Quran Technical Observations

The Qur'an

Technical Observations / Vocabulary

The Qur'an consists of 114 different Surahs (chapters, literally "rows")

Each Surah is subdivided into ayas ( "verses, literally "signs")

The Surahs in the Qur'an (with the exception of the first Surah Fatihah) are arranged according to approximate length; the second Surah contains 286, the last few Surahs contain between 6 and 4 verses.

The full number of verses of the Qur'an comes to approximately 6200 plus verses

The Qur'an is also subdivided into thirty parts (juz' ) of approximately equal size; this division allows a Muslim to recite the entire Qur'an during the month of Ramadan.

Traditional Qur'anic scholarship differentiates between Meccan and Medinian Surahs

Mecca	Medina
focus on tawhid, shirk, resurrection	revelations on social and legal matters
Address: "O mankind / O People"	"O ye who believe," "O People of the Book"
Style: short, more poetic / rhythmic	Style: longer, less poetic / rhythmic
	internal evidence: "munafiqun," Badr, other historical references

Only about 5 - 10 percent of the Qur'anic verses are jurisprudic in character; the vast majority of the Qur'anic text is narrative theology (Jewish terminology: halakhah vs. aggadah)