Everything Simplified

Qur'an is the holy book of Islam. ALLAH ALMIGHTY (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى), for the whole humanity, dismounted it on His last Prophet Muhammad (صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم). Knowledge of everything in this universe is enclosed in Qur'an. Qur'an is a complete code of conduct for everyone till the Doomsday. Disbelief in Holy Qur'an is kufr (کُفر).
ALLAH (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى), in Holy Qur'an, says:

Here are a few things you must know about Holy Qur'an being a Muslim:

Qur'an was fully disclosed in 22 years and 5 months (approx.)
114 total number of chapters (Surah)
Prophet Muhammad (صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم) was 40 when he (صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم) received the first revelation
Qur'an has 30 divisions (Para)
6,666 total verses (ayah) in Qur'an ( according to some scholars the exact number is 6236 if tasmiyah is not counted as ayah )
1015030 number of dots
1000 total number of raque (رکوع)
70 times the word Qur'an is used in Qur'an
3 surah start with one letter: Qaf (سورة ق‎), Sad (سورة ص), Noon (سورة القلم)
6 chapters named after Prophets
25 Prophets' names are mentioned
Name of Muhammad (صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم) appears 4 times
The name of Musa عليه السلام (Moses) used 136 times
The name of Isa عليه السلام (Jesus) used 29 times
43 number of times, the name of Nuh عليه السلام (Noah) appears
10 rewards for reciting one letter
The longest chapter of Holy Qur'an is Al-Baqarah (سورة البقرة‎)
The shortest chapter of Holy Qur'an is Al-Kauthar (سورة الكوثر‎)
Al-Yaseen (سورة يس) is the heart of the Qur'an
Al-Tauba ( سورة التوبة‎) is the only chapter that starts without tasmiyah
Al-Fatiha (سورة الفاتحة) is also known as mother of Qur'an
Ar-Rehman (سورة الرحمن) is the zeenat (Embellishment) of the Holy Qur'an
Surah Quresh is named after the tribe of Prophet Muhammad (صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم)
The only lady mentioned in Holy Qur'an is Maryam عليه السلام (Mary)
The only talked about day of the week is Friday
Best drink mentioned in Qur'an is milk
The best eatable thing mentioned in Qur'an is honey

Qur'an is the ultimate source of guidance for all mankind. Qur'an has the infinite qualities. On the base of these qualities Qur'an has many names, some of those are:

Al Kitab (الکتاب)
Al Zikr (الذکر)
Al Majeed (المجید)
Al Balagh (البلغ)
Al Aziz (العزیز)
Al Muhaiman (المھیمن)
Al Mutahhara (المطہرہ)
Al Dua (الدُعا)
Al Furqan (الفُرقان)
Al Noor (النور)
Al Kalam (الکالام)
Al Shifa (الشِفا)
Al Mubarak (المُبارک)
Al Kareem (الکریم)
Al Hakeem (الحکیم)
Al Mubeen (المُبین)

Note: this info is verified by most of the scholars. Some scholars, however, may disagree.

Tips to Master Reading Comprehension & Précis Writing

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Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension is one of the most important questions (in Pakistani Educational System) if one is taking a linguistics exam in which one has to read a passage and answer the questions asked relevant to that passage. Comprehension means to extract the hidden information. We have been doing this all our lives; read a lesson and answer the question asked at the end of the lesson.
I'll cover some important step one must follow to master reading comprehension and, of course, excel in the examination.

Step 1:-

Skim through the passage multiple times in order to get a gist of it and get to know its main idea. This step is often called earmarking. Earmarking is done to find the thesis sentence of the paragraph. Skimming makes you aware of which information is where in the paragraph. Make sure you underline important phrases / words.

Step 2:-

After you've read the piece of text and marked some important information, you are now able to answer the questions. Read the questions carefully and recall the main idea which you had got from Step 1 The question asked can be of following four types:

Specific Point Questions
Main Idea
Inference or Indirect Questions
Words' Meanings

Specific point questions are those which you can answer by just copying some part of the passage. The main idea of the passage can also be asked which is not a big deal if you've done Step 1 with a lot of care. Inference questions are the most important ones. Inference questions are those which you have to answer by understanding the indirect meaning of the text (which comprehension really is all about) and answer in your own words.

Step 3:-

Now, you know the passage well and have read the questions, you can now search for the answers from the passage. This step is called scanning. In scanning, the information gathered in Step 1 enables you to answer the questions.

I've discussed Step 1 in other 2 steps also, this makes it clear how important is to read and understand the paragraph before moving on.

Quick Tip:
After enough practice, you can perform Step 2 in the beginning and then perform Step 1 and Step 3 together. This would save a lot of time.

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Précis Writing

Précis writing, like comprehension, is very important when it comes to showing one's writing skills. Précis means to write the main idea of something in one's own words by concizing the original text. Précis writing has no steps to follow, instead it has some tips one should always remember while writing a précis:

Read the passage carefully and count the number of words or make a wild guess
The précis should not be more than one-third of the original text
Facts, figures, and dates are supporting the main text, so they can be omitted
Repeating ideas must be excluded
Always write the writer's point of view
Never try to merge your own ideas into the original theme
Try to use one-word substitutions as much as possible
Adverbs should be used instead of long explanations

Quick Tip:
Beginners can divide the original text into as many parts as they like and then precise each part one by one. Summing these parts` précis will get the job done!

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