the structure and

7/29/2019 The Structure And

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The Structure and

Divisions of the

Quran

In its basic structure the Quran is made up of suras, sometimes referred to in English as

chapters. The Arabic word comes from a root meaning to fence in which indicates that eachpart of the Book is at the same time separated from but also joined to what precedes and

follows it. The suras vary greatly in length with the longer ones at the beginning and the

shorter ones at the end, although the progression from long to short is by no means regular.

There are 114 suras altogether, all except for one of which sura 9 atTawba/Repentance are

prefaced by the expression bismillahirrahmanirrahim/in the name of Allah, the All-

Merciful, the Most Merciful. Each sura has a name, by which it is known and which is

nearly always derived from a significant word in it.

The suras are divided into ayats literally signs sometimes referred to in inappropriately

in English as verses. The longest sura is sura 2, alBaqara/the Cow, which contains 286 ayats

and the shortest is sura 108, alKawthar/the Great Abundance, which contains only 3 ayats.

The number of ayats in a particular sura, however, is not necessarily a good gauge to its

length since ayats vary a great deal in length. Sura 26, ashShuara/the Poets, for instance,

contains 226 ayats, which is the second greatest number of ayats in any sura, and yet almost

all the preceding suras, most of which contain far fewer ayats, are the same length or

longer. As a general rule the ayats were shorter in the early period of revelation and became

longer as the Revelation progressed. The longest ayat is 2:282, containing 128 words, and

the shortest is 55:63, which is just one word long.

The 114 suras are divided into approximately 6220 ayats, made up of about 77440 words,

containing 321000 letters. It is impossible to be absolutely precise about these figuresbecause there have always been slight differences regarding ayat endings, which were not

made explicit in the first copies of the Mushaf, and orthographic variations have prevented

an absolute consensus regarding the exact number of words and letters the Quran contains.

As we learned when we looked at how the Quran was first compiled, the order of both the

suras and of the ayats within the suras was definitively determined in the last year of the

life of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when the Angel Jibril, peace

be upon him, went through the whole Book with him twice while he was in retreat in the

mosque during his final Ramadan. For various reasons, however, such as ease of copying

production and for recitation purposes, several other kinds of divisions have been

introduced into the Quranic text, most of which date from very early times.

The suras are considered to fall into four categories. Attiwal (the long) suras which

comprise suras 210; almiun (the hundreds) suras those suras of about 100 ayats in length

suras 1035; almathani (the repeated) suras which are suras 3649; and almufassal (divided

up) suras the last part of the Quran, being the short suras from 50


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114. Most copies and editions of the Quran also show it as being divided into four more or

less equal parts, known, naturally enough as quarters. The first comprises suras 16, the

second, suras 718, the third, suras 1935 and the last suras 36114.

Another traditional way of dividing up the Quran is into seven more or less equal sections

to enable the whole Book to be recited over the course of a single week, each part beingcalled a manzil or stopping place. The first is suras 15, the second suras 510, the third suras

1017, the fourth suras 1727, the fifth suras 2735, the sixth suras 3550, and the final part suras

50114. The most commonly used divisions now, however, are the juz and the hizb and it is

these and their subdivisions which you see marked in the margins of most Qurans

produced today. The vast majority of Qurans printed now are in either the Hafs or Warsh

readings. We will look later on at the various readings in more detail.

The Hafs editions are usually divided into ajza which is the plural of juz or we could

anglicise it and call them juzes. There are thirty juzes in all and they come into their own, as

it were, during the month of Ramadan, when a juz is recited each night in tarawih. Each juz

is divided into two ahzab or hizbs and in the Warsh editions it is the hizb which takes pride

of place, no mention being made of juzes at all. There are sixty hizbs altogether and there is

a tradition throughout much of North and West Africa, where the Warsh reading is

prevalent, of group recitation of a hizb every day after the prayers of Subh and Maghrib in

the mosque, usually led by the imam. This has, for centuries, given countless thousands of

Muslims great familiarity with the Quranic text and has indeed for many been the means of

learning the whole Quran by heart. Each hizb is divided into eight parts known as thamans

and the whole system makes the Quran much easier to recite and memorise than it would

be otherwise.

These are what we might call the structural divisions of the Quran. There are, however, afew other ways that the Quran has traditionally been divided up. One we looked at briefly

in our introduction to this course the thematic division of the Quran

and it is worthwhile looking at it again as we are examining this matter of divisions in the

Quran. As we noted, the ulama of Islam have always said that the contents of the Quran

are basically subsumed under three themes: tawhid/the unity of Allah, qisas/narratives, and

ahkam/legal judgements. It would be good at this point to break down these themes into

their constituent parts so that we may have a reasonably comprehensive overview of the

contents of the Quran as they fit into this tripartite thematic scheme.

The first theme is that of Allahs unity and as we noted previously the Book of Allahaddresses this in various ways:

Tawhid in the Quran:

Ayats referring directly to Allah and His Attributes Ayats giving arguments for Allahs

existence Ayats using metaphors and similes to indicate Allah Ayats regarding the angels

and the Unseen Ayats about the Last Day and the Garden and Fire Ayats about the


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heavenly bodies Ayats about the plant world Ayats about the human and animal kingdoms

Ayats about rain and the weather cycle

All these are used by Allah taala in the Quran as different means of indicating His

absolute oneness. The second theme is the narrative aspects of the Revelation and again it

covers a wide area:Narrative Aspects of the Quran:

The beginnings of human history the story of Adam and his sons Accounts of the ancient

Prophets and their peoples; in particular: Nuh and his people Hud and Ad Salih and

Thamud Lut and his people Shuayb and Madyan The final Prophetic phase of human

history: Ibrahim and his sons Yaqub and Yusuf Musa and Firawn Musa and the Tribe of

Israil Dawud and Sulayman Zakariyya and Yahya

Isa and his mother Maryam Incidents in the life of the Prophet and First Community,

particularly: The Battle of Badr (Surat alAnfal) The Battle of Uhud (Surat Ali Imran) The

Treaty of alHudaybiyya (Surat alFath) The Expedition of Tabuk (Surat atTawba) The Affairof the Necklace (Surat anNur) Many, many others in less detail than the above Various

other historical narratives particularly in Surat alKahf

This narrative aspect of the Quran contains much of the moral and ethical teaching of the

Revelation. The last of the Quranic themes are those ayats containing legal injunctions:

Legal Judgments in the Quran

Specific legal rulings concerning: The pillars of the deen The halal and haram Marriage and

divorce Inheritance Property Commercial transactions Warfare Criminal offences

Instructions of various types addressed directly to the believers Injunctions regarding the

Jews, Christians and unbelievers Passages containing general commands and prohibitions

It is clear from this brief summary of the subject matter covered by these three major

themes that there is virtually nothing in the Quran which is not included in one or the

other of them so that it is fair to say that the contents of the Quran can indeed be divided

between them.

Makkan and Madinan suras

There is one other way of dividing up the suras of the Quran which stems from the

historical reality of the Revelation itself, in that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant

him peace, was, for the first thirteen years of his Prophet hood, based in Makah and for thelast ten years, in Madina, so that there is a natural division between the earlier suras which

came down in Makka and the later ones which came down in Madina. As with everything

else connected with the Book of Allah it is impossible to be absolutely didactic about this

division because it is undoubtedly the case that there are many Makkan ayats included in

Madinan suras just as there are Madinan ayats in Makkan suras since, as we have seen, the

final form which the Revelation was to take was not finally confirmed until very shortly


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before the death of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and

up until then he was, under the direction of the Angel Jibreel, continually deciding where

different ayats should be placed.

It nevertheless remains the case that the each of the suras of the Quran is generally

reckoned to be either Makkan or Madinan in origin. Any sura whose beginning wasrevealed between the time of the coming of the first revelation and the Prophets hijra to

Madina is considered to be Makkan and any sura whose beginning stems from after that is

considered Madinan. The same criterion applies to individual ayats so that, although

certain ayats are known to have come down in Makka they are considered Madinan

because they were revealed during the Madinan period, well after the Hijra.

As far as the study of the Quran is concerned this is a matter of far more than merely

historical interest . The circumstances of the Muslims in Makka, when they were at best a

small beleaguered group, was a total contrast to the one they faced in Madina, when they

were a rapidly growing body politic and, since one of the primary functions of the Quran

was to act as a source of guidance, geared to the immediate needs of those being addressed,

it is obvious that the contents of the Revelation would be very different in each of the two

situations. This is reflected both in the subject matter and the language of the Revelation.

In Makka the people addressed by the Quran are the persecuted fledgling Muslim

community, the dominant group of unbelieving idolaters and mankind as a whole. In

Madina the social grouping addressed by the revelation is considerably more diverse,

comprising the Muhajirun (Emigrants), the Muslims who had emigrated there mainly from

Makka, the Ansar (Helpers), the Muslim inhabitants of the city who welcomed them, the

Munafiqun (Hypocrites), the inhabitants of the city who pretended to be Muslims when

they were not, the Ahlulkitab (People of the Book), the Jewish clans settled in Madina andChristian tribes from the North, and the Arab (Bedouin Arabs), who lived in the desert

surrounding Madina. The guidance requirements in the comparatively clear cut Makkan

situation were clearly very different from the far more complex Madinan environment,

where a new society was in the process of being formed, with all the legal, social and

economic problems which that entails. And, of course, the Quran reflects this in many

ways.

There are generally reckoned to be eightyfive Makkan suras, namely: suras 96, 68, 73, 74,

111, 81, 87, 92, 89, 93, 94, 103, 100, 108, 102, 107, 109, 105, 113, 114, 112, 53, 80, 97, 91, 85, 95,

106, 101, 75, 104, 77, 50, 90, 86, 54, 38, 7, 72, 36, 25, 35, 19, 20, 56, 26,27, 28, 17, 10, 11, 12, 15, 6,

37, 31, 34, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 88, 18, 16, 71, 14, 21, 23, 32, 52, 67, 69, 70, 78, 79, 82,

30, 84, 29, and 83. There is some difference of opinion regarding which was the last sura to

be revealed in Makka. Some scholars take the opinion of Ibn 'Abbas, that it was sura 29 (al-

Ankabut), while others say that Sura 23 (alMuminun) was the last and still others say it was

Sura 83 (alMutaffifin). There is even an opinion that Sura 83 is actually Madinan. There are

twentyeight Madinan suras, namely: suras 2, 8, 3, 33, 60, 4, 99, 57, 47, 13, 55, 76, 65, 98, 59,

110, 24, 22, 63, 58, 49, 66, 61, 62, 64, 48, 9, and 5. This leaves just one sura, the first, Surat al-


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Fatiha, about which there are three received opinions: that it was revealed in Makka; that it

was revealed in Madina; and that it was revealed twice, once in each place.

One generally recognisable difference between the Makkan and Madinan phases of the

Revelation was that, as has already been pointed out, Makkan ayats tend to be shorter than

Madinan ones. However, the content itself is often the best indicator of the provenance ofthe sura or ayat concerned. Certain themes usually show that a particular part of the

Revelation is of Makkan origin:

The call to worship Allah alone and renounce idolatry Emphasis on the absolute oneness of Allah The establishment of the new Message The Resurrection, Reward and Punishment The Day of Judgement and its terrors The Garden and its delights The Fire and its punishments Arguments refuting the claims of the unbelievers Narratives of the fate of past nations, except for Sura 2 Ayats issuing a challenge to the unbelievers Short and concise ayats using particularly forceful language Moral corruption and its consequencesAnother specific pointer to the Makkan origin of a particular sura or ayat is the the

exclamation kalla which was only used in the Makkan phase of the Revelation. The

existence of an ayat of sajda also shows the sura to have been revealed in Makka. Another

thing almost exclusively confined to the Makkan period is the use of the single letters to

preface the sura such as Ha Mim, Ta Ha, Ya Sin, and so on. The only exceptions are the AlifLam Mim at the beginning of suras 2 and 3. The use of oaths at the beginning of suras is

also a sign of its Makkan origin.

As has been mentioned suras with long ayats tend to be Madinan in origin. They are often

much more discursive in nature than their Makkan counterparts and their contents

frequently deal with the religious, legal and social ordinances necessary for the governance

of the growing Muslim polity as well as often referring extensively to events occurring at

the time, such as battles and expeditions and certain domestic incidents to draw from them

all the lessons they contain. Another specific pointer to the Madinan origin of a passage in

the Quran is any reference in it to Munafiqun (Hypocrites), the one exception being 29:11

which is known to be Makkan.

An interesting illustrative example which brings out several of the points made above is

Surat alMudaththir (74), which is one of the very earliest suras of the Quran to be revealed

but which contains one ayat, 31, which is of Madinan origin. The contrast between that ayat

and the rest of the sura shows very clearly the nature of the difference between the Makkan

and Madinan phases of the Revelation.


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Thus it can be seen that the knowledge of Makkan and Madinan revelations is an important

branch of ulum alQuran. It is not merely of historical interest but is in fact particularly

important for the correct understanding and interpretation particular passages of the

Quranic text. While it is true that many suras of the Qur'an contain material from both

periods of revelation and that in some cases there exists difference of opinion among

scholars concerning the classification of a particular passage, the distinction between the

two periods is, on the whole, a wellestablished aspect of Quranic studies, fully utilised in

the science of tafsir and best derived from the internal evidence of the text of the Qur'an

itself.

Abdul Haqq Bewley

http://www.enjoyislam.com/lectures/AnwarAlAwlaki/LifeOfMohammad.html

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