Every seventh inhabitant of the planet professes Islam. Unlike Christians, whose holy book is the Bible, Muslims have it as the Koran. In terms of plot and structure, these two wise ancient books are similar to each other, but the Koran has its own unique features.
What is the Quran
Before you figure out how many suras and how many verses are in the Koran, you should learn more about this wise ancient book. The Quran is the foundation of the Muslim faith. It was written in the 7th century by the prophet Muhammad (Mohammed).
According to the admirers of Islam, the Creator of the Universe sent the archangel Gabriel (Jabrail) to convey through Muhammad his message for all mankind. According to the Koran, Mohammed is far from the first prophet of the Almighty, but the last one whom Allah ordered to convey his word to the people.
Writing the Koran lasted for 23 years, until the death of Muhammad. It is noteworthy that the prophet himself did not put together all the texts of the message - this was done after the death of Mohammed by his secretary Zeid ibn Thabit. Prior to this, all the texts of the Koran were memorized by followersby heart and wrote down on everything that came to hand.
There is a legend that in his youth the prophet Mohammed was interested in Christianity and was even going to be baptized himself. However, faced with the negative attitude of some priests towards him, he abandoned this idea, although the very ideas of Christianity were close to him. Perhaps there is a grain of truth in this, since some storylines of the Bible and the Koran are intertwined. This suggests that the prophet was clearly well acquainted with the holy book of Christians.
Quran content
Like the Bible, the Quran is both a philosophical book, a collection of laws, and a chronicle of the Arabs.
Most of the book is written in the form of a dispute between Allah, the opponents of Islam and those who have not yet decided whether to believe or not.
Thematically, the Quran can be divided into 4 blocks.
- Basic principles of Islam.
- The laws, traditions and rituals of Muslims, on the basis of which the moral and legal code of the Arabs was subsequently created.
- Historical and folklore data of the pre-Islamic era.
- Legends about the deeds of Muslim, Jewish and Christian prophets. In particular, the Quran contains such Bible characters as Abraham, Moses, David, Noah, Solomon and even Jesus Christ.
The Structure of the Quran
As for the structure, the Koran is similar to the Bible. However, unlike it, its author is one person, so the Qur'an is not divided into books according to the names of the authors. At the same time, the holy book of Islam is divided into two parts, according to the place of writing.
The chapters of the Koran, written by Mohammed before 622, when the prophet, fleeing from the opponents of Islam, moved to the city of Medina, are called Meccan. And all the others that Muhammad wrote in his new place of residence are called Medina.
How many suras are there in the Quran and what is it
Like the Bible, the Koran consists of chapters, which the Arabs call suras.
In total, this holy book consists of 114 chapters. They are not arranged according to the order they were written by the prophet, but according to their meaning. For example, the very first written chapter is considered to be Al-Alaq, which tells that Allah is the Creator of everything visible and invisible, as well as the ability of a person to sin. However, in the holy book, it is recorded as the 96th, and the first in a row is Surah Fatiha.
The chapters of the Qur'an are not uniform in length: the longest is 6100 words (Al-Baqarah), and the shortest is only 10 (Al-Kawthar). Starting from the second chapter (Bakara sura), their length becomes shorter.
After the death of Mohammed, the entire Quran was evenly divided into 30 juz. This is done so that during the holy month of Ramadan, reading one juz per night, a devout Muslim could read the Koran in full.
Of the 114 chapters of the Koran, 87 (86) are suras written in Mecca. The remaining 27 (28) are Medina chapters written by Mohammed in the last years of his life. Each sura from the Qur'an has its own title, which reveals a brief meaning of the entire chapter.
113 of the 114 chapters of the Qur'an begin with the words "In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful!"Only the ninth sura, At-Tauba (in Arabic means "repentance"), begins with a story about how the Almighty deals with those who worship several gods.
What are verses
Having learned how many suras are in the Koran, it is worth paying attention to another structural unit of the holy book - an ayat (analogous to a biblical verse). Translated from Arabic, “verses” mean “signs.”
The length of these verses is different. Sometimes there are verses longer than the shortest chapters (10-25 words).
Due to problems with the division of suras into verses, Muslims have a different number of them - from 6204 to 6600.
The smallest number of verses in one chapter is 3, and the most is 40.
Why the Quran should be read in Arabic
Muslims believe that only the words from the Koran in Arabic, in which the sacred text was dictated by the archangel Mohammed, have miraculous power. That is why any, even the most accurate translation of the holy book, loses its divinity. Therefore, it is necessary to read prayers from the Koran in the original language - Arabic.
Those who do not have the opportunity to read the Quran in the original, in order to better understand the meaning of the holy book, should read tafseers (interpretations and explanations of holy texts by the companions of Muhammad and famous scholars of later periods).
Russian translations of the Quran
Currently, there is a wide variety of translations of the Koran into Russian. However, they all have their drawbacks, so they canserve only as an introduction to this great book.
Professor Ignatius Krachkovsky translated the Koran into Russian in 1963, but he did not use the commentaries on the holy book of Muslim scholars (tafsirs), so his translation is beautiful, but in many ways far from the original.
Valery Porokhova translated the sacred book in verse. The suras in Russian in her translation rhyme, and when reading the sacred book it sounds very melodious, somewhat reminiscent of the original. However, she translated from Yusuf Ali's English interpretation of the Qur'an and not from Arabic.
Pretty good, although containing inaccuracies, are the popular translations of the Koran into Russian today by Elmira Kuliev and Magomed-Nuri Osmanov.
Sura Al-Fatiha
Having figured out how many surahs there are in the Koran, we can consider a few of the most famous of them. The head of Al-Fatih is called by Muslims the "mother of Scripture", as she opens the Koran. Sura Fatiha is sometimes also called Alham. It is believed that it was written by Mohammed was the fifth, but the scholars and companions of the prophet made it the first in the book. This chapter consists of 7 verses (29 words).
This sura begins in Arabic with the traditional phrase for 113 chapters - "Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim" ("In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful!"). Further in this chapter, Allah is praised, and also asks for His mercy and help on the path of life.
Sura Al-Baqarah
The longest sura from the Qur'an Al-Baqara - it has 286 verses. Its name is translatedmeans "cow". The name of this sura is associated with the story of Moses (Musa), the plot of which is also in the 19th chapter of the biblical book of Numbers. In addition to the parable of Moses, this chapter also tells about the progenitor of all Jews - Abraham (Ibrahim).
Sura Al-Baqarah also contains information about the basic tenets of Islam: about the unity of Allah, about pious life, about the upcoming Day of God's judgment (Kiyamat). In addition, this chapter contains instructions on trading, pilgrimage, gambling, marriage age, and various nuances regarding divorce.
Baqarah sura contains information that all people are divided into 3 categories: believers in Allah, rejecting the Almighty and His teachings and hypocrites.
The "heart" of Al-Bakara, and indeed of the entire Koran, is the 255th verse, called "Al-Kursi". It tells about the greatness and power of Allah, His power over time and the universe.
Sura An-Nas
The Qur'an ends with Surah Al Nas (An-Nas). It consists of only 6 verses (20 words). The title of this chapter is translated as "people". This sura tells about the fight against tempters, regardless of whether they are people, jinn (evil spirits) or Shaitan. The main effective remedy against them is the utterance of the Name of the Most High - in this way they will be thrown into flight.
It is generally accepted that the two final chapters of the Koran (Al-Falak and An-Nas) have protective power. So, according to Mohammed's contemporaries, he advised reading them every night before going to bed, so that the Almighty would protect them from the machinations of dark forces. Beloved wife and faithful companion of the prophet Aisha (Aisha)said that during her illness, Muhammad asked her to read aloud the two final suras, hoping for their healing power.
How to read the holy book of Muslims
Having learned how many suras are in the Koran, what are the names of the most famous of them, it is worth familiarizing yourself with how Muslims usually treat the holy book. Muslims treat the text of the Koran as a shrine. So, for example, from a blackboard on which the words from this book are written in chalk, you cannot erase them with saliva, you need to use only clean water.
In Islam, there is a separate set of rules on how to behave correctly when reading suras, verses from the Koran. Before you start reading, you need to take a small bath, brush your teeth and dress in festive clothes. All this is due to the fact that reading the Qur'an is a meeting with Allah, for which you need to prepare with reverence.
During reading it is better to be alone so that strangers do not distract from trying to comprehend the wisdom of the holy book.
As for the rules for handling the book itself, it must not be placed on the floor or left open. In addition, the Quran should always be placed on top of the other books in the stack. Quran pages cannot be used as wrappers for other books.
It is customary to read the Quran either from the early morning (then Allah will bless the person for the whole day), or late in the evening, shortly before bedtime (then the Almighty will give peace until the morning).
The Koran is not only the holy book of Muslims, but also a monument of ancient literature. Eacha person, even very far from Islam, after reading the Koran, will find in it a lot of interesting and instructive things for himself. In addition, today it is very easy to do this: you just need to download the appropriate application from the Internet to your phone - and the ancient wise book will always be at hand.
