DIVISIONS IN THE HOLY QUR’ÁN

The text of the Holy Qur'án has been divided in various ways. These are:

Áyah pl. Áyát

In `Arabic, Áyah means sign, and in the Holy Qur’án, it means a verse. Thus, each and every verse of the Holy Qur'án is a sign of Alláh. There are various numbers given for the total áyát in the Holy Qur'án. Syed Akhtar Rizvi mentions 6236 in his book "Qur’an and Hadith".

Súrah pl. Suwar

In `Arabic, Súrah means an enclosure and in the Holy Qur'án, it means a chapter. There are 114 Suwar in the Holy Qur'án. The longest of them is al-Baqaráh with 286 Áyát, and the shortest is al-Kauthar with only 4 Áyát.

Manzil pl. Manázil

In `Arabic, Manzil means a phase. The Holy Qur'án has been divided into seven Manázil, for convenience of recitation. So a person wishing to recite the entire Qur’án in one week may do so by reciting one Manzil a day. Each such position in the Holy Qur'án is marked by the word Manzil.

Juz’ pl. Ajzá’

The Muslims have divided the Holy Qur'án into 30 equal parts (Juz’ in `Arabic or Pára in Urdu). This division is just for convenience. So a person who wishes to recite the whole Qur’án in one month (as in the month of Rama_án) may do so by reciting one Juz’ every day. In the Holy Qur'án, the beginning of the Juz` is usually marked by a blacked line.

Rub`, Nisf, Thaláthah

Each Juz’ is divided into quarters, again for the convenience of recitation into Rub` (quarter), Nisf (half) and Thaláthah (three-quarter, shortened to three).

Rukú`, pl. Rukú`át

These are like paragraphs or sections, containing 7-12 Áyát. For example, al-Fátihah (1^st Súrah) has 7 Áyát, grouped in one Rukú`, while al-Baqaráh (2^nd Súrah) has 286 Áyát, grouped into 40 Rukú`át. The place of Rukú` is denoted by the letter 'Ayn The letter has three numbers, one at the top, one in its middle and one below it.

The number at the top signifies the number that this Rukú` is in the Súrah.

The number in the middle signifies the number of Áyát between the last Rukú` and the present one.

The number at the bottom signifies the number that this Rukú` is in the Juz’.

So, in the example below from Súrah al-Baqaráh,

This is the 23^rd Rukú` in the Súrah, there are 6 Áyát between Rukú` number 22 and 23, and this is the 7^th Rukú` in this Juz’.