List of chapters in the Quran

(Al-Hamd)

(Al-Asas)

(Al-Sab' al-Mathani)

al-Fātiḥah

ٱلْحَمْد

al-Ḥamd

ٱلْأَسَاس

al-ʾAsās

ٱلسّبْعُ الْمَثَانِي

al-Sabʿ al-Mathānī

The Seven Oft-Repeated [Verses]^[6]

• The fundamental principles of the Quran in a condensed form.^[6]

It reads: “(1) In the name of God (Allah), the Compassionate and Merciful. (2) Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, (3) the Compassionate and Merciful, (4) Master of the Day of Judgement. (5) Thee we worship and from Thee we seek help.

• The necessity of God-consciousness.^[6]
• The error(s) committed by followers of earlier revelations.^[6]
• Legal ordinances (ethics, social relations, warfare etc.).^[6]
• AL-BAQARAH (the Cow) has been so named from the story of the Cow occurring in this Surah (vv. 67-73).[5]
• Ibrahim.^[6]
• Kaaba.^[6]
• Ayatul Kursi. (v. 255)^[7]

• The human nature of Isa.^[6]
• The oneness of Allah.^[6]
• Man's faith and temptations.^[6]
• The Battle of Uhud (3 AH).^[6]
• Imran in Islam is regarded as the father of Mary. This chapter is named after the family of Imran, which includes Imran, Saint Anne (wife of Imran), Mary, and Jesus

• Unity of the human race and the mutual obligations of men and women towards one another. (v. 1)^[6]
• Rights of women.^[6]
• Questions related to family life (including marriage and inheritance).^[6]
• Peace and war.^[6]
• Relations of believers with unbelievers.^[6]
• Striving in the Cause of Allah (Jihad). (v. 95–97)^[8]

(Al-'Uqud)

The Contracts

• A series of ordinances (incl. Religious rites and social obligations).^[6]
• Corruption of the original message of the Injeel by Jews and Christians. (v. 68–77, 116–118)^[6]

• Human nature of Muhammad. (v. 50)^[6]
• Oneness and uniqueness of Allah. (e.g. v. 100, 103)^[6]
• Pre-Islamic superstitions concerning animals. (v. 136)^[6]

• The mission of the prophets.^[6]
• Adam, Hawwa and Iblis. (v. 16–25)^[6]
• Stories of Nuh, Hud, Salih, Lut, Shuáyb and Musa. (v. 59–171)^[6]
• Allah's Covenant with humanity. (v. 172)^[9]
• What happens to those who discard Allah's message. (v. 175)^[6]

(Badr)

Badr

• The Battle of Badr (2 A.H.).^[6]
• Doctrine of sacrifice through action.^[6]

(Bara'a)

Dissociation, Immunity

• Problems of war between believers and their enemies.^[6]
• The expedition to Tabuk (9 A.H.).^[6]
• Prohibition of intercalation in the Islamic lunar calendar(v. 37)^[8]
• Those who cannot attain to faith. (v. 124–127)^[6]

• The revelation of the Quran to Muhammad (not Muhammad's own work). (v. 15–17, 37–38, 94)^[6]
• References to earlier prophets.^[6]
• Fundamental tenets of Islam.^[6]

• The revelation of God's will through his prophets.^[6]
• More stories of earlier prophets.^[6]
• Just dealings between men.^[6]

• The story of the Islamic prophet Joseph (as an illustration of God's unfathomable direction of men's affairs).^[6]

• God's revelation, through his prophets, of certain fundamental moral truths, and the consequences of accepting or rejecting them.^[6]

• The revelation of God's word to all mankind, destined to lead man from darkness to light.^[6]

• God's guidance to man through revelation of the Quran, which will remain uncorrupted for all times. (v. 9)^[6]

• God's creativeness:^[6]
  • Manifested in the instincts of the bee.^[6]
  • Culmination: Guidance through his revealed word.^[6]

(Bani Israil)

Al-Isrā'

بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلBanī ʾIsrāʾīl

• Muhammad's Night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem.^[6]
• The children of Israel. (v. 2–8, 101–104)^[6]

• A series of parables or allegories on the theme of faith in God versus excessive attachment to the life of this world. Including:^[6]
  • The men of the cave. (v. 13–20)^[6]
  • The rich man and the poor man. (v. 32–44)^[6]
  • Moses and the unnamed sage. (v. 60–82)^[6]
  • The allegory of Dhu'l-Qarnayn, the Two-Horned One’. (v. 83–98)^[6]

• The story of Zachariah and his son John, the precursor of Jesus. (v. 2–15)^[6]
• The story of Mary and Jesus. (v. 16–37)^[6]

(Al-Kalim)

The Interlocutor

• The guidance offered by God through his prophets.^[6]
• The fundamental truths inherent in all revealed religions are identical.^[6]
  • The story of Moses. (v. 9-98)^[6]

• The oneness, uniqueness and transcendence of God.^[6]
• The continuity and intrinsic unity of all divine revelation.^[6]
  • Stories of the prophets of old. (v. 48–91)^[6]
  • The believers of all faiths belong to one single community. (v. 92)^[6]

• The Mecca pilgrimage and some of the rituals connected with it. (v. 25–38)^[6]

• True faith.^[6]
• The evidence of the existence of an almighty Creator, and man's ultimate responsibility before Him.^[6]
• The unity of all religious communities, broken by man's egotism, greed and striving after power. (v. 52–53)^[6]
• The impossibility to believe in God, without believing in life after death.^[6]

• Mutual relations and ethical rules between men and women.^[6]
• The mystic parable of the ‘light of God’ ("Verse of Light"). (v. 35)^[6]

• The purpose of every divine revelation is to provide a stable criterion of true and false.^[6]
• The humanness of every apostle sent by God to man. (v. 20)^[6]
• Divine revelation belongs to God's creative activity.^[6]

• Man's weakness, which causes him to reject God's message and worship power and wealth etc.^[6]

(Sulayman)

Solomon

• The king and prophet(Sulayman) Solomon and queen of Sheba.^[6]

• Human aspects of the life of Moses.^[6]

• The parable of ‘the spider house’, a symbol of false beliefs that are destined to be blown away by the winds of truth. (v. 41)^[6]

• Predictions of the near victory of the Byzantines [over the Persians] and the Battle of Badr (2 A.H.). (v. 1–7)^[6]
• God's ability to resurrect the dead at the end of time, and the people's ignorance of this.^[6]

• The story of Luqman, a legendary sage, counselling his son. (v. 12–19)^[6]

(Al-Madaji')

The Beds

• God's creation.^[10]
• God's revelation and man's acceptance or denial.^[10]
• The Day of Judgement.^[10]

• The War of the Confederates (5 A.H.). (v. 9-27)^[6]
• The relationship between Muhammad and his family.^[6]

• The insignificance of the knowledge accessible to man. (v. 9)^[6]
• The story of the people of Sheba, as an example of the impermanence of human power, wealth and glory. (v. 15–20)^[6]
• Always be conscious of God. (v. 46)^[6]

(Al-Mala'ika)

The Angels

• God's power to create and resurrect.^[6]
• God's revelation of his will through his prophets.^[6]

• Man's moral responsibility, resurrection and God's judgment.^[6]
• To be recited over the dying and in the prayers of the dead.^[6]

• Resurrection and the certainty that all human beings will have to answer before God.^[6]
• Man's constant need of prophetic guidance.^[6]
  • Stories of earlier prophets. (v. 75–148)^[6]

(Dawud)

David

• Divine guidance and its rejection by those who are lost in fast pride.^[6]

(Al-Ghuraf)

The Chambers

• The evidence of the existence and oneness of God in all manifestations of nature.^[6]
• God forgives all sins to him who repents before his death.^[6]
• Allegories of the Last Hour and the Day of Judgment.^[6]

(Al-Muʼmin)

The Believer

• Man's false pride, worship of false values (wealth, power etc.) and his denial of divine guidance.^[6]
• Stories of earlier prophets.^[6]

(Al-Masabih)

The Lamps

• Man's acceptance or rejection of divine revelation.^[6]

(Ha Mim 'Ayn Sin Qaf)

Ḥāʾ Mīm ʿAyn Sīn Qāf

• God is undefinable and unfathomable. (v. 11, 16)^[6]
• All prophets taught the oneness of God, so all believers of all ‘denominations’ should see themselves as ‘one single community’. (v. 13, 15)^[6]
• The law of cause and effect: In the life to come man will only harvest ‘what his own hands have wrought’ in this world.^[6]

• To equal anyone or anything with God is sprititually destructive and logically unacceptable.^[6]
• People's blind adherence to the faith of their forefathers. (v. 22–23)^[6]

• Through revelation worldly pride is eventually brought to naught.^[10]

(Al-Shari'a)

The Sharia

• The humility with which all human beings will face their final judgment on resurrection. (v. 28)^[6]

• Warning the disbelievers of their miserable fate, and reassuring the believers of their salvation.

(Al-Qital)

The Combat, The Warfare

• Fighting (qital) in God's cause.
• Instructions for Muslims to be virtuous to their parents.
• The Story of Hud and the punishment of that befell his people.
• Advising Muhammad to be more patient in delivering Islam

• The Truce of Hudaybiyyah (6 A.H.).^[6]

• Social ethics.^[6]
  • Reverence to Muhammad and the righteous leaders after him.^[6]
  • The brotherhood of all believers and all mankind. (v. 10, 13)^[6]
  • The difference between true faith and outward observance of religious formalities. (v. 14 ff.)^[6]

(Al-Basiqat)

The Tall Ones

• Death and resurrection.^[6]
• God is closer to man than his neck-vein. (v. 16)^[10]

• Destruction of those who denied the messengers, and a warning for those who deny the truth.

• Muhammad's experience of an ascension to heaven (Mi’raj, including his vision of the Sidrat al-Muntaha, the Lote-Tree of the Extremity). (v. 13–18)^[6]

(Iqtarabat)

Approached

• Everything will pass away, except the face of God. (v. 26–27)^[10]
• Description of paradise. (v. 46–78)^[8]

• Description of life in the Hereafter for the believers and the disblievers.^[11]

(Al-Zihar)

The Backs, The Zihar

• Divorce.^[6]
• Faith and denial.^[6]
• Hypocrisy.^[6]
• The attitude believers should have toward non-believers.^[6]

• The conflict between the Muslim coummunity and the Jewish tribe of Banu’n-Nadir of Medina.^[6]

• The believers’ relations with unbelievers.^[6]

(Al-Hawariyyin)

The Apostles

• A call to unity between professed belief and actual behaviour.^[6]

• Obligatory congregational prayer on Friday.^[6]

• Hypocrisy.^[6]

• Divorce (waiting period, remarriage).^[6]

(Lima Tuharrim)

Why do you prohibit?

• Certain aspects of Muhammad's personal and family life.^[6]

(Tabarak)

Blessed

• Man's inability to understand the mysteries of the universe, and his dependence on guidance through divine revelation.^[6]
• The manifestation of Gods' absolute perfection in creation through the fine tuning of the universe.

(Nun)

Nūn

(Sa'ala Sa'il)

An asker asked

• The unwillingness to believe, caused by the restlessness inherent in human nature.^[6]

• The story of Noah.^[6]
  • The struggle against blind materialism and the lack of spiritual values.^[6]

(Al-Wahy)

The Revelation

• Loosening the strict regulation on night prayer.^[6]

• This short early surah outlines almost all fundamental Quranic concepts.
• Gods' promise of eternal damnation for the disbelievers.

• The concept of resurrection.^[6]

(Ad-Dahr)

• The gradual revelation of the Quran.^[6]

('Amma)

About what?

• Life after death.^[6]
• Resurrection and God's ultimate judgment.^[6]

(As-Sahira)

The Watchful, The Sleepless, The Alert

(As-Safara)

The Messenger-Angels, The Journeyers

• The Last Hour and man's resurrection.^[6]

• Man's suffering and God's justice.^[6]
• A message of hope and consolation is given to man from Allah's past mercies.
• Man is bidden to pursue the path of goodness and proclaim the bounties of Allah.
• Prophecy regarding the good future for Muhammad.

• A fundamental moral verity, common to all true religious teachings.^[6]

• The first five verses revealed to Muhammad. (v. 1–5)^[6]

• The Night of Laylat-ul-Qadr

(Ahl al-Kitab)

The People of the Book

• The Evidence, and the clear truth^[12]

• Man's greed and tendencies.^[6]

• The Aksumite attack against Mecca in the year 570 CE, the Year of the Elephant.^[6]

• The Quraysh, custodians of the Kaaba, should be thankful to God for protecting them from hunger and danger.^[10]

(Ad-Din)

The Recompense

• The meaning of true worship through sincere devotion and helping those in need.^[10]
• The first three verses from Mecca; the rest from Medina

• Spiritual riches through devotion and sacrifice.
• Hatred results in the cutting off of all hope.^[10]

(Al-'Ibada)

The Worship, The Adoration

• The correct attitude towards those who reject faith.^[10]

(At-Tawdi')

The Farewell

• The last complete surah revealed before Muhammad's death.^[6]

(Tabbat)

Ruined

• Allah cursing Abu Lahab and his wife, who was Muhammad's uncle and at the time of the revelation of this verse, Muhammad's brother in law, due to his hostility towards Islam and Muhammad.^[6]

(At-Tawhid)

The Oneness and Unification of God

• The oneness of God.^[6]

• Seek refuge in God from evil of others.^[10]

• Trust in God's protection from temptations.^[10]