Meccan sura

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The Meccan suras are the chronologically earlier suras of the Qur'an that were, according to Islamic tradition, revealed anytime before the Hijrah (pilgrimage of the Prophet Muhammed from Makkah to Medina). The other type of sura is the Madinan sura.

Meccan suras are typically shorter, with relatively short ayat, and mostly come near the end of the Qur'an. Most of the suras containing Muqatta'at are Makki. A detail characteristics of Makki and Madani Sura can be found here.^[1]

The division of surahs into 'Meccan surahs' and 'Medinan surahs' is primarily a consequence of stylistic and thematic considerations. Classification of the surahs into these periods is based upon factors such as the length of the verse and the presence or absence of certain key concepts or word (e.g. al-Rahman as name of God).^[2]

Chronological order of Meccan suras

One proposed chronological order consists of 86 suras, as follows:

96, 68, 73, 74, 1, 111, 81, 87, 92, 89,

93, 94, 103, 100, 108, 102, 107, 109, 105, 113,

114, 112, 53, 80, 97, 91, 85, 95, 106, 101,

75, 104, 77, 50, 90, 86, 54, 38, 7, 72,

36, 25, 35, 19, 20, 56, 26, 27, 28, 17,

10, 11, 12, 15, 6, 37, 31, 34, 39, 40,

41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 88, 18, 16,

71, 14, 21, 23, 32, 52, 67, 69, 70, 78,

79, 82, 84, 30, 29, 83

Theodor Nöldeke proposed a different chronological order, consisting of 90 suras, as follows:

• from the first to the fifth year of Mohammed's mission

96, 74, 111, 106, 108, 104, 107, 102, 105, 92,

90, 94, 93, 97, 86, 91, 80, 68, 87, 95,

103, 85, 73, 101, 99, 82, 81, 53, 84, 100,

79, 77, 78, 88, 89, 75, 83, 69, 51, 52,

56, 70, 55, 112, 109, 113, 114, 1

• the fifth and sixth year of his mission:

54, 37, 71, 76, 44, 50, 20, 26, 15, 19,

38, 36, 43, 72, 67, 23, 21, 25, 17, 27, 18

• from the seventh year to Hijra:

32, 41, 45, 16, 30, 11, 14, 12, 40, 28,

39, 29, 31, 42, 10, 34, 35, 7, 46, 6, 13^[3]

References

1. ^ http://textminingthequran.com/wiki/Makki_and_Madani_Surahs
2. ^ (in Reviews) Studie zur Komposition der mekkanischen Suren by Angelika Neuwirth, Review author[s]: A. Rippin, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 45, No. 1. (1982), pp. 149-150.
3. ^ Koran - Original Catholic Encyclopedia