an explanation of the Holy Qur’ān, but a Ḥadīth can only be accepted when it is reliable and not opposed to what is clearly stated in the Holy Qur’ān.38 As regards commentaries, a word of warning is necessary against the tendency to regard what is stated in them as being the final word on interpretation, since by so doing the great treasures of knowledge which an exposition of the Holy Qur’ān in the new light of modern progress reveals are shut out, and the Holy Qur’ān becomes a sealed book to the present generation. The learned men of yore all freely sought its meaning according to their understanding and circumstances, and the same right accrues to the present generation. It must also be added that though the commentaries are valuable stores of learning for a knowledge of the Holy Qur’ān, the numerous anecdotes and legends with which many of them are filled can only be accepted with the greatest caution and after the most careful sifting.39
The Holy Qur’ān is divided into 114 chapters, each of which is called a sūrah.40 The chapters are of varying length, the longest comprising one-twelfth of the entire Book. All the chapters, with the exception of the last thirty-five, are divided into sections (rukū‘), each section dealing generally with one subject, and the different sections being interrelated to each other. Each section contains a number of verses (āyah).41 The total number of verses is 6,240,42 or including the 113 verses “in the name of Allāh” (bismillāh) with which the chapters open, 6,353.43 For the purpose of recitation, the Holy Qur’ān is divided into thirty equal parts (juz), each of these being again subdivided into four equal parts. Another division is into seven portions (manzil), which is designed for the completion of its recital in seven days. These divisions for the purpose of recitation have nothing to do with the subject-matter of the Holy Qur’ān.
An important division of the Holy Qur’ān relates to the Makkah and Madīnah chapters. After the Call, the Holy Prophet passed 13 years at Makkah, and was then forced to migrate with his Companions to
38 See also Chapter on Ḥadīth (Sunnah or Ḥadīth).
39 Such stories are mostly taken from the Jews and the Christians, and on this point I would refer the reader to my remarks under the heading “Reports in Biographies and Commentaries” in the next chapter, where I have shown that the best authorities have condemned most of this material as derived from Jewish and Christian sources.
40 Meaning literally eminence or high degree (R.) and also any degree of structure (LL.)
41 Meaning originally a sign or a communication from God.
42 There existed a slight difference in the numbering of verses in the different centres of learning. Kūfah readers counting them 6,239, Baṣrah 6,204, Syria 6,225, Makkah, 6219, Madīnah 6,211. But this is a difference of computation only, some readers marking the end of a verse where others do not.
43 Every chapter of the Holy Qur’ān begins with the Bismillāh verse, except the ninth.