The Koran: A Very Short Introduction explores the significance of the Koran both in the modern world and in traditional Muslim culture, by looking at the Koran as codex, as scripture, as liturgy, and as the embodiment of truth, and examines its means of formation and dissemination. How are certain key verses to be interpreted? What is it about the Koran that gives it the immense authority in the Muslim world it commands? How does it manage to stay relevant today? The Koran has constituted a remarkably strong core of identity and continuity for a religious tradition that is now in its fifteenth century.