Surah  

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A Surah is the term for a chapter of the Quran. There are 114 Surahs in the Quran, 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, 87 are classified as Meccan, while 27 are Medinan. This classification is only approximate in regard to location of revelation; any chapter revealed after migration of Muhammad to Medina (Hijrah) is termed Medinan and any revealed before that event is termed 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 nascent Muslim community and leading Muslims to the goal of Dar al-Islam by showing strength. Except for sura At-Tawba, all chapters or suras commence with 'In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate'. This formula is known as the Bismillah and denotes the boundaries between chapters. The chapters are arranged roughly in order of descending size; therefore the arrangement of the Quran 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.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Surah" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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