Qur'an: The Last Link in Revelation Chain

Prophet Muhammad (saw) represents the last link in the prophethood chain. This is revealed to us by the Qur'an. (Ahzab, 33/40)Almighty Allah (swt) has once again called humanity through Him. With the revelation He brought, the religion of Islam took its most perfect form, thus the blessing of Allah's revelation was completed. (Ma'idah, 5/3)

Prophet Muhammad (saw) received his first revelation at the age of forty on the 27th night of Ramadan in 610. At that time, He was in inziwa in the Hira Cave on Mount Nur, close to Mecca. Jibril (Gabriel), the angel of revelation, brought Him the first verses. These were the first five verses of Surah al-'Alaq.

Jibril did not revealed the Qur'an to the heart of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) all at once. On the contrary, the revelation of the Qur'an took a long time of twenty-three years. The verses that came piece by piece instilled the minds and hearts of people. Superstitions and wrong practices were abandoned one by one. 

There are many hikmah why the nuzul process of the Qur'an spread over a long period of time. These can be briefly mentioned as follows:

Verses were coming in accordance with the conditions and problems that people were dealing with or they were coming as a respond to the questions that people were asking. This ensured the correct understanding and application of the meanings and purposes of the verses. Thus, the personality envisaged by Islam was slowly but firmly formed over time. In addition, the Messenger of Allah (saw) had a difficult task and faced great difficulties while conveying Islam to people. While He was struggling with all this, He was comforted by the verses that came hot, and His determination and courage were strengthened.