Meccan and Medinan Surahs: The Full List of 28 Medinan Surahs and How They Differ

What do Meccan and Medinan mean?

The usual criterion is time: surahs revealed before the Prophet's migration to Medina are Meccan, and those revealed after it are Medinan. This does not mean a surah was necessarily revealed in Mecca or in Medina; passages revealed on journeys after the Hijra also count as Medinan. For the details of the definition see the glossary.

The 28 surahs counted as Medinan

Each name links to the Arabic text and translation of that surah:

• 2. Al-Baqarah: 286 verses

• 3. Ali 'Imran: 200 verses

• 4. An-Nisa: 176 verses

• 5. Al-Ma'idah: 120 verses

• 8. Al-Anfal: 75 verses

• 9. At-Tawbah: 129 verses

• 13. Ar-Ra'd: 43 verses

• 22. Al-Hajj: 78 verses

• 24. An-Nur: 64 verses

• 33. Al-Ahzab: 73 verses

• 47. Muhammad: 38 verses

• 48. Al-Fath: 29 verses

• 49. Al-Hujurat: 18 verses

• 55. Ar-Rahman: 78 verses

• 57. Al-Hadid: 29 verses

• 58. Al-Mujadilah: 22 verses

• 59. Al-Hashr: 24 verses

• 60. Al-Mumtahanah: 13 verses

• 61. As-Saf: 14 verses

• 62. Al-Jumu'ah: 11 verses

• 63. Al-Munafiqun: 11 verses

• 64. At-Taghabun: 18 verses

• 65. At-Talaq: 12 verses

• 66. At-Tahrim: 12 verses

• 76. Al-Insan: 31 verses

• 98. Al-Bayyinah: 8 verses

• 99. Az-Zalzalah: 8 verses

• 110. An-Nasr: 3 verses

Where the classification is disputed

Sources do not give the same answer on where every surah was revealed. For Ar-Ra'd, Al-Hajj, Ar-Rahman, Al-Insan, Al-Bayyinah, Az-Zalzalah, which are counted as Medinan in this list, some scholars and mushaf traditions also give a Meccan ruling. You may therefore find a Medinan count other than 28 elsewhere; the difference is not an error but comes from the criterion and the reports chosen. The classification on this site follows the record in common mushaf headings.

General features of the two periods

As a general tendency, Meccan surahs stress, in short and striking verses, the oneness of God, prophethood, the hereafter and ethics. Medinan surahs deal with the affairs of a growing community: rulings on family and inheritance, trade, penalties, war and peace, treaties, almsgiving and fasting. This is a tendency, not a rule: even the Medinan Ar-Rahman contains a deep account of creation and the hereafter, and Meccan surahs also contain rulings. The two categories should therefore be used as a clue to context for understanding a surah, not as a strict divide.

Meccan and Medinan surahs in numbers

The average Meccan surah has 53.6 verses and the average Medinan surah 58.0. Medinan surahs are fewer (28) but make up about a quarter of the Quran's verses (1,623 verses, 26 percent), because four of the longest surahs (Al-Baqarah, Ali 'Imran, An-Nisa and Al-Ma'idah) are Medinan and together hold 782 verses. Meccan surahs include a great many short surahs; 34 of the 37 surahs of Juz 30 are Meccan.

Mushaf order is not revelation order

The order of surahs in the mushaf does not show the order in which they were revealed. The first surah of the mushaf is Al-Fatihah, but according to the common view the first verses revealed are the first five verses of Surah Al-Alaq. Medinan surahs are also scattered among the Meccan ones in the mushaf: the four surahs after Al-Fatihah (Al-Baqarah to Al-Ma'idah) are Medinan, followed by a long run of Meccan surahs. For this reason a surah's place in the mushaf is not a reliable guide to its period; the period should be taken from the record in the surah heading or from the list above.

How does this help when reading?

Knowing the setting in which a verse was revealed helps you see whom it addresses and what it is about. A call to monotheism before the Hijra and rulings for a community after it speak to different audiences. To see all surahs in order go to the surah list, and for their distribution across the juz see the juz index.