Virtues of Quran and its Recitation

Rewards, Benefits and
Virtues of Quran and its Recitation

Quran is the book of guidance for a Muslims life. This article is a collection of Quranic verses, Ahadeeth (Prophet’s Saying) and sayings of the salaf (pious people that followed the prophet) on the majesty of Quran, the great virtues for reading and following it.

Quran on Quran

To begin with, there are many verses in Quran itself that underscore the majesty of Allah’s verses and the Quran itself –

Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):

Surah – سورة

 The Chapters of The Quran

A sura (also spelled surah, surat; Arabic: سورة‎ sūrah, pl. سور suwar) is a chapter of the Qur’an. There are 114 chapters of the Qur’an, each divided into verses. The chapters or suras are of unequal length, the shortest chapter (Al-Kawthar) has only three ayat (verses) while the longest (Al-Baqara) contains 286 verses. Of the 114 chapters in the Quran, 86 are classified as Meccan while 28 are Medinan – this classification is only approximate in regard to location of revelation – in fact, any chapter revealed after migration of Muhammad to Medina (Hijrah) is termed Medinan and any revealed before that event is termed as Meccan.

The Meccan chapters generally deal with faith and scenes of the Hereafter, while the Medinan chapters are more concerned with organizing the social life of the (then) nascent Muslim community. All chapters or suras commence with ‘In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate’. This formula is known as the basmala and denotes the boundaries between chapters. The chapters are arranged roughly in order of descending size therefore the arrangement of the Qur’an is neither chronological nor thematic. Suras (chapters) are recited during the standing portions (Qiyam) of Muslim prayers. Sura Al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Quran, is recited in every unit of prayer and some units of prayer also involve recitation of all or part of any other sura.

Etymology

The word ‘sura’ was used at the time of Muhammad as a term with the meaning of a ‘chapter’ or a ‘portion’ of the Qur’an. This is evidenced by the appearance of the word ‘sura’ in multiple locations in the Qur’an such as verse 24:1:”A sura that We have sent down and appointed, and We have sent down in it signs, clear signs, that haply you will remember.”

Its plural form ‘suwar’ is also mentioned in the Qur’an: “Or do they say, He invented it? Say, “Then bring ten suwar like it and call upon whomever you can besides God, if you are truthful.” Nöldeke following Buxtorf suggested that the word sura has similar root with the Hebrew word ‘שורה’ meaning a ‘row’. Some took it as connected with the Arabic word ‘Sur’ meaning a ‘wall’. Jeffery believes that it has a common origin with a Syriac word that means ‘writing’.

Chronological order of chapters

List of suras in the Quran

Chapters in the Quran are not arranged in the chronological order of revelation. A number of medieval writers have recorded ancient lists which give the chapters in what is allegedly their correct chronological order. However, there are different versions of the list and they do not agree with each other about the precise order in which the chapters were revealed.

The origin and value of the traditional lists is uncertain, but probably none of the lists originated before the first quarter of the eight century and may be based on the learned opinions of scholars rather than on carefully transmitted reports dating back to the time of the companions of Muhammad. A version is given in a 15th century work by Abd al-Kafi. Abu Salih wrote a different list and another significantly different version of Abu Salih is preserved in a book named ‘Kitab Mabani’. A different list is mentioned by the 10th century writer Ibn Nadim.

The standard Egyptian edition of the Quran which was published in 1924 includes information about chronological order of chapters. The information, which is widely available, correlates with one of the traditional lists, the one given by Abd al-Kafi.

A number of verses are associated with particular events. The first revelation was chapter 96 (609 CE). Verses 16:41 and 47:13 refers to migration of Muslims which took place in the year 622 CE. Verses 8:1-7 and 3:120-175 refer to the battles of Badr (624 CE) and Uhud (625 CE) respectively.

Muhammad’s last pilgrimage is mentioned in 5:3 which occurred in 632 CE, a few months before the prophet died. The Qur’an narrates the life of Muhammad or the early history of the Muslim community only incidentally and not in detail, very few chapters contain clear references to events which took place Muhammad’s life.

Theodor Nöldeke’s chronology is based on the assumption that the style of the Quran changes in one direction without reversals. Nöldeke studied the style and content of the chapters and assumed that (1) later (Madinan) chapters and verses and are usually shorter than earlier (Meccan) ones (2) Earlier verses have a distinct rhyming style while later verses are more prosaic (prose-like). According to Nöldeke earlier chapters have common features, many of them open with oaths in which God swears by cosmic phenomena.

Eschatology, creation, piety, authentication of Muhammad’s mission and refutation of the charges against Muhammad are common themes of Meccan chapters. A number of chapters have a clear ‘tripartite’ structure, for example chapters 45, 37, 26, 15, 21. They open with a short warning, followed by one or more narratives about unbelievers, and finally address contemporaries of Muhammad and invite them to Islam. Madinan verses are longer and have a distinct style of rhyming and concern to provide legislation and guidance for the Muslim community.

Richard Bell took Nöldeke’s chronology as starting point for his research, however, Bell did not believe that Nöldeke’s criteria of style was important. He saw a progressive change in Muhammad’s mission from a man who preached monotheism into an independent leader of a paramount religion. For Bell this transformation was more decisive compared with the criteria of style. Bell argued that passages which mentioned Islam and Muslim or implied that Muhammad’s followers were a distinct community were revealed later.

He classified the Quran into three main periods: the early period, the Quranic period, and the book period. Richard bell worked on the chronology of the Qur’anic verses rather than chapters. Underlying Bell’s method for dating revelations is the assumption that the normal unit of revelation is the short passage and the passages have been extensively edited and rearranged.

Mehdi Bazargan divided the 144 chapters of the Quran into 194 passages preserving some chapters intact as single blocks while dividing others into two or more blocks. He then rearranged these blocks approximately in order of increasing average verse length. This order he proposes is the chronological order. Bazargan assumed that verse length tended to increase over time and he used this assumption to rearrange the passages.

Neal Robinson, an scholar of Islamic studies, is of the opinion that there is no hard evidence that the style of revelations has changed in a consistent way and therefore style may not always be a reliable indicator of when and where a chapter was revealed. According to Robinson it should be obvious that the problem of the chronology of the revelations is still far from solved.

Names of chapters in the Quran

The verses and chapters when revealed to Muhammad in the Quran did not come with a title attached to them. Muhammad, as we find in some reports in hadith, used to refer to shorter chapters not by name, rather by their first verse. For example: Abu Hurairah quoted Muhammad as saying, “Al-Hamdu Lillahi Rabb il-`Aalameen” is the Mother of the Qur’an, the Mother of the Book, and the seven oft-repeated verses of the Glorious Qur’an.”. We also find reports in which Muhammad used to refer to them by their name. For example, Abdullah bin Buraydah narrated from his father, “I was sitting with the Prophet and I heard him say, ‘Learn Surat ul-Baqarah, because in learning it there is blessing, in ignoring it there is sorrow, and the sorceresses cannot memorize it.”‘

Arab tradition, similar to other tribal cultures of that time, was to name things according to their unique characteristics. They used this same method to name Qur’anic chapters. Most chapter names are found in hadith. Some were named according to their central theme, such as Al-Fatiha (The Opening) and Yusuf (Joseph), and some were named for the first word at the beginning of the chapter, such as Qaf, Ya-Sin, and ar-Rahman. Some suras were also named according to a unique word that occurs in the chapter, such as al-Baqara (The Cow), An-Nur (The Light), al-Nahl (The Bee), Az-Zukhruf (The Ornaments of Gold), Al-Hadid (The Iron), and Al-Ma’un (The Small Kindness).

Most chapter names are still used to this day. Several are known by multiple names: chapter Al-Masadd (The Palm Fibre) is also known as al-Lahab (The Flame). Sura Fussilat (Explained in Detail) is also known as Ha-Meem Sajda (“…it is a chapter that begins with Ha Mim and in which a verse requiring the performance of prostration has occurred.”)

Chapter as unity

The idea of textual relation between the verses of a chapter has been discussed under various titles such as “nazm” and “munasabah” in non-English literature and ‘Coherence’, ‘text relations’, ‘intertextuality’, and ‘unity’ in English literature. There are two points of view regarding coherence of the verses of the Qur’an. In the first viewpoint each chapter of the Qur’an has a central theme and its verses are related.

The second viewpoint considers some chapters of the Qur’an as collections of passages which are not thematically related. Chapters deal with various subjects, for instance chapter 99, which comprises only eight verses, is devoted exclusively to eschatology and chapter 12 narrates a story, while other chapters, in the same breath, speak of theological, historical, and ethico-legal matters. Chapters are known to consist of passages, not only verses. The borders between passages are arbitrary but are possible to determine.

For example chapter 54[10] may be divided into six passages:

• The Hour has approached…..(1-8)
• Before them, people of Noah rejected…(9-17)
• ‘Ad’ rejected (their Messenger). Then how (strict) has been our recompense and warnings… (18-22)
• ‘Thamud’ rejected the warnings… (23-32)
• People of ‘Lot’ rejected the warnings… (33-40)
• And warnings did come to the People of the Pharoah… (41-55)

The study of text relations in the Qur’an dates back to a relatively early stage in the history of Qur’anic studies. The earliest Qur’anic interpreter known to have paid attention to this aspect of the Qur’an is Fakhr Razi (d.1209 CE). Fakhr Razi believed that text relation is a meaning that links verses together or mentally associates them like cause-effect or reason-consequence. He linked verse 1 of a chapter to verse 2, verse 2 to verse 3 and so on, and rejected traditionist interpretations if they contradicted interrelations between verses.

Zarkashi (d.1392), another medieval Qur’anic exegete, admitted that relationships of some verses to other verses in a chapter is sometimes hard to explain, in those cases he assigned stylistic and rhetorical functions to them such as parenthesis, parable, or intentional subject shift. Zarkashi aimed at showing how important understanding the inter-verse relations is to understanding the Qur’an, however, he did not attempt to deal with one complete chapter to show its relations.

Contemporary scholars have studied the idea of coherence in the Qur’an more vigorously and are of widely divergent opinions. For example Hamid Farrahi (d. 1930) and Richard Bell (d. 1952) have different opinions regarding coherence within chapters. Farrahi believed that the whole structure of the Qur’an is thematically coherent, which is to say, all verses of a chapter of the Qur’an are integrally related to each other to give rise to the major theme of the chapter and again all of the chapters are interconnected with each other to constitute the major theme of the Qur’an. According to Farrahi, each chapter has a central theme (umud or pillar) around which the verses revolve:

“Each chapter of the Qur’an is a well structured unit. It is only lack of consideration and analysis on our part that they seem disjointed and incoherent…Each chapter imparts a specific message as its central theme. The completion of this theme marks the end of the chapter. If there were no such specific conclusion intended to be dealt with in each chapter there would be no need to divide the Qur’an in chapters. Rather the whole Qur’an would be a single chapter…We see that a set of verses has been placed together and named ‘sura’ the way a city is built with a wall erected round it. A single wall must contain a single city in it. What is the use of a wall encompassing different cities?…”.

In contrast, Richard Bell describes the Qur’anic style as disjointed:

“Only seldom do we find in it evidence of sustained unified composition at any great length…some of the narratives especially accounts of Moses and of Abraham run to considerable length, but they tend to fall into separate incidents instead of being recounted straightforwardly…the distinctness of the separate pieces however is more obvious than their unity.”

Arthur J. Arberry states that the chapters in many instances, as Muslims have been recognized from the earliest times, are of a ‘composite’ character, holding embedded in them fragments received by Muhammad at widely differing dates. However he disregards this ‘fact’ and views each chapter as an artistic whole. He believed that a repertory of familiar themes runs through the whole Qur’an and each chapter elaborates one of more, often many of, them.

Angelika Neuwirth is of the idea that verses in their chronological order are interrelated in a way that later verses explain earlier ones. She believes that Meccan chapters are coherent units.

Salwa El-Awa aims in her work to discuss the problem of textual relations in the Qur’an from a linguistic point of view and the way in which the verses of one chapter relate to each other and to the wider context of the total message of the Qur’an. El-Awa provides a detailed analysis in terms of coherence theory on chapters 33 and 75 and shows that theses two chapters cohere and have a main contextual relationship.

Gheitury and Golfam believe that the permanent change of subject within a passage in the Qur’an, or what they call non-linearity, is a major linguistic feature of the Qur’an, a feature that puts the Qur’an beyond any specific ‘context’ and ‘temporality’. According to Gheitury and Golfam for the Qur’an there is no preface, no introduction, no beginning, no end, a reader can start reading from anywhere in the text.

List of suras in the Quran

The Quran, one of Islam’s holy books is divided into sura and further divided into ayat.

Surah	Arabic name(s)	English name(s)	Ayat	Ruku’	Revealed	Order
1	Al-Fatiha	The Opening	7	1	Meccan	5
2	Al-Baqara	The Calf/Cow	286	40	Medinan	87
3	Al Imran	The Family of Imran	200	20	Medinan	89
4	An-Nisa	The Women	176	24	Medinan	92
5	Al-Ma’ida	The Food	120	16	Medinan	112
6	Al-An’am	The Cattle	165	20	Meccan	55
7	Al-A’raf	The Heights	206	24	Meccan	39
8	Al-Anfal	The Spoils of War	75	10	Medinan	88
9	At-Tawba	The Repentance	129	16	Medinan	113
10	Yunus	Junus/Jonah	109	11	Meccan	51
11	Hud	Hud, sometimes thought to be Eber	123	10	Meccan	52
12	Yusuf	Yousef or Joseph	111	12	Meccan	53
13	Ar-Ra’d	The Thunder	43	6	Medinan	96
14	Ibrahim	Ibrahim or Abraham	52	7	Meccan	72
15	Al-Hijr	The Rocky Tract, Al-Hijr, The Stoneland, The Rock City	99	6	Meccan	54
16	An-Nahl	The Honey Bees	128	16	Meccan	70
17	Al-Isra	Isra, The Night Journey or The Children of Israel	111	12	Meccan	50
18	Al-Kahf	The Cave	110	12	Meccan	69
19	Maryam	Maryam or Mary	98	6	Meccan	44
20	Ta-Ha	Ta-Ha	135	8	Meccan	45
21	Al-Anbiya	The Prophets	112	7	Meccan	73
22	Al-Hajj	The Pilgrimage, The Hajj	78	10	Medinan	103
23	Al-Mu’minoon	The Believers	118	6	Meccan	74
24	An-Nur	The Light	64	9	Medinan	102
25	Al-Furqan	The Criterion, The Standard, 1 sujud	77	6	Meccan	42
26	Ash-Shu’ara	The Poets	227	11	Meccan	47
27	An-Naml	The Ant	93	7	Meccan	48
28	Al-Qasas	The Narrations, The Stories	88	9	Meccan	49
29	Al-Ankabut	The Spider	69	7	Meccan	85
30	Ar-Rum	The Romans	60	6	Meccan	84
31	Luqman	Luqman	34	4	Meccan	57
32	As-Sajda	The Prostration, Worship, Adoration	30	3	Meccan	75
33	Al-Ahzab	The Clans, The Confederates, The Combined Forces	73	9	Medinan	90
34	Saba	Sheba	54	6	Meccan	58
35	Fatir	The Originator (The Angels)	45	5	Meccan	43
36	Ya Sin	Ya-seen	83	5	Meccan	41
37	As-Saaffat	Those Who Set The Ranks, Drawn Up In Ranks	182	5	Meccan	56
38	Sad	The Letter Sad	88	5	Meccan	38
39	Az-Zumar	The Crowds, The Troops, Throngs	75	8	Meccan	59
40	Ghafir	The Forgiver (God), The Believer (Names of God in Islam)	85	9	Meccan	60
41	Fussilat	Expounded, Explained In Detail	54	6	Meccan	61
42	Ash-Shura	The Consultation	53	5	Meccan	62
43	Az-Zukhruf	The Gold Adornments, The Ornaments of Gold, Luxury	89	7	Meccan	63
44	Ad-Dukhan	The Smoke	59	3	Meccan	64
45	Al-Jathiya	The Kneeling Down, Crouching	37	4	Meccan	65
46	Al-Ahqaf	Winding Sand-tracts, The Dunes	35	4	Meccan	66
47	Muhammad	Muhammad	38	4	Medinan	95
48	Al-Fath	The Victory, Conquest	29	4	Medinan	111
49	Al-Hujurat	The Private Apartments, The Inner Apartments	18	2	Medinan	106
50	Qaf	The Letter Qaf	45	3	Meccan	34
51	Adh-Dhariyat	The Wind That Scatter, The Winnowing Winds	60	3	Meccan	67
52	At-Tur	The Mount	49	2	Meccan	76
53	An-Najm	The Star	62	3	Meccan	23
54	Al-Qamar	The Moon	55	3	Meccan	37
55	Ar-Rahman	The Most Gracious, The Beneficent, The Mercy Giving	78	3	Meccan	97
56	Al-Waqi’a	The Inevitable, The Event	96	3	Meccan	46
57	Al-Hadid	The Iron	29	4	Medinan	94
58	Al-Mujadila	The Pleading, She That Disputeth, The Pleading Woman	22	3	Medinan	105
59	Al-Hashr	The Mustering, The Gathering, Exile, Banishment	24	3	Medinan	101
60	Al-Mumtahina	The Examined One, She That Is To Be Examined	13	2	Medinan	91
61	As-Saff	The Ranks, Battle Array	14	2	Medinan	109
62	Al-Jumua	The Congregation, Friday	11	2	Medinan	110
63	Al-Munafiqun	The Hypocrites	11	2	Medinan	104
64	At-Taghabun	The Cheating, The Mutual Loss and Gain, The Mutual Disillusion, Haggling	18	2	Medinan	108
65	At-Talaq	Divorce	12	2	Medinan	99
66	At-Tahrim	The Prohibition	12	2	Medinan	107
67	Al-Mulk	The Dominion, Sovereignty, Control	30	2	Meccan	77
68	Al-Qalam	The Pen	52	2	Meccan	2
69	Al-Haaqqa	The Sure Reality	52	2	Meccan	78
70	Al-Maarij	The Ways of Ascent, The Ascending Stairways	44	2	Meccan	79
71	Nuh	Nuh or Noah	28	2	Meccan	71
72	Al-Jinn	The Spirits	28	2	Meccan	40
73	Al-Muzzammil	The Enfolded One, The Enshrouded One, Bundled Up	20	2	Meccan	3
74	Al-Muddathir	The One Wrapped Up, The Cloaked One, The Man Wearing A Cloak	56	2	Meccan	4
75	Al-Qiyama	The Day of Resurrection, Rising Of The Dead	40	2	Meccan	31
76	Al-Insan	The Human	31	2	Medinan	98
77	Al-Mursalat	Those Sent Forth, The Emissaries, Winds Sent Forth	50	2	Meccan	33
78	An-Naba	The Great News, The Announcement	40	2	Meccan	80
79	An-Naziat	Those Who Tear Out, Those Who Drag Forth, Soul-snatchers	46	2	Meccan	81
80	Abasa	He Frowned	42	1	Meccan	24
81	At-Takwir	The Folding Up, The Overthrowing	29	1	Meccan	7
82	Al-Infitar	The Cleaving Asunder, Bursting Apart	19	1	Meccan	82
83	Al-Mutaffifin	The Dealers in Fraud, Defrauding, The Cheats	36	1	Meccan	86
84	Al-Inshiqaq	The Rending Asunder, The Sundering, Splitting Open	25	1	Meccan	83
85	Al-Burooj	The Mansions Of The Stars, Constellations	22	1	Meccan	27
86	At-Tariq	The Night-Visitant, The Morning Star, The Nightcomer	17	1	Meccan	36
87	Al-Ala	The Most High, Glory To Your Lord In The Highest	19	1	Meccan	8
88	Al-Ghashiya	The Overwhelming Event, The Pall	26	1	Meccan	68
89	Al-Fajr	The Break of Day, The Dawn	30	1	Meccan	10
90	Al-Balad	The City	20	1	Meccan	35
91	Ash-Shams	The Sun	15	1	Meccan	26
92	Al-Lail	The Night	21	1	Meccan	9
93	Ad-Dhuha	The Glorious Morning Light, The Forenoon, Morning Hours, Morning Bright	11	1	Meccan	11
94	Al-Inshirah	The Expansion of Breast, Solace, Consolation, Relief, Patient	8	1	Meccan	12
95	At-Tin	The Fig Tree	8	1	Meccan	28
96	Al-Alaq	The Clinging Clot, Recite, Clot of Blood	19	1	Meccan	1
97	Al-Qadr	The Night of Honor, The Night of Decree, Power, Fate	5	1	Meccan	25
98	Al-Bayyina	The Clear Evidence	8	1	Medinan	100
99	Az-Zalzala	The Earthquake	8	1	Medinan	93
100	Al-Adiyat	The Courser, The Chargers, The War Horse	11	1	Meccan	14
101	Al-Qaria	The Striking Hour, The Great Calamity, The Stunning Blow, The Disaster, The Judgement Day	11	1	Meccan	30
102	At-Takathur	The Piling Up, Rivalry in World Increase, Competition	8	1	Meccan	16
103	Al-Asr	The Time, The Declining Day, The Epoch	3	1	Meccan	13
104	Al-Humaza	The Scandalmonger, The Traducer, The Gossipmonger	9	1	Meccan	32
105	Al-Fil	The Elephant	5	1	Meccan	19
106	Quraysh	The Quraysh Tribe	4	1	Meccan	29
107	Al-Ma’un	The Neighbourly Assistance, Small Kindnesses, Almsgiving	7	1	Meccan	17
108	Al-Kawthar	Abundance, Plenty	3	1	Meccan	15
109	Al-Kafirun	The Disbelievers, The Kafirs	6	1	Meccan	18
110	An-Nasr	The Help, Divine Support, Victory	3	1	Medinan	114
111	Al-Masadd	The Plaited Rope, The Palm Fibre	5	1	Meccan	6
112	Al-Ikhlas	Purity of Faith, The Fidelity	4	1	Meccan	22
113	Al-Falaq	The Daybreak, Dawn	5	1	Meccan	20
114	Al-Nas	Mankind	6	1	Meccan	21

The first five verses of the 96th chapter, Al-‘Alaq were the first to have been revealed and transcribed to Muhammad[verification needed].
The first chapter, Al-Fatiha, was the first one to be revealed entirety to Muhammad.
The second chapter, Al-Baqara, is the longest, with 286 verses, while the 108th, Al-Kawthar, is the shortest, with 3 verses.

Easy and Fast Way To Memorize Quran

By our dear Shaykh:
Abdul-Muhsin bin Muhammad al-Qaasim.
Imaam and Khateeb of Masjid An-Nabawiyy ash-Shareef.