during the 7th century. The first complete translation of Quran was into Persian during the reign of Samanids in the 9th century. Islamic tradition holds that translations were made for Emperor Negus of Abyssinia and Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, as both received letters by Muhammad containing verses from the Quran. In early centuries, the permissibility of translations was not an issue, but whether one could use translations in prayer. In 1936, translations in 102 languages were known. In 2010, the ''Hürriyet Daily News and Economic Review'' reported that the Quran was presented in 112 languages at the 18th International Quran Exhibition in Tehran.

Robert of Ketton's 1143 translation of the Quran for Peter the Venerable, ''Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete'', was the first into a Western language (Latin). Alexander Ross offered the first English version in 1649, from the French translation of ''L'Alcoran de Mahomet'' (1647) by Andre du Ryer. In 1734, George Sale produced the first scholarly translation of the Quran into English; another was produced by Richard Bell in 1937, and yet another by Arthur John Arberry in 1955. All these translators were non-Muslims. There have been numerous translations by Muslims.

The English translators have sometimes favored archaic English words and constructions over their more modern or conventional equivalents; for example, two widely read translators, A. Yusuf Ali and M. Marmaduke Pickthall, use the plural and singular "ye" and "thou" instead of the more common "you".

Literary usage

In addition to and largely independent of the division into ''suras'', there are various ways of dividing the Quran into parts of approximately equal length for convenience in reading, recitation and memorization. The thirty ''ajza'' can be used to read through the entire Quran in a week or a month. Some of these parts are known by names and these names are the first few words by which the '' juz' '' starts. A '' juz' '' is sometimes further divided into two ''ahzab'', and each ''hizb'' subdivided into four ''rub 'al-ahzab''. A different structure is provided by the ''ruku'at'', semantical units resembling paragraphs and comprising roughly ten ''ayat'' each. Some also divide the Quran into seven ''manazil'' to facilitate complete recitation in a week.

Recitation

}} One meaning of ''Quran'' is "recitation". ''Tajwid'', an Arabic word for elocution, is a set of rules that governs how the Quran should be recited and is assessed in terms of how accessible the recitation is to those intent on concentrating on the words.

To perform salat (prayer), a mandatory obligation in Islam, a Muslim is required to learn at least some ''sura'' of the Quran (typically starting with the first one, al-Fatiha, known as the "seven oft-repeated verses," and then moving on to the shorter ones at the end). Until one has learned al-Fatiha, a Muslim can only say phrases like "praise be to God" during the salat.

A person whose recital repertoire encompasses the whole Quran is called a ''qari''', whereas a memoriser of the Quran is called a ''hafiz'' (''fem.'' ''Hafaz'') (which translate as "reciter" or "protector," respectively). Muhammad is regarded as the first ''qari''' since he was the first to recite it. Recitation (''tilawa'' تلاوة) of the Quran is a fine art in the Muslim world.

Schools of recitation

There are several schools of Quranic recitation, all of which teach possible pronunciations of the Uthmanic ''rasm'': Seven reliable, three permissible and (at least) four uncanonical – in 8 sub-traditions each – making for 80 recitation variants altogether. A canonical recitation must satisfy three conditions:

#It must match the rasm, letter for letter. #It must conform with the syntactic rules of the Arabic language. #It must have a continuous isnad to Muhammad through ''tawatur'', meaning that it has to be related by a large group of people to another down the isnad chain.

These recitations differ in the vocalization (''tashkil'') of a few words, which in turn gives a complementary meaning to the word in question according to the rules of Arabic grammar. For example, the vocalization of a verb can change its active and passive voice. It can also change its stem formation, implying intensity for example. Vowels may be elongated or shortened, and glottal stops (hamzas) may be added or dropped, according to the respective rules of the particular recitation. For example, the name of archangel Gabriel is pronounced differently in different recitations: Jibrīl, Jabrīl, Jibra'īl, and Jibra'il.

The more widely used narrations are those of Hafs (حفص عن عاصم), Warsh (ورش عن نافع), Qaloon (قالون عن نافع) and Al-Duri according to Abu `Amr (الدوري عن أبي عمرو). Muslims firmly believe that all canonical recitations were recited by Muhammad himself, citing the respective isnad chain of narration, and accept them as valid for worshipping and as a reference for rules of Sharia. The uncanonical recitations are called "explanatory" for their role in giving a different perspective for a given verse or ''ayah''. Today several dozen persons hold the title "Memorizer of the Ten Recitations."

The presence of these different recitations is attributed to many hadith. Malik Ibn Anas has reported: :''Abd al-Rahman Ibn Abd al-Qari'' narrated: "Umar Ibn Khattab said before me: I heard ''Hisham Ibn Hakim Ibn Hizam'' reading Surah Furqan in a different way from the one I used to read it, and the Prophet (sws) himself had read out this surah to me. Consequently, as soon as I heard him, I wanted to get hold of him. However, I gave him respite until he had finished the prayer. Then I got hold of his cloak and dragged him to the Prophet (sws). I said to him: "I have heard this person [Hisham Ibn Hakim Ibn Hizam] reading Surah Furqan in a different way from the one you had read it out to me." The Prophet (sws) said: "Leave him alone [O 'Umar]." Then he said to Hisham: "Read [it]." [Umar said:] "He read it out in the same way as he had done before me." [At this,] the Prophet (sws) said: "It was revealed thus." Then the Prophet (sws) asked me to read it out. So I read it out. [At this], he said: "It was revealed thus; this Quran has been revealed in Seven ''Ahruf''. You can read it in any of them you find easy from among them.

Suyuti, a famous 15th century Islamic theologian, writes after interpreting above hadith in 40 different ways: :"And to me the best opinion in this regard is that of the people who say that this hadith is from among matters of ''mutashabihat'', the meaning of which cannot be understood."

Many reports contradict the presence of variant readings: ''Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami'' reports, "the reading of Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Zayd ibn Thabit and that of all the Muhajirun and the Ansar was the same. They read the Quran according to the ''Qira'at al-'ammah''. This is the same reading the Prophet (sws) read twice to Gabriel in the year of his death. Zayd ibn Thabit was also present in this reading [called] the '''Ardah-i akhirah''. It was this very reading that he taught the Quran to people till his death". Ibn Sirin writes, "the reading on which the Quran was read out to the prophet in the year of his death is the same according to which people are reading the Quran today".

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi also purports that there is only one recitation of Quran, which is called ''Qira'at of Hafss'' or in classical scholarship, it is called ''Qira'at al-'ammah''. The Quran has also specified that it was revealed in the language of Muhammad's tribe: the Quraysh.

However, the identification of the recitation of Hafss as the ''Qira'at al-'ammah'' is somewhat problematic when that was the recitation of the people of Kufa in Iraq, and there is better reason to identify the recitation of the reciters of Madinah as the dominant recitation. The reciter of Madinah was Nafi' and Imam Malik remarked "The recitation of Nafi' is Sunnah."

AZ [however] says that the people of El-Hijaz and Hudhayl, and the people of Makkah and Al-Madinah, to not pronounce hamzah [at all]: and 'Isa Ibn-'Omar says, Tamim pronounce hamzah, and the people of Al-Hijaz, in cases of necessity, [in poetry,] do so.

Writing and printing

Most Muslims today use printed editions of the Quran. There are many editions, large and small, elaborate or plain, expensive or inexpensive. Bilingual forms with the Arabic on one side and a gloss into a more familiar language on the other are very popular.

Qurans are produced in many different sizes. Most are of a reasonable book size, but there exist extremely large Qurans (usually for display purposes) and very small Qurans (sometimes given as gifts).

An Illuminated Qurʾān from the library of Tippoo Ṣāḥib was presented to the University of Cambridge by the Court of Directors of the East India Company in 1806. The volume has two decorated medallions and two magnificent headpieces containing the Fātiḥa. The text of the Qurʾān is followed by some prayers, and a Fal-nāmah. The manuscript is not dated, but dates of ownership of 1028 A.H./1618 C.E. and 1066 A.H./1655 C.E. occur at the beginning.

Before printing was widely adopted in the 19th century, the Quran was transmitted in manuscript books made by copyists and calligraphers. Short extracts from the Quran were printed in the medieval period from carved wooden blocks, one block per page; a technique already widely used in China. However there are no records of complete Qurans produced in this way, which would have involved a very large investment. Mass-produced less expensive versions of the Quran were produced from the 19th century by lithography, which allowed reproduction of the fine calligraphy of hand-made versions.

The oldest surviving Quran printed with movable type was produced in Venice in 1537/1538. It seems to have been prepared for sale in the Ottoman empire, where all movable type printing using Arabic characters had been forbidden in 1485. This decree was reversed in 1588, but there remained strong resistance to adopting movable type printing for any subjects, let alone the Quran, until the late 19th century. This seems to have been partly from opposition by the large profession of copyists, and for aesthetic reasons, and fear of mistakes in the text. Catherine the Great of Russia sponsored a printing of the Quran in 1787. This was followed by editions from Kazan (1828), Persia (1833) and Istanbul (1877).

It is extremely difficult to render the full Quran, with all the points, in computer code, such as Unicode. The Internet Sacred Text Archive makes computer files of the Quran freely available both as images and in a temporary Unicode version. Various designers and software firms have attempted to develop computer fonts that can adequately render the Quran.

Since Muslim tradition felt that directly portraying sacred figures and events might lead to idolatry, it was considered wrong to decorate the Quran with pictures (as was often done for Christian texts, for example). Muslims instead lavished love and care upon the sacred text itself. Arabic is written in many scripts, some of which are complex and beautiful. Arabic calligraphy is a highly honored art, much like Chinese calligraphy. Muslims also decorated their Qurans with abstract figures (arabesques), colored inks, and gold leaf. Pages from some of these antique Qurans are displayed throughout this article.

Relationship with other literature

Torah, Hebrew Bible and New Testament

}} The Quran speaks well of the relationship it has with former books (the Torah and the Gospel) and attributes their similarities to their unique origin and saying all of them have been revealed by the one God.

According to Sahih Bukhari, the Quran was recited among Levantines and Iraqis, and discussed by Christians and Jews before it was standardized. Its language was similar to the Syriac language. The Quran recounts stories of many of the people and events recounted in Jewish and Christian sacred books (Tanakh, Bible) and devotional literature (Apocrypha, Midrash), although it differs in many details. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Eber, Shelah, Abraham, Lot, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Jethro, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Jonah, Aaron, Moses, Zechariah, John the Baptist, and Jesus are mentioned in the Quran as prophets of God (see Prophets of Islam). In fact, Moses is mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual. Jesus is mentioned more often in the Quran than Muhammad while Mary is mentioned in the Quran more than the New Testament. Muslims believe the common elements or resemblances between the Bible and other Jewish and Christian writings and Islamic dispensations is due to their common divine source, and that the original Christian or Jewish texts were authentic divine revelations given to prophets.

Similarities with Christian apocrypha

The Quran has been noted to have certain narratives similarities to the Diatessaron, Protoevangelium of James, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew and the Arabic Infancy Gospel. One scholar has suggested that the Diatessaron, as a gospel harmony, may have led to the conception that the Christian Gospel is one text.

Arab writing

After the Quran, and the general rise of Islam, the Arabic alphabet developed rapidly into an art form.

Wadad Kadi, Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at University of Chicago and Mustansir Mir, Professor of Islamic studies at Youngstown State University state that:

Although Arabic, as a language and a literary tradition, was quite well developed by the time of Muhammad's prophetic activity, it was only after the emergence of Islam, with its founding scripture in Arabic, that the language reached its utmost capacity of expression, and the literature its highest point of complexity and sophistication. Indeed, it probably is no exaggeration to say that the Quran was one of the most conspicuous forces in the making of classical and post-classical Arabic literature.

The main areas in which the Qur'an exerted noticeable influence on Arabic literature are diction and themes; other areas are related to the literary aspects of the Qur'an particularly oaths (q.v.), metaphors, motifs, and symbols. As far as diction is concerned, one could say that Qur'anic words, idioms, and expressions, especially "loaded" and formulaic phrases, appear in practically all genres of literature and in such abundance that it is simply impossible to compile a full record of them. For not only did the Qur'an create an entirely new linguistic corpus to express its message, it also endowed old, pre-Islamic words with new meanings and it is these meanings that took root in the language and subsequently in the literature...

Culture

Respect for the written text of the Quran is an important element of religious faith by many Muslims. They believe that intentionally insulting the Quran is a form of blasphemy.

Many Muslims memorize at least some portion of the Quran in the original Arabic, usually at least the verses needed to perform the contact prayers (salat). Those who have memorized the entire Quran earn the right to the title of ''Hafiz''.

The text of the Quran has become readily accessible over the internet, in Arabic as well as numerous translations in other languages. It can be downloaded and searched both word-by-word and with Boolean algebra. Photos of ancient manuscripts and illustrations of Quranic art can be witnessed. However, there are still limits to searching the Arabic text of the Quran.

Treatment and disposal of the book

Most Muslims treat paper copies of the Quran with reverence. Based on tradition and a literal interpretation of sura 56:77–79: ''"That this is indeed a Quran Most Honourable, In a Book well-guarded, Which none shall touch but those who are clean"'', many scholars believe that a Muslim must perform a ritual cleansing with water (wudu) before touching a copy of the Quran, or ''mus'haf'', although this view is not universal.

Defiling or dismembering copies of the Quran is considered Quran desecration. Pulping, recycling, or otherwise discarding worn-out copies of the text is forbidden. Worn-out, torn, or errant (for example, pages out of order) Qurans are left free to flow in a river, kept somewhere safe, burned, or buried in a remote location.

See also

2010 Qur'an-burning controversy

Ayah

Criticism of the Qur'an

Dhikr

Digital Qur'an

Hafiz

History of the Qur'an

Legends and the Qur'an

List of religious texts

Persons related to Qur'anic verses

Qur'an alone

Quran and miracles

Quran and Sunnah

Qur'anic literalism

Quran reading

Sura

Tafsir of the Qur'an

Women in the Qur'an

Notes

}}: Actual pronunciation in Literary Arabic varies regionally. The first vowel varies from to to , while the second vowel varies from to to . Example, in Egypt: , in Central East Arabia: .

References

Further reading

;Recent translations

;Introductory texts

Robinson, Neal, ''Discovering the Qur'an'', Georgetown University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-1-58901-024-6

Sells, Michael, – ''Approaching the Qur'ān: The Early Revelations,'' White Cloud Press, Book & CD edition (November 15, 1999). ISBN 978-1-883991-26-5

;Traditional Quranic commentaries (tafsir)

Al-Tabari, ''Jamiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwil al-Qurʾān'', Cairo 1955–69, transl. J. Cooper (ed.), ''The Commentary on the Qurʾān'', Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN 978-0-19-920142-6

;Topical studies

Stowasser, Barbara Freyer – ''Women in the Qur'an, Traditions, and Interpretation'', Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (June 1, 1996), ISBN 978-0-19-511148-4

Gibson, Dan (2011). ''Qur’anic Geography: A Survey and Evaluation of the Geographical References in the Qur’an with Suggested Solutions for Various Problems and Issues''. Independent Scholars Press, Canada. ISBN 978-0-9733642-8-6.

;Literary criticism

Gunter Luling A challenge to Islam for reformation: the rediscovery and reliable reconstruction of a comprehensive pre-Islamic Christian hymnal hidden in the Koran under earliest Islamic reinterpretations. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers 2003. (580 Seiten, lieferbar per Seepost). ISBN 978-81-208-1952-8

Luxenberg, Christoph (2004) – ''The Syro-Aramaic Reading Of The Koran: a contribution to the decoding of the language of the Koran'', Berlin, Verlag Hans Schiler, 1 May 2007 ISBN 978-3-89930-088-8

Puin, Gerd R. – "Observations on Early Quran Manuscripts in Sana'a," in ''The Qurʾan as Text'', ed. Stefan Wild,, E. J. Brill 1996, pp. 107–111.

Wansbrough, John – ''Quranic Studies'', Oxford University Press, 1977

;Encyclopedias ;Academic journals

External links

;Qur'an browsers and translations

Several digitised Qur'ans in the Cambridge University Digital Library

Quran.com

Online Quran Project

Tanzil – Quran Navigator

Verse by Verse Recitation and transliteration of the Qur'an

;Word-for-word analysis

Word for Word English Translation – emuslim.com

Quranic Arabic Corpus, shows syntax and morphology for each word.

;Software

Zekr: Qur'an study program available for different platforms.

Category:7th-century books Category:Islamic theology Category:Islam Category:Islamic texts Category:Medieval literature Category:Religious texts

ace:Kureu'an af:Koran am:ቁርአን ar:القرآن an:Alcorán arc:ܩܘܪܐܢ frp:Alcoran as:কোৰান ast:Corán gn:Korã av:Къуръан az:Quran bm:Kuranɛ bn:কুরআন zh-min-nan:Qur'an ba:Ҡөръән be:Каран be-x-old:Каран bcl:Koran bg:Коран bo:ཁུ་རན་གསུང་རབ། bs:Kur'an br:Koran ca:Alcorà cv:Коран cs:Korán cy:Coran da:Koranen de:Koran dv:ކީރިތި ޤުރުއާން dsb:Koran et:Koraan el:Κοράνιο es:Corán eo:Korano ext:Corán eu:Koran fa:قرآن fo:Koranin fr:Coran fy:Koaran ff:Alqur'aana ga:An Córan gl:Corán gu:કુરાન ko:꾸란 hy:Ղուրան hi:कुर॑आन hsb:Koran hr:Kuran io:Korano ilo:Koran id:Al-Qur'an ia:Koran os:Хъуыран is:Kóran it:Corano he:הקוראן jv:Al-Qur'an krc:Къуран ka:ყურანი kk:Құран sw:Qurani ku:Quran ky:Куран mrj:Коран lbe:Кьуран la:Alcoranus lv:Korāns lb:Koran lt:Koranas hu:Korán mk:Куран ml:ഖുര്‍ആന്‍ mt:Koran mr:कुराण arz:القرآن mzn:قورآن ms:Al-Quran mwl:Alcoron my:ကိုရမ်ကျမ်း nl:Koran ja:クルアーン nap:Corano ce:Къуръан no:Koranen nn:Koranen oc:Alcoran mhr:Коран uz:Qurʼon pnb:قرآن ps:قرآن کریم pl:Koran pt:Alcorão kaa:Quran crh:Quran ro:Coran qu:Quran ru:Коран sah:Коран sq:Kurani scn:Curanu si:කුර්ආන් simple:Qur'an sd:قرآن sk:Korán sl:Koran ckb:قورئان sr:Куран sh:Kuran su:Qur'an fi:Koraani sv:Koranen tl:Quran ta:திருக்குர்ஆன் kab:Leqran tt:Qör'ən te:ఖోరాన్ th:อัลกุรอาน tg:Қуръон tr:Kur'an uk:Коран ur:قرآن ug:قۇرئان كەرىم vi:Qur'an fiu-vro:Koraan wa:Alcoran zh-classical:古蘭經 war:Coran wo:Alxuraan yi:קאראן yo:Kùránì diq:Qurane zh:古兰经

name	Yu Dafu
birth date	December 07, 1896
birth place	Fuyang, Zhejiang, China
death date	September 17, 1945
occupation	Short Story writer and Poet
website	}}

Yu Dafu () (December 7, 1896—September 17, 1945). Born in Fuyang, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, was a modern Chinese short story writer and poet.

Early years

Yu Dafu's father died when he was three, leaving the family poverty-stricken and destitute. He received a number of scholarships through the Chinese government and went on to receive a traditional Chinese education in Hangzhou. Chronologically he studied in Jiangxing-Fu Middle School (before he came to Hangzhou), Hangzhou-Fu Middle School, Yuying Academy (育英学堂, formerly of Zhejiang University).

In 1912, he entered Hangchow University (later its major part merged into Zhejiang University) preparatory through examination. He was there only for a short period before he was expelled for participation in a student strike.

He then moved to Japan, where he studied economics at the Tokyo Imperial University between 1913 and 1922, where he met other Chinese intellectuals (namely, Guo Moruo, Zhang Ziping and Tian Han). Together, in 1921 they founded the ''Chuangzao she'' 創造社 ("Creation Society"), which promoted vernacular and modern literature. One of his earlier works ''Chenlun'' 沉淪, also his most famous, published in Japan in 1921. The work had gained immense popularity in China, shocking the world of Chinese literature with its frank dealing with sex, as well as grievances directed at the incompetence of Chinese government at the time.

In 1922, he returned to China as a literary celebrity and worked as the editor of ''Creation Quarterly'', editing journals and writing short stories. In 1923, after an attack of tuberculosis, Yu Dafu directed his attention to the welfare of the masses.

In 1927, he worked as an editor of the ''Hongshui'' literary magazine. He later came in conflict with the Communist Party of China and fled back to Japan.

Second Sino-Japanese war

After the start of the Second Sino-Japanese war, he returned to China and worked as a writer of anti-Japanese propaganda in Hangzhou, and later in Zhejiang. From 1938 to 1942, he worked as a literary editor for the newspaper Sin Chew Jit Poh in Singapore.

In 1942 when the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Singapore, he was forced to flee to Sumatra. Known under a different identity, he settled there among other overseas Chinese and began a brewery business with the help of the locals. Later he was forced to help the Japanese military police as an interpreter when it was discovered that he was one of the few "locals" in the area who could speak Japanese.

In 1945, he was arrested by the Kempeitai when his true identity was finally discovered. It is believed that he was executed by the Japanese shortly after the surrender of Japan.

Works

''Chenlun'' 沉淪 "''Sinking''" (1921)

''Riji jiuzhong'' 日記九種 “''Nine Diaries''” (1927)

''Guoqu'' 過去 “''The Past''" (1927)

his first novel?? (1928) (moderately successful)

his second novel?? (1932)

''Chuben'' 出奔 "''Flight''" (1935)

His most popular work, breaking all Chinese sales records, was ''Jih-chi chiu-chung'' "''Nine Diaries''", which detailed his affair with the writer Wang Ying-hsin. The most critically acclaimed work is ''Kuo-ch'u'' or "''The Past''", written in 1927.

References

Encyclopædia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, article- "Yü Ta-fu"

External links

Category:1896 births Category:1945 deaths Category:Chinese expatriates in Japan Category:Hangzhou High School alumni Category:People from Hangzhou Category:Republic of China poets Category:University of Tokyo alumni Category:Zhejiang University alumni

de:Yu Dafu es:Yu Dafu fr:Yu Dafu it:Yu Dafu ja:郁達夫 no:Yu Dafu zh:郁達夫

name	Amitabh Bachchan
birth name
birth date	October 11, 1942
birth place	Allahabad, United Provinces, British India
residence	Prateeksha, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
occupation	Actor, producer, singer, television presenter
years active	1969–present
spouse	Jaya Bhaduri (1973–present)
children
website
signature	}}

Amitabh Bachchan (, born Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan on 11 October 1942) is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s as the "angry young man" of Hindi cinema, and has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades. Bachchan is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema.

Bachchan has won numerous major awards in his career, including four National Film Awards, three of which are in the Best Actor category, and fourteen Filmfare Awards. He is the most-nominated performer in any major acting category at Filmfare, with 37 nominations overall. In addition to acting, Bachchan has worked as a playback singer, film producer and television presenter. He also had a stint in politics in the 1980s. He has received both the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan civilian awards from the Indian government.

Early life

Bachban was born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, was a Hindi poet, and his mother, Teji Bachchan, was a Sikh from Faisalabad (now in Pakistan). Bachchan was initially named Inquilaab, inspired from the famous phrase Inquilab Zindabad, during the Indian independence struggle. However, at the suggestion of fellow poet Sumitranandan Pant, Harivansh Rai changed the name to Amitabh which means, "the light that would never go off." Though his surname was Shrivastava, his father had adopted the pen-name Bachchan (meaning child-like in colloquial Hindi), under which he published all his works. It is with this last name that Amitabh debuted in films, and, for all public purposes, it has become the surname of all members of his family. Bachchan's father died in 2003, and his mother in 2007.

Amitabh is the eldest of Harivansh Rai Bachchan's two sons, the second being Ajitabh. His mother had a keen interest in theatre and had been offered a role in a film, but preferred her domestic duties. She had some degree of influence in Bachchan's choice of career because she always insisted that he should take the centre stage. He attended Allahabad's Jnana Prabodhini and Boys' High School (BHS), followed by Nainital's Sherwood College, where he majored in the art stream. He later went on to study at Kirori Mal College of the University of Delhi and completed a Bachelor of Science degree. In his twenties, Bachchan gave up a job as freight broker for the shipping firm, Bird and Co., based in Calcutta now known as Kolkata, to pursue a career in acting.

Career

Early work: 1969–1972

Bachchan made his film debut in 1969 as a voice narrator in Mrinal Sen's National Award winning film ''Bhuvan Shome''. Thereafter he got his first acting role as one of the seven protagonists in '' Saat Hindustani'', a film directed by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas and featuring Utpal Dutt, Madhu and Jalal Agha. Though the film was not a financial success, Bachchan won his first National Film Award for Best Newcomer.

''Anand'' (1971) followed, where he starred alongside Rajesh Khanna. Bachchan's role as a doctor with a cynical view of life garned him his first Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. He then played his first negative role as an infatuated lover-turned-murderer in ''Parwaana'' (1971). This was followed by several films including ''Reshma Aur Shera'' (1971). During this time, he made a guest appearance in the film ''Guddi'' which starred his future wife Jaya Bhaduri. He narrated part of the film ''Bawarchi''. In 1972, he made an appearance in the road action comedy ''Bombay to Goa'', directed by S. Ramanathan. Many of his films during this early period did not do well, but that was about to change.

Rise to stardom: 1973–1983

Director Prakash Mehra cast him in the leading role for the film ''Zanjeer'' (1973) as Inspector Vijay Khanna. The film was a sharp contrast to the romantically themed films that had generally preceded it and established Amitabh in a new persona—the "angry young man" of Bollywood cinema. He earned a Filmfare nomination for Best Actor. Filmfare considers this one of the iconic performances of Bollywood history. The year 1973 was also when he married Jaya, and around this time they appeared in several films together; not only in ''Zanjeer'' but in films such as ''Abhimaan'' which followed and was released only a month after their marriage. Later, Bachchan played the role of Vikram in the film ''Namak Haraam'', a social drama directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee and scripted by Biresh Chatterjee addressing themes of friendship. His supporting role won him his second Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award.

left|thumb|Bachchan in ''[[Deewar (1975 film)|Deewar''.]]In 1974, Bachchan made several guest appearances in films such as ''Kunwara Baap'' and ''Dost'', before playing a supporting role in ''Roti Kapda Aur Makaan''. The film, directed and written by Manoj Kumar, addressed themes of honesty in the face of oppression and financial and emotional hardship. Bachchan then played the leading role in film ''Majboor'', released on 6 December 1974, which was a remake of the Hollywood film Zigzag. The film was only a moderate success at the box office. In 1975, he starred in a variety of film genres from the comedy ''Chupke Chupke'', the crime drama ''Faraar'' to the romantic drama ''Mili''. 1975 was the year when he appeared in two films which are regarded as important in Hindi cinematic history. He starred in the Yash Chopra directed film ''Deewaar'', opposite Shashi Kapoor, Nirupa Roy, and Neetu Singh, which earned him a Filmfare Nomination for Best Actor. The film became a major hit at the box office in 1975, ranking in at number 4. ''Indiatimes Movies'' ranks ''Deewaar'' amongst the ''Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films''. Released on 15 August 1975 was ''Sholay'' (meaning flames), which became the highest grossing film of all time in India, earning INR 2,36,45,00,000 equivalent to US$ 60 million, after adjusting for inflation. Bachchan played the role of Jaidev. In 1999, BBC India declared it the "Film of the Millennium" and like ''Deewar'', has been cited by ''Indiatimes movies'' as amongst the ''Top 25 Must See Bollywood Films''. In that same year, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare Awards awarded it with the special distinction award called Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years.

Bachchan starred in comedies such as ''Chupke Chupke'' (1975) and ''Amar Akbar Anthony'' (1977) and in films such as ''Kabhie Kabhie'' (1976). In 1976, he was once again cast by director Yash Chopra in his second film, ''Kabhi Kabhie'', a romantic tale in which Bachchan starred as a young poet named Amit Malhotra who falls deeply in love with a beautiful young girl named Pooja played by actress Rakhee Gulzar. The film saw him again nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award. In 1977, he won his first Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in ''Amar Akbar Anthony'' where he played the third lead opposite Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor as Anthony Gonsalves. In 1978 he starred in all four of the highest grossing films of India in that year. He once again resumed double roles in films such as ''Kasme Vaade'' as Amit and Shankar and ''Don'' playing the characters of Don, a leader of an underworld gang and his look alike Vijay. His performance won him his second Filmfare Best Actor Award. He also performed in ''Trishul'' and ''Muqaddar Ka Sikandar'' which both earned him further Filmfare Best Actor nominations. He was billed a "one-man industry" by the French director François Truffaut.

In 1979, for the first time, Amitabh was required to use his singing voice for the film ''Mr. Natwarlal'' in which he starred alongside Rekha. His performance in the film saw him nominated for both the Filmfare Best Actor Award and the Filmfare Best Male Playback Awards. In 1979, he also received Best Actor nomination for ''Kaala Patthar'' (1979) and then went on to be nominated again in 1980 for the Raj Khosla directed film ''Dostana'', in which he starred opposite Shatrughan Sinha and Zeenat Aman. ''Dostana'' proved to be the top grossing film of 1980. In 1981, he starred in Yash Chopra's melodrama film ''Silsila'', where he starred alongside his wife Jaya and rumoured lover Rekha. Other films of this period include ''Ram Balram'' (1980), ''Shaan'' (1980), ''Lawaaris'' (1981), and ''Shakti'' (1982) which pitted him against legendary actor Dilip Kumar.

1982 injury while filming ''Coolie''

On 26 July 1982, while filming ''Coolie'' in the University Campus in Bangalore, Bachchan suffered a near fatal intestinal injury during the filming of a fight scene with co-actor Puneet Issar. Bachchan was performing his own stunts in the film and one scene required him to fall onto a table and then on the ground. However as he jumped towards the table, the corner of the table struck his abdomen, resulting in a splenic rupture from which he lost a significant amount of blood. He required an emergency splenectomy and remained critically ill in hospital for many months, at times close to death. The public response included prayers in temples and offers to sacrifice limbs to save him, while later, there were long queues of well-wishing fans outside the hospital where he was recuperating. Nevertheless, he spent many months recovering and resumed filming later that year after a long period of recuperation. The film was released in 1983, and partly due to the huge publicity of Bachchan's accident, the film was a box office success.

The director, Manmohan Desai, altered the ending of ''Coolie'' after Bachchan's accident. Bachchan's character was originally intended to have been killed off but after the change of script, the character lived in the end. It would have been inappropriate, said Desai, for the man who had just fended off death in real life to be killed on screen. Also, in the released film the footage of the fight scene is frozen at the critical moment, and a caption appears onscreen marking this as the instant of the actor's injury and the ensuing publicity of the accident.

Later, he was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis. His illness made him feel weak both mentally and physically and he decided to quit films and venture into politics. At this time he became pessimistic, expressing concern with how a new film would be received and stated before every release, "Yeh film to flop hogi!" ("This film will flop").

Politics: 1984–87

In 1984, Bachchan took a break from acting and briefly entered politics in support of long-time family friend, Rajiv Gandhi. He contested Allahabad's seat of 8th Lok Sabha against H. N. Bahuguna, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and won by one of the highest victory margins in general election history (68.2% of the vote). His political career, however, was short-lived: he resigned after three years, calling politics a cesspool. The resignation followed the implication of Bachchan and his brother in the "Bofors scandal" by a newspaper, which he vowed to take to court. Bachchan was eventually found not guilty of involvement in the ordeal.

His old friend, Amar Singh, helped him during a financial crisis due to the failure of his company ABCL. Therefore Bachchan started to support Amar Singh's political party, the Samajwadi party. Jaya Bachchan joined the Samajwadi Party and became a Rajya Sabha member. Bachchan has continued to do favors for the Samajwadi party, including advertisements and political campaigns. These activities have recently gotten him into trouble again in the Indian courts for false claims after a previous incident of submission of legal papers by him, stating that he is a farmer.

A 15 year press ban against Bachchan was imposed during his peak acting years by ''Stardust'' and some of the other film magazines. In his own defense, Bachchan claimed to have banned the press from entering his sets until late 1989.

Slump and retirement: 1988–1992

In 1988, Bachchan returned to films, playing the title role in ''Shahenshah'', which was a box office success due to the hype of Bachchan's comeback. After the success of his comeback film however, his star power began to wane as all of his subsequent films failed at the box office. The 1991 hit film, ''Hum'', for which he won his third Filmfare Best Actor Award, looked like it might reverse this trend, but the momentum was short-lived as his string of box office failures continued. Notably, despite the lack of hits, it was during this period that Bachchan won his first National Film Award for Best Actor, for his performance as a Mafia don in the 1990 film ''Agneepath''. These years would be the last he would be seen on screen for some time. After the release of ''Khuda Gawah'' in 1992, Bachchan went into semi-retirement for five years. In 1994, one of his delayed films ''Insaniyat'' was released but was also a box office failure.

Producer and acting comeback 1996–99

Bachchan turned producer during his temporary retirement period, setting up Amitabh Bachchan Corporation, Ltd. (A.B.C.L.) in 1996, with the vision of becoming a 10 billion rupees (approx 250 million $US) premier entertainment company by the year 2000. ABCL's strategy was to introduce products and services covering the entire section of the India's entertainment industry. Its operations were mainstream commercial film production and distribution, audio cassettes and video discs, production and marketing of television software, celebrity and event management. Soon after the company was launched in 1996, the first film was produced by the company. ''Tere Mere Sapne'' failed to do well at the box office but launched the careers of actors such as Arshad Warsi and South films star Simran. ABCL produced a few other films, none of which did well.

In 1997, Bachchan attempted to make his acting comeback with the film ''Mrityudata'', produced by ABCL. Though ''Mrityudaata'' attempted to reprise Bachchan's earlier success as an action hero, the film was a failure both financially and critically. ABCL was the main sponsor of the ''1996 Miss World beauty pageant'', Bangalore but lost millions. The fiasco and the consequent legal battles surrounding ABCL and various entities after the event, coupled with the fact that ABCL was reported to have overpaid most of its top level managers, eventually led to its financial and operational collapse in 1997. The company went into administration and was later declared a failed company by Indian Industries board. The Bombay high court, in April 1999, restrained Bachchan from selling off his Bombay bungalow 'Prateeksha' and two flats till the pending loan recovery cases of Canara Bank were disposed of. Bachchan had, however, pleaded that he had mortgaged his bungalow to Sahara India Finance for raising funds for his company.

Bachchan attempted to revive his acting career and had average success with ''Bade Miyan Chote Miyan'' (1998), and received positive reviews for ''Sooryavansham'' (1999) but other films such as ''Lal Baadshah'' (1999) and ''Hindustan Ki Kasam'' (1999) were box office failures.

Return to prominence: 2000–present

In 2000, Amitabh Bachchan appeared in Yash Chopra's box-office hit, ''Mohabbatein'', directed by Aditya Chopra. He played a stern, older figure that rivalled the character of Shahrukh Khan. His role won him his third Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award. Other hits followed, with Bachchan appearing as an older family patriarch in ''Ek Rishtaa: The Bond of Love'' (2001), ''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...'' (2001) and ''Baghban'' (2003). As an actor, he continued to perform in a range of characters, receiving critical praise for his performances in ''Aks'' (2001), ''Aankhen'' (2002), ''Khakee'' (2004) and ''Dev'' (2004). One project that did particularly well for Bachchan was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Black'' (2005). The film starred Bachchan as an aging teacher of a deaf-blind girl and followed their relationship. His performance was unanimously praised by critics and audiences and won him his second National Film Award for Best Actor and fourth Filmfare Best Actor Award. Taking advantage of this resurgence, Amitabh began endorsing a variety of products and services, appearing in many television and billboard advertisements. In 2005 and 2006, he starred with his son Abhishek in the hit films ''Bunty Aur Babli'' (2005), the ''Godfather'' tribute ''Sarkar'' (2005), and ''Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna'' (2006). All of them were successful at the box office. His later releases in 2006 and early 2007 were ''Baabul'' (2006), ''Ekalavya'' and ''Nishabd'' (2007), which failed to do well at the box office but his performances in each of them were praised by critics.

In May 2007, two of his films ''Cheeni Kum'' and the multi-starrer ''Shootout at Lokhandwala'' were released. ''Shootout at Lokhandwala'' did very well at the box office and was declared a hit in India, while ''Cheeni Kum'' picked up after a slow start and only had average success. A remake of his biggest hit, ''Sholay'' (1975), entitled ''Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag'', released in August of that same year and proved to be a major commercial failure in addition to its poor critical reception. The year also marked Bachchan's first appearance in an English-language film, Rituparno Ghosh's ''The Last Lear''. The film premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2007. He received positive reviews from critics who hailed his performance as his best ever since ''Black''. Bachchan was slated to play a supporting role in his first international film, ''Shantaram'', directed by Mira Nair and starring Hollywood actor Johnny Depp in the lead. The film was due to begin filming in February 2008 but due to the writer's strike, was pushed to September 2008. The film is currently "shelved" indefinitely. Vivek Sharma's ''Bhoothnath'', in which he plays the title role as a ghost, was released on 9 May 2008. ''Sarkar Raj'', the sequel of the 2005 film ''Sarkar'', released in June 2008 and received a positive response at the box-office. ''Paa'', which released at the end of 2009 was a highly anticipated project as it saw him playing his own son Abhishek's Progeria-affected 13-year-old son, and it opened to favourable reviews, particularly towards Bachchan's performance. It won him his third National Film Award for Best Actor and fifth Filmfare Best Actor Award. In 2010, he debuted in Malayalam film through ''Kandahar'', directed by Major Ravi and co-starring Mohanlal. The film was based on the hijacking incident of the Indian Airlines Flight 814. Bachchan did not receive any remuneration for this film.

Television career

In the year 2000, Bachchan stepped up to host India's adaptation of the British television game show, ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' entitled, ''Kaun Banega Crorepati''. As it did in most other countries where it was adopted, the program found immediate success. He has hosted all but one of the seasons of the show. Canara Bank withdrew its law suit against Bachchan in November 2000. Bachchan hosted ''KBC'' till November 2005, when he fell ill. At that time he was admitted to Lilavati Hospital's ICU once more, to undergo surgery for diverticulitis of the small intestine. During the period and that following his recovery, most of his projects were put on hold, including ''KBC''. He has hosted all but one season of the show. Its success set the stage for his return to film popularity. In 2009 Oscar winning movie ''Slumdog Millionaire'' in the first question of ''Who Wants to be a Millionaire?'' contest "Amitabh Bachchan" was the correct answer to the question "Who was the star of ''Zanjeer''? Feroz Abbas Khan performed as Amitabh Bachchan in a scene in the movie while Anil Kapoor performed as the host of the contest. Bachchan hosted the third season of the reality show ''Bigg Boss'' in 2009.

Voice

Bachchan is known for his deep, baritone voice. He has been a narrator, a playback singer and presenter for numerous programmes. Renowned film director Satyajit Ray was so impressed with Bachchan's voice, that he decided to use his voice as commentary in ''Shatranj Ke Khilari'' since he could not find a suitable role for him. In 2005, Bachchan has lent his voice to the Oscar-winning French documentary March of the Penguins, directed by Luc Jacquet.

Controversies and criticism

Barabanki land case

In the runup to the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, 2007, Bachchan made a film extolling the virtues of the Mulayam Singh government. His Samajwadi Party was routed, and Mayawati came to power.

On 2 June 2007 a Faizabad court ruled that he had legally acquired agricultural land designated specifically for landless Dalit farmers. It was speculated that he might be investigated on related charges of forgery, as he has allegedly claimed he was a farmer. On 19 July 2007, after the scandal broke out, Bachchan surrendered the land acquired in Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh and Pune. He wrote to the chief minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh, to donate the lands that were allegedly acquired illegally in Pune. However, the Lucknow Court has put a stay on the land donation and said that the status quo on the land be maintained.

On 12 October 2007, Bachchan abandoned his claim in respect of the land at Daulatpur village in Barabanki district. On 11 December 2007, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court gave a clean chit to Bachchan in a case pertaining to alleged fraudulent allotment of government land to him in Barabanki district. A single Lucknow bench of Justice said there was no finding that the actor "himself committed any fraud or manipulated any surreptitious entry in the revenue records".

After receiving a positive verdict in Barabanki case, Amitabh Bachchan intimated to Maharashtra government that he did not wish to surrender his land in Maval tehsil of Pune district.

Raj Thackeray's criticism

In January 2008 at political rallies, Raj Thackeray, the chief of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, targeted Amitabh Bachchan, asserting that the actor was "more inclined" towards his native state than Maharashtra. He expressed his disapproval of Amitabh's inaugurating a girls' school named after his daughter-in-law, actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, at Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, rather than in Maharashtra. According to media reports, Raj's censure of Amitabh, whom he admires, stemmed out of his disappointment of not being invited to Amitabh's son Abhishek's marriage to Aishwarya, despite invitations to his estranged uncle Bal and cousin Uddhav.

Responding to Raj's accusations, the actor's wife, SP MP Jaya Bachchan, said that the Bachchans were willing to start a school in Mumbai, provided the MNS leader donated the land to build it. She told the media, "I heard that Raj Thackeray owns huge properties in Maharashtra, in Mumbai—Kohinoor Mills. If he is willing to donate land, we can start a school in the name of Aishwarya here." Raj responded to it saying, "Jaya bachchan claims she does not know me then how come she knows how much property I own?". Amitabh abstained from commenting on the issue. However, he apologized to Raj for controversial remarks from Jaya in some other incidence. "

Bal Thackeray refuted the allegations, stating, "Amitabh Bachchan is an open-minded person, he has great love for Maharashtra, and this is evident on many occasions. The actor has often said that Maharashtra and specially Mumbai has given him great fame and affection. He has also said that what he is today is because of the love people have given him. The people of Mumbai have always acknowledged him as an artiste. It was utter foolishness to make these parochial allegations against him. Amitabh is a global superstar. People all over the world respect him. This cannot be forgotten by anyone. Amitabh should ignore these silly accusations and concentrate on his acting."

On 23 March 2008, more than a month and half after Raj's remarks, Amitabh finally spoke out in an interview to a local tabloid saying, "Random charges are random; they do not deserve the kind of attention you wish me to give." Later, on 28 March at a press conference for the International Indian Film Academy, when asked what his take was on the anti-migrant issue, Amitabh said that it is one's fundamental right to live anywhere in the country and the constitution entitles so. He also stated that he was not affected by Raj's comments.

Awards, honours and recognitions

Apart from National Film Awards, Filmfare Awards and other competitive awards which Bachchan won for his performances throughout the years, he has been awarded several honours for his achievements in the Indian film industry. In 1991, he became the first artist to receive the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, which was established in the name of Raj Kapoor. Bachchan was crowned as Superstar of the Millennium in 2000 at the Filmfare Awards. The Government of India awarded him with the Padma Shri in 1984 and the Padma Bhushan in 2001. France's highest civilian honour, the Knight of the Legion of Honour, was conferred upon him by the French Government in 2007 for his "exceptional career in the world of cinema and beyond". In 2011, actor Dilip Kumar blogged that ''Black'' should have been nominated for an Oscar. Kumar added: "If any Indian actor, in my personal opinion, deserves the world's most coveted award, it is you."

In 1999, Bachchan was voted the "greatest star of stage or screen" in a BBC ''Your Millenium'' online poll. The organisation noted that "Many people in the western world will not have heard of [him] ...[but it] is a reflection of the huge popularity of Indian films." In 2001, he was honoured with the Actor of the Century award at the Alexandria International Film Festival in Egypt in recognition of his contribution to the world of cinema. Many other honours for his achievements were conferred upon him at several International Film Festivals, including the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Asian Film Awards.

In June 2000, he became the first living Asian to have been immortalised in wax at London's Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Another statue was installed in New York and Hong Kong in 2009.

In 2003, he was conferred with the Honorary Citizenship of the French town of Deauville. He was honoured with an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Jhansi, India, in 2004, the University of Delhi in 2006, the De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, in 2006, the University Brandan Foster by the Leeds Metropolitan University in Yorkshire, UK, in 2007, and the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, in 2011.

Severals books have been written about Bachchan. ''Amitabh Bachchan: the Legend'' was published in 1999, ''To be or not to be: Amitabh Bachchan'' in 2004, ''AB: The Legend: (A Photographer's Tribute)'' in 2006 /, ''Amitabh Bachchan: Ek Jeevit Kimvadanti'' in 2006, ''Amitabh: The Making of a Superstar'' in 2006, ''Looking for the Big B: Bollywood, Bachchan and Me'' in 2007 and ''Bachchanalia'' in 2009. Bachchan himself also wrote a book in 2002: ''Soul Curry for you and me – An Empowering Philosophy That Can Enrich Your Life''. In the early 80s, Bachchan authorized the use of his likeness for the comic book character Supremo in a series titled ''The Adventures of Amitabh Bachchan''.

Personal life

Bachchan is married to actress Jaya Bhaduri. They have two children, Shweta Nanda and Abhishek Bachchan. Abhishek is also an actor and is married to actress Aishwarya Rai.

Filmography

Latest films

''Eklavya: The Royal Guard'' ''Jodhaa Akbar'' ''Delhi-6'' ''Rann (film) ''Bbuddah... Hoga Terra Baap'' ''Department (film)

Year !! Film !! Role !! Notes
rowspan="4"	2006	''Family — Ties of Blood''	Viren Sahi
''Darna Zaroori Hai''	Professor
''Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna''	Samarjit Singh Talwar (aka. Sexy Sam)
''Baabul (2006 film)	Baabul''	Balraj Kapoor
rowspan="7"	2007	|	Eklavya
''Nishabd''	Vijay
''Cheeni Kum''	Buddhadev Gupta/Ghaspus
''Shootout at Lokhandwala''	Special appearance, Dingra
''Jhoom Barabar Jhoom''	Special appearance, Sutradhar
''Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag''	Babban Singh
''Om Shanti Om (film)	Om Shanti Om''	Special appearance, Himself
rowspan="5"	2008	|	Narrator
''Bhoothnath''	Bhoothnath (Kailash Nath)
''Sarkar Raj''	Subhash Nagre aka Sarkar
''God Tussi Great Ho''	God Almighty
''The Last Lear''	Harish 'Harry' Mishra
rowspan="3"	2009	|	Special appearance, Dadaji
''Aladin (2009 film)	Aladin''	Genius the Gennie
''Paa (film)	Paa''	Auro
rowspan="3"	2010	Rann'' ||	Vijay Harshvardhan Malik
''Teen Patti (film)	Teen Patti''	Venkat
''Kandahar (2010 film)	Kandahar''	Lokanathan Sharma
rowspan="2"	2011	|
''Aarakshan''	Prabhakar Anand
rowspan="4"	2012	Department'' ||
''Shoebite (2010 film)	Shoebite''	John Periera
''Taalismaan''
''The Great Gatsby (2012 film)	The Great Gatsby''	Meyer Wolfsheim

Producer

! Year !! Film
1996
	''Ullaasam''
''Mrityudata''
1998	''Major Saab''
1998	''Saat Rang Ke Sapne''
2001
2005	''Viruddh... Family Comes First''
2006	''Family — Ties of Blood''

Playback singer

! Year !! Film
	''The Great Gambler''
''Mr. Natwarlal''
''Silsila''
	''Mahaan''
1984	''Sharaabi''
	''Toofan''
''Jaadugar''
1992	''Khuda Gawah''
1998	''Major Saab''
1999	''Sooryavansham''
''Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham...''
2002
''Aetbaar''
2006
	''Nishabd''
''Cheeni Kum''
2008	''Bhoothnath''
2011	''Bbuddah... Hoga Terra Baap''
2012	''Kahaani''

Further reading

Mazumdar, Ranjani.'' Bombay Cinema: An Archive of the City''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007.

References

External links

Amitabh Bachchan's official blog

Amitabh Bachchan Documentary, Classic BBC Archive video and exclusive interview conducted in Amitabh's own house for BBC Asian Network

British Academy of Film and Television Arts brochure

Category:1942 births Category:Bigg Boss Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:Hindi film actors Category:Indian actors Category:Indian actor–politicians Category:Indian amateur radio operators Category:Indian film actors Category:Indian film producers Category:Indian Hindus Category:Indian hip hop singers Category:Indian male singers Category:Indian playback singers Category:Indian pop singers Category:Indian socialists Category:Indian television presenters Category:Indian vegetarians Category:Kirori Mal College alumni Category:Living people Category:National Film Award winners Category:People from Allahabad Category:People from Uttar Pradesh Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Uttar Pradesh politicians Category:Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Category:8th Lok Sabha members Category:University of Delhi alumni

ar:أميتاب باتشان as:অমিতাভ বচ্চন az:Amitabh Baççan bn:অমিতাভ বচ্চন br:Amitabh Bachchan ca:Amitabh Bachchan de:Amitabh Bachchan dv:އަމީތާބް ބައްޗަން el:Αμιτάμπ Μπατσάν es:Amitabh Bachchan eo:Amitabh Bachchan fa:آمیتاب باچان fr:Amitabh Bachchan gu:અમિતાભ બચ્ચન ko:아미타브 밧찬 hi:अमिताभ बच्चन id:Amitabh Bachchan it:Amitabh Bachchan he:אמיטאב באצ'אן jv:Amitabh Bachchan kn:ಅಮಿತಾಭ್ ಬಚ್ಚನ್ kk:Амитабх Баччан hu:Amitábh Baccsan ml:അമിതാഭ് ബച്ചൻ mr:अमिताभ बच्चन arz:اميتاب باتشان ms:Amitabh Bachchan nl:Amitabh Bachchan ne:अमिताभ बच्चन ja:アミターブ・バッチャン no:Amitabh Bachchan or:ଅମିତାଭ ବଚନ ps:اميتاببچن pl:Amitabh Bachchan pt:Amitabh Bachchan ru:Баччан, Амитабх sa:अमिताभ बच्चन् sh:Amitabh Bachchan fi:Amitabh Bachchan sv:Amitabh Bachchan ta:அமிதாப் பச்சன் te:అమితాబ్ బచ్చన్ th:อมิตาภ พัจจัน tg:Амитабх Бачан tr:Amitabh Bachchan uk:Амітабх Баччан ur:امیتابھ بچن zh:阿米塔布·巴沙坎

The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful, The Mighty Five, or The Mighty Coterie (, ''Moguchaya kuchka''), refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev (the leader), César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin. The group had the aim of producing a specifically Russian kind of art music, rather than one that imitated older European music or relied on European-style conservatory training. In a sense, they were a branch of the Romantic Nationalist movement in Russia, sharing similar artistic goals with the Abramtsevo Colony and Russian Revival.

History

Name

In May 1867 the critic Vladimir Stasov wrote an article, ''Mr. Balakirev's Slavic Concert'', on a concert given for visiting Slav delegations to the "All-Russian Ethnographical Exhibition" in Moscow. The four Russian composers whose works were played at the concert were Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Mily Balakirev, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The article ended with the following statement:

The expression "mighty handful" (, ''Moguchaya kuchka'', "Mighty Bunch" or "Group"), was mocked by enemies of Balakirev and Stasov: Aleksandr Serov, academic circles of the conservatory, the Russian Musical Society, and their press supporters. The group responded by defiantly adopting the name. (although today the Russian equivalent "Пятерка" ("Pyatyorka") is occasionally used to refer to this group). In his memoirs, Rimsky-Korsakov routinely refers to the group as "Balakirev's circle", and occasionally uses "The Mighty Handful", usually with an ironic tone. He also makes the following reference to "The Five":

The Russian word ''kuchka'' also spawned the terms "kuchkism" and "kuchkist", which may be applied to artistic aims or works in tune with the sensibilities of The Mighty Handful.

The name of Les Six, an even looser collection of French-speaking composers, emulates that of "The Five".

Formation

The formation of the group began in 1856, with the first meeting of Balakirev and César Cui. Modest Mussorgsky joined them in 1857, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1861, and Alexander Borodin in 1862. All the composers in The Five were young men in 1862. Balakirev was 25, Cui 27, Mussorgsky 23, Borodin the eldest at 28, and Rimsky-Korsakov just 18. They were all self-trained amateurs. Borodin combined composing with a career in chemistry. Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer (he wrote his First Symphony on a three-year naval voyage circumnavigating the globe). Mussorgsky had been in the Guards, then in the civil service before taking up music; even at the height of his career in the 1870s he was forced by the expense of his drinking habit to hold down a full-time job in the State Forestry Department.

In contrast to the élite status and court connections of Conservatory composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Five were mainly from the minor gentry of the provinces. To some degree their ''esprit de corps'' depended on the myth, which they themselves created, of a movement that was more "authentically Russian," in the sense that it was closer to the native soil, than the classic academy.

Before them, Mikhail Glinka and Alexander Dargomyzhsky had gone some way towards producing a distinctly Russian kind of music, writing operas on Russian subjects, but The Mighty Handful represented the first concentrated attempt to develop such a music, with Stasov as their artistic adviser and Dargomyzhsky as an elder statesman to the group, so to speak. The circle began to fall apart during the 1870s, no doubt partially due to the fact that Balakirev withdrew from musical life early in the decade for a period of time. All of "The Five" are buried in Tikhvin Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.

Musical language

Stylization

The musical language The Five developed set them far apart from the Conservatoire. This self-conscious Russian styling was based on two elements:

They tried to incorporate in their music what they heard in village songs, in Cossack and Caucasian dances, in church chants and the tolling of church bells (to the point where the bell tolling became a cliché). The Five's music became filled with imitative sounds of Russian life. They also tried to reproduce the long-drawn, lyrical and melismatic peasant song, what Glinka had once called "the soul of Russian music." Balakirev made this possible by his study of songs from the Volga in the 1860s. More than any previous anthology, his transcriptions artfully preserved the distinctive aspects of Russian folk music:

*Tonal mutability

:A tune seems to shift naturally from one tonal center to another, often ending up in a different key than the one in which the song began. This can produce a feeling of elusiveness, a lack of definition or of logical progression in the harmony. Even when stylized by The Five, this quality can make Russian music sound very different from the tonal structures of the West.

*Heterophony

:A melody is simultaneously rendered by two or more performers in different variations. This is improvised by the singers until the end, when the song reverts to a single melodic line.

*Parallel fifths, fourths and thirds

:The effect lends Russian music a raw sonority missing entirely from the comparatively polished harmonies of Western music.

The Five also adopted a series of harmonic devices to create a distinct "Russian" style and color different from Western music. This "exotic" styling of "Russia" was not just self-conscious but entirely invented. None of these devices was actually used in Russian folk or church music:

*Whole tone scale

:Although Glinka did not invent this scale, his application of it in the opera ''Ruslan and Lyudmila'' (1842) — most recognizable at the end of the festive overture — provided a characteristic harmonic and melodic device. This scale in "Russian" works often suggests evil or ominous personages or situations. It was used by all the major composers from Tchaikovsky (the appearance of the Countess's ghost in ''The Queen of Spades'') to Rimsky-Korsakov (in all his magic-story operas—''Sadko'', ''Kashchey the Deathless'' and ''The Invisible City of Kitezh''). Claude Debussy also uses this scale in his music, taking this, among many things, from the Russians. Later it became a standard device in horror-movie scores.

The Russian submediant

:Also linked to Glinka's ''Ruslan'', this is a harmonic pattern (in major mode) in which one upper part proceeds from the dominant pitch chromatically to the submediant while the other harmony parts remain constant. The most basic form of this pattern can be shown as follows (beginning with typical tonic): root-position tonic triad --> root-position augmented tonic triad -> 1st inversion submediant minor triad. A famous example of the Russian submediant occurs in the very opening bars of the third movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's ''Scheherezade''.

*Diminished or octatonic scale

:Rimsky-Korsakov first used this in his symphonic poem ''Sadko'' in 1867. This scale became a sort of Russian calling-card — a ''leitmotif'' of magic and menace used not just by Rimsky-Korsakov but all of his followers, above all Alexander Scriabin, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky and Olivier Messiaen (mode 2).

*Modular rotation in sequences of thirds

:The Five made this device of Franz Liszt their own to base a loose symphonic-poem type of structure. This way, they could avoid the rigid Western laws of modulation in sonata form, allowing the form of a musical composition to be shaped entirely by the "content" of the music (its programmatic statements and visual descriptions) rather than by formal laws of symmetry. This loose structure became especially important for Mussorgsky's ''Pictures at an Exhibition'', a work that may have done more than any other to define the Russian style.

*Pentatonic scale

:This stylistic aspect became used by every Russian nationalist composer. Its distinctive feature is to have only five notes in the octave, rather than the seven of the heptatonic scales (e.g., major and minor). The pentatonic scale is one of the ways of suggesting a "primitive" folk-melodic style as well as the "Eastern" element (Middle East, Asia). A melodic example of the "major-mode" pentatonic scale (C-D-E-G-A) can be heard at the entrance of the chorus at the beginning of Borodin's ''Prince Igor''.

Orientalism

One hallmark of "The Five" was its reliance on orientalism. Many quintessentially "Russian" works were composed in orientalist style, such as Balakirev's ''Islamey'', Borodin's ''Prince Igor'' and Rimsky-Korsakov's ''Scheherazade''. Orientalism, in fact, became widely considered in the West both one of the best-known aspects of Russian music and a trait of Russian national character. As leader of "The Five," Balakirev encouraged the use of eastern themes and harmonies to set their "Russian" music apart from the German symphonism of Anton Rubinstein and other Western-oriented composers. Because Rimsky-Korsakov used Russian folk and oriental melodies in his First Symphony, Stasov and the other nationalists dubbed it the "First Russian Symphony," even though Rubinstein had written his ''Ocean'' Symphony a dozen years before it. These were themes Balakirev had transcribed in the Caucasus. "The symphony is good," Cui wrote to Rimsky-Korsakov in 1863, while the latter was out on naval deployment. "We played it a few days ago at Balakirev's—to the great pleasure of Stassov. It is really Russian. Only a Russian could have composed it, because it lacks the slightest trace of any stagnant Germanness."

Orientalism was not confined to using authentic Eastern melodies. What became more important than the melodies themselves were the musical conventions added to them. These conventions allowed orientalism to become an avenue for writing music on subjects considered unmentionable otherwise, such as political themes and erotic fantasies. It also became a means of expressing Russian supremacy as the empire expanded under Alexander II. This was often reinforced through misogynist symbolism—the rational, active and moral Western man versus the irrational, passive and immoral Eastern woman.

Two major works entirely dominated by orientalism are Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite ''Antar'' and Balakirev's symphonic poem ''Tamara''. ''Antar'', set in Arabia, uses two different styles of music, Western (Russian) and Eastern (Arabian). The first theme, Antar's, is masculine and Russian in character. The second theme, feminine and oriental in melodic contour, belongs to the queen, Gul Nazar. Rimsky-Korsakov was able to soften the implicit misogyny to some extent. However, female sensuality does exert a paralyzing, ultimately destructive influence. With Gul Nazar extinguishing Antar's life in a final embrace, the woman overcomes the man.

Balakirev gives a more overtly misogynistic view of oriental women in ''Tamara''. He had originally planned to write a Caucasan dance called a ''lezginka'', modeled on Glinka, for this work. However, he discovered a poem by Mikhail Lermontov about the beautiful Tamara, who lived in a tower alongside the gorge of Daryal. She lured travelers and allowed them to enjoy a night of sensual delights, only to kill them and throw their bodies into the River Terek. Balakirev uses two specific codes endemic to orientalism in writing ''Tamara''. The first code, based on obsessive rhythms, note repetitions, climactic effects and accelerated tempi, represents Dionysian intoxication. The second code, consisting of unpredictable rhythms, irregular phrasing and based on long passages with many repeat notes, augmented and diminished intervals and extended melismas, depict sensual longing. Not only did Balakirev use these codes extensively, but he also attempted to supercharge them further when he revised the orchestration of ''Tamara'' in 1898.

A direct result of such orientalism was the big influence that this circle left on the formation of classical traditions in other nations of the east and south of Russia. For instance, one of Rimsky-Korsakov's famous students, Alexander Spendiaryan went on to become the founder of Armenian classical music, carrying on the traditions and aesthetics of the Mighty Handful to the Caucasus.

Quotations

Rimsky-Korsakov provides the following picture of "The Mighty Handful" in his memoirs, ''Chronicle of My Musical Life'' (translated by J. A. Joffe):

Tastes

Balakirev

Abilities

Influence

Except perhaps for Cui, the members of this group influenced or taught many of the great Russian composers who were to follow, including Alexander Glazunov, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, and Dmitri Shostakovich. They also influenced the two french symbolist composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy through their radical tonal language.

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:155 PlotArea = width:620 height:135 left:100 bottom:20 AlignBars = justify

Colors = id:Borodin value:tan1 id:Cui value:rgb(1,0.6,0.5) id:Balakirev value:lightorange id:Mussorgsky value:gray(0.8) id:Rimsky-Korsakov value:coral id:Tsar value:white

Period = from:1830 till:1920 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1830 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:10 start:1830

Define $markred = text:"*" textcolor:red shift:(0,3) fontsize:10

PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:8 mark:(line,black) width:18 shift:(0,-5)

bar:Tsar color:white text:"" from: 1830 till: 1855 color: orange text: Nicholas I from: 1855 till: 1881 color: yellow text: Alexander II from: 1881 till: 1894 color: orange text: Alexander III from: 1894 till: 1917 color: yellow text: Nicholas II bar:Borodin color:Borodin from: 1833 till: 1887 bar:Cui color:Cui from: 1835 till: 1918 bar:Balakirev color:Balakirev from: 1837 till: 1910 bar:Mussorgsky color:Mussorgsky from: 1839 till: 1881 bar:Rimsky-Korsakov color:Rimsky-Korsakov from: 1844 till: 1908

LineData= at:1855 color:black width:0.5 layer:back at:1881 color:black width:0.5 layer:back at:1894 color:black width:0.5 layer:back at:1917 color:black width:0.5 layer:back

See also

List of Russian composers

Tchaikovsky and the Five

Les Six, French composers

Armenian Mighty Handful

Group of Eight (music), Spanish composers

References

External links

Encyclopædia Britannica article about "The Five"

The Article about The Five in "1000 years of Russian Music"

Turgenev and Russian Music: The Mighty Handful (with music samples)

Russian musical influences of The Five on works of Claude Debussy

Category:Articles about multiple people Five Category:Russian composers *

bg:Могъщата петорка ca:Grup dels Cinc cs:Mocná hrstka da:De Fem de:Gruppe der Fünf et:Võimas rühm el:Η Ομάδα των Πέντε es:Los Cinco eo:Kvinopo eu:Bostak (musikagile taldea) fr:Groupe des Cinq fy:It Machtige Heapke ko:러시아 5인조 hr:Moćna gomilica it:Gruppo dei Cinque he:החמישה ka:მძლავრი ჯგუფი hu:Orosz ötök mk:Руска Петорка nl:Het Machtige Hoopje ja:ロシア5人組 no:De Fem nn:Dei Fem pcd:Groupe éd ches Chonc pl:Potężna gromadka pt:Grupo dos Cinco ru:Могучая кучка simple:The Five sk:Mocná hŕstka sl:Ruska peterka sr:Velika petorka sh:Velika petorka fi:Viiden ryhmä sv:De fem th:เดอะไฟฟ์ tr:Rus Beşleri uk:Могутня купка zh:强力集团