Basic Knowledge about the Quran every Muslim must Know

Assalamualaikum! In the name of Allah the most Merciful the most compassionate. Today in 2025 the world has 2 Billion Muslim population, and every one has faith that the Quran is the direct book from Allah to mankind. In fact the Quran starts with the name of Allah (Subhan Wattala) and ends with the word humans.

In this post i will try to put some basic knowledge about the Quran to help old and new Muslims, to clear some points which are necessary before reading the book. Inshallah.

What is the Quran?

The Quran is the book Given to our beloved Prophet Mohammad (Saw) from Allah (Subhan Wattala) in the 7th Century CE 1450 years Ago.

But not at one time, it took 23 years to reveal the whole book. By Angel Jibril AS to Prophet Mohammad (Saw) in different stages.

In the Quran there are commands from Allah, Stories of early Prophets and peoples, Creation of the Universe, Glimpse of afterlife, and replies of the questions asked by the peoples and the non believers of the time of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

What is the purpose of the Quran?

The one and only purpose of the Quran is to give clear guidance to mankind to follow the straight path of Allah for the successful life here and hereafter. Also it is the Correction of Torah Old Testament and Bible New Testament and continuation too, The Quran is the Final Testament

Structure of the Quran (The Basics)

The Quran consists of a total of 114 Chapters that are called Surah, and every Surah has Verses that are called Aayat or Aayah. In every Aayat there are words that are called Kalimah. There are a total of 6236 Aayat (Verses) in the Quran and approx. 78,000 Kalimah (Words).

• Total Chapters (Surah) : 114
• Total Verses (Aayat) : 6236
• Total Words (Kalimah) : 78000*

Length of the Chapters and Order

The 1st Chapter of the Quran is “AL – Fatiha” which consists of 7 Verses, and the Last 114th chapter is “AN – Nas” which consists of 6 Verses. The Largest Chapter of the Quran is “AL – Baqarah” which consists of 286 Verses, and the shortest one is “AL – Kauthar” which consists of only 3 short Verses.

• First Chapter : Surah AL – Fatiha (The Opening)
• Last Chapter : Surah AN – Nas (Mankind)
• Biggest Chapter : Surah AL – Baqarah (The Cow)
• Smallest Chapter : Surah AL – Kawthar (The Abundance)

The Quran today we have is arranged in order according to the length of the chapter except the 1st Chapter, it has only 7 short Verses. Now from the 2nd chapter to the 30th chapter are the Longest. From 31 to 80 there are mediums and from 81 to 114 are considered as the short chapters especially the last 20 Chapters.

• 2nd Biggest Chapter : Surah AL – Araf (The Heights)
• 2nd Smallest Chapter : Surah AL – Asr (The Time)

There is a Chapter Surah Ash – Shuara with 227 Verses that is more than Surah AL – Araf total no. of Verses that is 206. But Surah AL – Araf is bigger than Surah Ash – Shuara in length and word count. 

If you see the shortest chapter AL – Kawthar and the 2nd shortest chapter AL – Asr, both consist of 3 Verses. But there is also a word count difference, AL – Kawthar has 10 words and AL – Asr has 14 words.

Here is another interesting fact i would like to introduce, the smallest Aayat (Verse) of the Quran that is in Surah Ar-Rahman (55:64) it has only 1 word that is translated as “Dark green (lush gardens)”. While the longest Aayat (Verse) is in Surah Al-Baqarah (2:282) consists of 128 words. This verse is also called Aayat AL – Dayn.

• Shortest Aayat (Verse) : AR – Rahman (55:64)
• Longest Aayat (Verse) : AL – Baqarah (2:282)

Note: 55:64 means Chapter No. 55 and Verse No. 64. These short codes are often used in Bayans, blogs and in debates. 2:282 means Surah 2 and Aayah 282.

Interesting facts in the Quran

Here are some facts that are remarkable, as we know there is a total number of 114 Chapters (Surah) in the Quran, every Chapter contains “Bismillah hir Rahman Nir Rahim” attached in the beginning except the 9th Chapter “AT – Tawbah”. But still the Quran has a total of 114 times “Bismillah”, because of the 27th Chapter “AN – Naml”. This Chapter has 2 times “Bismillah”, 1 attached in the beginning and 2nd one is the part of the Chapter that is Verse No. 30.

• Chapter without Bismillah : Surah AT – Tawbah
• Chapter with 2 Bismillah : Surah AN – Nahl

While reading the Quran you will see some Mystical Letters in the beginning of the Chapters like “Alif Lam Meem” , “Yaa Sin” “Kaaf” and more. These are a total of 12 and appear in the beginning of 29 Chapters with repetition. These are called Huroof Muqatta’at, a special set of letters or Code words with unknown meaning that only Allah knows.

• Alif Lam Meem (الم): 6 times
• Alif Lam Ra (الر): 5 times
• Alif Lam Meem Ra (المر): 1 time
• Ha Meem (حم): 7 times
• Ta Seen Meem (طسم): 2 times
• Ta Seen (طس): 1 time
• Ya Seen (يس): 1 time
• Saad (ص): 1 time
• Qaf (ق): 1 time
• Noon (ن): 1 time
• Kaaf Ha Ya Ain Saad (كهيعص): 1 time
• Ta Ha (طه): 1 time

Revelation and the location of the Quran

The Quran mainly revealed in the 2 locations of Saudi Arabia, Makkah and Madinah. The Quran revealed in Makkah called Makki Surah or Aayah and the revealed in Madinah called Madani Surah or Aayah.

Generally Makki Surah are based on Tawheed (Oneness of God) and Madani Surah are based on Laws, Way of living, and Zihad.

• Makki Surahs: 86 Chapters (75%)
• Madani Surahs: 28 Chapters (25%)

Based on the Number of Chapters (Surah)

• Makki Verses: 4,780 Ayahs (61%)
• Madani Verses: 3,024 Ayahs (39%)

Based on the Number of Verses (Ayat), Because sometimes some parts of 1 Long Chapter reveals In Makkah and some parts of it Reveals in Madinah. But some short Chapters revealed in completed form, mostly Makki chapters like the below once.

• Surah AL – Fatiha (At Once)
• Surah AL – Kawthar (At Once)
• Surah AL – Ikhlas (At Once)
• Surah AL – Falaq (At Once)
• Surah AN – Nas (At Once)

There are more Chapters, but here are some.

The Quran in the Revelation Order

So nowadays we have a copy of the Quran in Mushaf (Book form) in an Arranged Order, as instructed to arrange by Allah to Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) after the Quran revealed completely in 23 years.

But the Quran is originally revealed in a Revelation Order, That means it is revealed Verse by verse (Aayat). The 1st revelation was the first 5 Aayah of Surah “AL – Alaq” out of 19 Aayah of the Chapter. Rest Aayah of the Surah revealed later.

In the starting time there were many Chapters that were incomplete, those completed in the period of 23 Years.

• 1st Revelation : Surah AL – Alaq (Aayat 1-5)
• 2nd Revelation : Surah AL – Mudathir (Aayat 1-7)
• 2nd Last Revelation : Surah AL – Baqarah (280th Aayat)
• Last Revelation : Surah AL – Baqarah (281st Aayat)

See the 2nd Chapter AL – Baqarah was completed in the very last time of 23 years of the Revelation period.

Now you may wonder if there is a First and Last fully completed Chapter that were revealed in One instance.

• First Full Revealed Surah AL Fatiha (7 of 7 Aayats at Once)
• Last Full Revealed Surah AL Nasr (4 of 4 Aayats at Once)

Names of all Chapters in the Quran (with Meaning)

Uniqueness of The Quran

Now in the Last i would like to introduce the unique feature of the Quran, there are approx. 2000 words that appeared only once in the entire Quran. Here are 10 out of 2000 words that appear only once in the entire Quran:

1. Kursi (كُرْسِيّ) – Seat/Throne (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:255)

2. Bakkah (بَكَّةَ) – Another name for Mecca (Surah Aal-E-Imran 3:96)

3. Iram (إِرَمَ) – Name of an ancient city (Surah Al-Fajr 89:7)

4. Ghislin (غِسْلِينٍ) – A type of punishment in Hell (Surah Al-Haqqah 69:36)

5. Firdaws (فِرْدَوْسَ) – The highest level of Paradise (Surah Al-Kahf 18:107)

6. Jibt (جِبْتَ) – Sorcery or idolatry (Surah An-Nisa 4:51)

7. Maqtan (مَقْتًا) – Intense hatred (Surah An-Nisa 4:22)

8. Tuffakoon (تُفَكُّونَ) – How you are deluded (Surah Al-Waqi’ah 56:86)

9. Tasneem (تَسْنِيم) – A spring in Paradise (Surah Al-Mutaffifin 83:27)

10. Barzakh (بَرْزَخٌ) – Barrier between life and afterlife (Surah Al-Mu’minun 23:100)

End of the Blog

So this is the uniqueness of Allah Subhan Wattala, which makes the Quran a unique book in the world. But this is just the beginning, there are many signs and miracles in the Quran. Stay tuned for it, and keep exploring the Quran. Thanks for Reading our blog on basic Knowledge about the Quran. Jazakallah 🙂