Did Prophet Muhammad receive Holy Quran in a written form or orally?

Question:
Did Prophet Muhammad receive Holy Quran in a written form or orally?

Answer:
The Qur’an is the final message Allah has sent to mankind. It was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through the Archangel Gabriel, who brought the Prophet complete verses or parts of verses, or passages or complete surahs, as he was commanded by Allah.

When the angel brought down to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) a passage of the Qur’an, he did not bring it written on a piece of paper [or other material]. He recited it to him and the Prophet immediately memorized it. Allah promised him that He Himself will see to it that the Qur’an is kept complete and intact and properly read. This order is contained in Quran: “We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and we will assuredly Guard it (from corruption).” [Al- Hijr 15:9]

As you are well aware, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not read or write. When he received a portion of the Qur’an, he called in one or more of his scribes to write it down. Those scribes wrote the Qur’an on various forms of writing material which was available to them. These included sheets cut out of the branches of the beet tree or other writing sheets made of wood, animal hide, stone or bones.

This started even in the period when the Prophet and his companions were a small persecuted community in Mecca. Many of the companions of the Prophet had some parts of the Qur’an written down and treasured in their homes. The Qur’an is divided into 114 surahs, some of which are short, while others are very long. The revelation did not proceed with only one surah at a time, but the Prophet might have continued to receive parts of several surahs at the same time. When a passage was sent down to him, it was followed by an order from Allah, through the Angel Gabriel, indicating its position in the surah to which it belonged. These manuscripts did not form a single or coherent set.

The Prophet did not keep anything written down in his own home. But most of his companions who were with him in Mecca and Medina memorized much of the Qur’an, and some of them were able to learn it all by heart. The Prophet used to teach his companions either individually or in groups.

In Ramadan every year, the Prophet used to revise the Qur’an with the Angel Gabriel to ensure that he did not overlook any verse or part of it. In the last year of the Prophet’s blessed life, Gabriel recited the Qur’an to him twice.