What Is a Surah?

Surah (Arabic: سورة; plural suwar) is pronounced SOO-rah.

Meaning

A surah is a chapter of the Qur’an. There are 114 of them. They are not arranged by date of revelation or by topic, but in an order Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ taught, broadly from longer to shorter. The first, Al-Fatiha (The Opening), is a short prayer recited in every unit of the Muslim prayer. The longest, Al-Baqarah (The Cow), has 286 verses; the shortest have only three.

Each surah has a name, usually taken from a memorable word or story inside it: Maryam (Mary), Yusuf (Joseph), An-Naml (The Ant). Every surah except the ninth begins with the Bismillah. The Qur’an even uses the word surah when challenging those who doubted its divine origin:

وَإِن كُنتُمْ فِى رَيْبٍۢ مِّمَّا نَزَّلْنَا عَلَىٰ عَبْدِنَا فَأْتُوا۟ بِسُورَةٍۢ مِّن مِّثْلِهِۦ وَٱدْعُوا۟ شُهَدَآءَكُم مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَٰدِقِينَ ﴿٢٣﴾

And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful.

How Muslims use it

Muslims refer to the Qur’an by surah and verse number, for example “Surah 19, verse 30”, or simply 19:30. Children often begin by memorising the short surahs at the end of the Qur’an, and every prayer includes the recitation of a surah or part of one.

Example

“In the second unit of the prayer, the imam recited Surah Al-Ikhlas.”

To learn more about the Qur’an’s structure and message, read What Is the Qur’an?