DIVISION OF QUR'AN

Bismillah Hir Rahmaan Nir Raheem
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatuallahi wa barakatuhu


DIVISION OF QUR'AN
Qur'an has been divided into units, portions and sections, according to the
convenience of the readers who wish to complete it in a given time and
according to the subject matter. The Arabic terms used for this division are
Manzil, Juz, surah, Hizb, ruku and ayah. There are different interpretations in
different translations for these Arabic terms, but there are a few terms which
we will use as they are in Arabic, like the words ayah and surah.


- Ayah
Ayah is the unit of Qur'an. It is guidance from Allah to Mankind and it is
therefore not at all surprising to find that its smallest divisions are called
'signs'(ayat) i.e. signs of the Wisdom of Allah. The terms sentence and verse are
not appropriate to use in place of the word ayah, as the Qur'an is not a Book of
poetry. The size of an ayah varies in different surahs. The smallest ayah in the
Qur'an comprises of only two letters i.e. 'Ha-Mim'. On the other hand an ayah
can be as big as Ayat-ul-Kursi, which is one of the biggest ayat of the Qur'an.
So the division or the length of an ayah is not based on any principal of Arabic
grammar, rather it was accepted as Prophet Muhammad(Peace be upon him)
told us. As far as the count of ayat of the Qur'an are concerned, there is a
difference of opinion in this matter, but it is known that there are atleast 6500
ayat in the Glorious Qur'an.


- Surah
Surah, plural Suwar, literally means 'row' or 'fence'. In technical language, it is
the passage-wise division of the Qur'anic text. The Qur'an has 114 surahs of
unequal length, the shortest consisting of three ayat(Al-Asr) &(Kauther)and the
longest of 286 ayat (Al-Baqarah) . The surahs are not divided into topics or subjects,
quite unlike the books we are accustomed with and the reader also encounters
abrupt transitions between one subject matter into another within a surah,
that is what makes Qur'an a unique Book. Likewise, a surah does not contain
any chapters or paragraphs, thus these terms cannot be interchanged with the
Arabic word 'surah'.


- Ruku
The surahs are further divided into sections called ruku. These divisions were
not present at the time of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) or during the days of
his Companions (May Allah be pleased with them all). They were later added on
for the convenience of the readers, under the leadership of Hajjaj bin Yusuf.
Rukus are indicated by the Arabic letter 'Ain' and a number on it.


- Juz
The Qur'an is also divided into thirty well know 'Juz' of approximately equal
length for easy recitation during the thirty nights of a month, especially of the
month of Ramadan. Usually they are indicated by the word and the number of
it given alongside. This division of the Qur'an was present at the time of the
Companions (May Allah be pleased with them all), as indicated by the hadith:
Aws bin Hudhayfah said, he asked the Companions (May Allah be pleased with
them all) of the Prophet(Peace be upon him), during his lifetime about how they
used to divide the Qur'an, they said, "A third, a fifth, a seventh, a ninth, oneeleventh,
one thirteenth and the Mufassal 7 until the end"8.


- Hizb
The Qur'an has each Juz subdivided into four Hizb. Each hizb is again
subdivided into quarters, the division is as follows, Rub'u (one-fourth) , Nisf
(half), and Sulus (one-third).


- Manzil
The Qur'anic text is also divided into seven parts of approximately equal
length, called Manzil. It is indicated by the word 'manzil' and the respective
number in the margin. This arrangement was done by the Companions (May
Allah be pleased with them all) of the Prophet(Peace be upon him), to enable
them to recite the whole Qur'an in the course of a week. First manzil contains
three surahs, excluding Al-Fatihah, second has five, third seven, then nine,
eleven, thirteen and the seventh Manzil contains sixty-five surahs.


- Pairs
Some surahs in the Qur'an form pairs, like surah Al-Baqarah and surah Al-
Imran. Similarly the surahs Bani Israel and Al-Kahf form a pair. They form
pairs because of the similarities of the subject addressed in them. There are
also some unique surahs which do not form a pair with any surah like surah
Yasin.


- Makkan and Madinan Division
As part of studying the revelation of the Qur'an, scholars have categorized the
surahs of the Qur'an according to the time or era of their revelation. This is the
subject that came to be known as the Makkan and Madinan division of Qur'an.
The surahs revealed before Hijrah are known as Makkan surahs and those
revealed after Hijrah are called Madinan surahs. The Makkan surahs are 85
and Madinan surahs number 28, which are divided into seven Makkan-
Madinan groups. There is a scholarly consensus on the categorization of the
Makkan and the Madinan surahs except for a few, where not all the ayat in a
surah are of the same category, e.g. Surah Hajj. Some say it is Makkan and
others say it of the Madinan origin, both opinions are correct, as it contains
some ayat of the Makkan phase as well as from the Madinan period.



Source:
http://www.tanzeem. org/online/ Dorah/001- Introduction. pdf

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