THE DEFINITION OF SURAH AND AYA

THE DEFINITION OF THE WORD “SURAH” (CHAPTER), THE SEQUENCE AND NUMBER OF CHAPTERS IN THE QUR’AN

The technical term of the word surah is the title given to each individual division or chapter of the Qur’an. Surah as a word can also mean rank, honor, position and sign. The plural of surah is “Su-war.” It is mentioned nine times in the Qur’an.

The order of the surahs was compiled on the personal command of the Prophet. He informed the revelation scribers of where each of the surahs should be placed. The gathering of the scripts, and the scripts being compiled into book form again was executed on the command of the Prophet. The memorizers had already learned the order of the Qur’an, as every Ramadan Jibril and the Prophet recited the Qur’an to one another in this order, and then the Prophet would publically recite this to the Companions. In addition, the Qur’an was recited according to this order during the Prayers.

In total there are 114 surahs in the Qur’an. The names of each of these surahs were dictated by the noble Prophet himself.

 

Akgul, Muhittin. Tafsir: An Introduction to Qur’anic Exegesis. Tughra Books Press, Inc. 2013