Chronological order of the Quran by chapters

Chronological Order of the Quran

by Matt Slick | Jun 9, 2016 | Islam, World Religions

The Quran‘s chapters are not arranged chronologically nor by theme. Instead, they are arranged roughly from the largest to the smallest in length. Each chapter has a special name and they are known as Surahs, which is Arabic for chapter. The following chart arranges the surahs in the order they were composed. It was adapted from tanzil.net/wiki/Revelation_Order¹http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/# and http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/chrono.htm. There is a slight disagreement among some Muslims about specific Surahs and their order, but those disagreements are few. For the most part, this list is an accurate representation of the chronological order of Surah’s recited by Muhammad and later collected as the Quran. Placing them in chronological order can help make at least some sense of the book to western readers, who are often confused by the apparent randomness of the arrangement (even in chronological order, this does not entirely disappear.) The order is also important because of the origin of the different surahs. The Meccan surahs are earlier than the Medinan surahs. This means the Medinan surahs abrogate the Meccan ones. This means that whatever comes later is held to supersede whatever came before it.

Sura 110 (An-Nasr) is the last in the traditional order, but Noldeke has placed it between 59 and 24.
Sura 62 (Al-Jumu’a) is after 64 and 61 in the traditional order, but Noldeke has placed it before 64 and 61.

1	Al-Alaq	96	Mecca		Early
2	Al-Qalam	68	Mecca	Except 17-33 and 48-50, from Medina	Early
3	Al-Muzzammil	73	Mecca	Except 10, 11 and 20, from Medina	Early
4	Al-Muddaththir	74	Mecca		Early
5	Al-Faatiha	1	Mecca		Early
6	Al-Masad	111	Mecca		Early
7	At-Takwir	81	Mecca		Early
8	Al-A’laa	87	Mecca		Early
9	Al-Lail	92	Mecca		Early
10	Al-Fajr	89	Mecca		Early
11	Ad-Dhuhaa	93	Mecca		Early
12	Ash-Sharh	94	Mecca		Early
13	Al-Asr	103	Mecca		Early
14	Al-Aadiyaat	100	Mecca		Early
15	Al-Kawthar	108	Mecca		Early
16	At-Takaathur	102	Mecca		Early
17	Al-Maa’un	107	Mecca	Only 1-3 from Mecca; rest from Medina	Early
18	Al-Kaafiroon	109	Mecca		Early
19	Al-Fil	105	Mecca		Early
20	Al-Falaq	113	Mecca		Early
21	An-Naas	114	Mecca		Early
22	Al-Ikhlaas	112	Mecca		Early
23	An-Najm	53	Mecca	Except 32, from Medina	Early
24	Abasa	80	Mecca		Early
25	Al-Qadr	97	Mecca		Early
26	Ash-Shams	91	Mecca		Early
27	Al-Burooj	85	Mecca		Early
28	At-Tin	95	Mecca		Early
29	Quraish	106	Mecca		Early
30	Al-Qaari’a	101	Mecca		Early
31	Al-Qiyaama	75	Mecca		618-620
32	Al-Humaza	104	Mecca		618-620
33	Al-Mursalaat	77	Mecca	Except 48, from Medina	618-620
34	Qaaf	50	Mecca	Except 38, from Medina	618-620
35	Al-Balad	90	Mecca		618-620
36	At-Taariq	86	Mecca		618-620
37	Al-Qamar	54	Mecca	Except 44-46, from Medina	618-620
38	Saad	38	Mecca		618-620
39	Al-A’raaf	7	Mecca	Except 163-170, from Medina	618-620
40	Al-Jinn	72	Mecca		618-620
41	Yaseen	36	Mecca	Except 45, from Medina	618-620
42	Al-Furqaan	25	Mecca	Except 68-70, from Medina	618-620
43	Faatir	35	Mecca		618-620
44	Maryam	19	Mecca	Except 58 and 71, from Medina	618-620
45	Taa-Haa	20	Mecca	Except 130 and 131, from Medina	618-620
46	Al-Waaqia	56	Mecca	Except 81 and 82, from Medina	618-620
47	Ash-Shu’araa	26	Mecca	Except 197 and 224-227, from Medina	618-620
48	An-Naml	27	Mecca		618-620
49	Al-Qasas	28	Mecca	Except 52-55 from Medina and 85 from Juhfa at the time of the Hijra	618-620
50	Al-Israa	17	Mecca	Except 26, 32, 33, 57, 73-80, from Medina	618-620
51	Yunus	10	Mecca	Except 40, 94, 95, 96, from Medina	618-620
52	Hud	11	Mecca	Except 12, 17, 114, from Medina	618-620
53	Yusuf	12	Mecca	Except 1, 2, 3, 7, from Medina	618-620
54	Al-Hijr	15	Mecca	Except 87, from Medina	618-620
55	Al-An’aam	6	Mecca	Except 20, 23, 91, 93, 114, 151, 152, 153, from Medina	618-620
56	As-Saaffaat	37	Mecca		618-620
57	Luqman	31	Mecca	Except 27-29, from Medina	618-620
58	Saba	34	Mecca		618-620
59	Az-Zumar	39	Mecca		618-620
60	Al-Ghaafir	40	Mecca	Except 56, 57, from Medina	618-620
61	Fussilat	41	Mecca		620-622
62	Ash-Shura	42	Mecca	Except 23, 24, 25, 27, from Medina	620-622
63	Az-Zukhruf	43	Mecca	Except 54, from Medina	620-622
64	Ad-Dukhaan	44	Mecca		620-622
65	Al-Jaathiya	45	Mecca	Except 14, from Medina	620-622
66	Al-Ahqaf	46	Mecca	Except 10, 15, 35, from Medina	620-622
67	Adh-Dhaariyat	51	Mecca		620-622
68	Al-Ghaashiya	88	Mecca		620-622
69	Al-Kahf	18	Mecca	Except 28, 83-101, from Medina	620-622
70	An-Nahl	16	Mecca	Except last three verses 127-129, from Medina	620-622
71	Nooh	71	Mecca		620-622
72	Ibrahim	14	Mecca	Except 28, 29, from Medina	620-622
73	Al-Anbiyaa	21	Mecca		620-622
74	Al-Muminoon	23	Mecca		620-622
75	As-Sajda	32	Mecca	Except 16-20, from Medina	620-622
76	At-Tur	52	Mecca		620-622
77	Al-Mulk	67	Mecca		620-622
78	Al-Haaqqa	69	Mecca		620-622
79	Al-Ma’aarij	70	Mecca		620-622
80	An-Naba	78	Mecca		620-622
81	An-Naazi’aat	79	Mecca		620-622
82	Al-Infitaar	82	Mecca		620-622
83	Al-Inshiqaaq	84	Mecca		620-622
84	Ar-Room	30	Mecca	Except 17, from Medina	620-622
85	Al-Ankaboot	29	Mecca	Except 1-11, from Medina	620-622
86	Al-Mutaffifin	83	Mecca	Last from Mecca	620-622
87	Al-Baqara	2	Medina	Except 281 from Mina at the time of the Last Hajj	Medina
88	Al-Anfaal	8	Medina	Except 30-36 from Mecca	Medina
89	Aal-i-Imraan	3	Medina		Medina
90	Al-Ahzaab	33	Medina		Medina
91	Al-Mumtahana	60	Medina		Medina
92	An-Nisaa	4	Medina		Medina
93	Az-Zalzala	99	Medina		Medina
94	Al-Hadid	57	Medina		Medina
95	Muhammad	47	Medina	Except 13, from during the Hijrah	Medina
96	Ar-Ra’d	13	Medina		Medina
97	Ar-Rahmaan	55	Medina		Medina
98	Al-Insaan	76	Medina		Medina
99	At-Talaaq	65	Medina		Medina
100	Al-Bayyina	98	Medina		Medina
101	Al-Hashr	59	Medina		Medina
102	An-Noor	24	Medina		Medina
103	Al-Hajj	22	Medina	Except 52-55, from between Mecca and Medina	Medina
104	Al-Munaafiqoon	63	Medina		Medina
105	Al-Mujaadila	58	Medina		Medina
106	Al-Hujuraat	49	Medina		Medina
107	At-Tahrim	66	Medina		Medina
108	At-Taghaabun	64	Medina		Medina
109	As-Saff	61	Medina		Medina
110	Al-Jumu’a	62	Medina		Medina
111	Al-Fath	48	Medina	While returning from Hudaybiyya	Medina
112	Al-Maaida	5	Medina	Except 3, from Arafat on Last Hajj	Medina
113	At-Tawba	9	Medina	Except for last two verses from Mecca	Medina
114	An-Nasr	110	Medina	Last one, from Mina on Last Hajj	Medina