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 each part 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 AllMerciful, 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 figures because 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

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 being called 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, a few 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 Allah addresses 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

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 Affair of 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 the last 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

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 was revealed 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 and Christian 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 (alAnkabut), 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-

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 of the 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 consequences Another 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 Alif Lam 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.

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
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