Expert: Muhammad Omer Iqbal - 9/24/2004

Question
Can you tell me exactly how many Ayahs are there in the Holy Quran? I have heard some learned Alims saying it is 6666. I do not know how they arrived at this figure. I counted the ayash in all the 114 Surahs and the total I get is 6,236 without Bismillah and 6,349 if you add Bismillah.

Answer
Assalamu Alaykum,

The total number of verses in the Holy Quran is disupted amonst Muslim scholars, primarily because there is a dispute amongst scholars over some of the verses, where they end and if a certain verse is one or actually multiple verses etc. This is due to many factors that have played in the compilation of the Quran.

However, irrespective of that, the verses by themselves or their number does not bear much significance, it is the passages of Quran that are actually interpreted by linguists to understand the meaning. So for instance, verses 1-20 of Al-Baqarah have one theme and talk about three sets of people that prophet Muhammad (pbuh) encountered in his mission. Similarly, verses 21-29 talk about a certain theme, and same goes for verses 30-39 and so forth.

I hope this is helpful. If not, please write back to me and I shall help you out with whatever additional questions that you may have.

Allah Hafiz,
Muhammad Omer Iqbal
www.omeriqbal.com