Table of chronological order of the suras

Table of chronological order of the suras

The Qur'an contains a multitude of contradictions. As the Qur'an, according to Islam, was dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel, there is no room for interpretations, that could harmonize all the apparent contradictions. Therefore the interpreters of Islam have agreed upon a principle called Al-Nasikh wal-Mansoukh, which says that if two or more verses contradict one another, the (chronologically) last written verse applies (i.e. the last verse replaces the older ones). This is in accordance with a number of Qur'an verses, which say that Allah anytime can replace a text with an equal or better text. Sura 2:106 says e.g.:

Whatever communications We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring one better than it or like it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?

Allah, in contrast to the God of the Bible, is so almighty that he neither is bound by his word nor by his promises. He can change whatever he wants to change, whenever he so wants. The implication of this is that Allah never can be trusted, which is a big problem for Islam.

The table below shows the chronological (temporal) order of the 114 suras in the Qur'an, according to four famous experts on the Qur'an (columns: N,J,M,K). The order or the suras as they are presented in the Qur'an (not the temporal order) is given i column Q

An further explanation for the different columns is found after the table.

Q	A	N	J	M	K	Period	Sura	Translation
1	7	48	114	6	5	Mec1:48	Al-Fatihah	The Opening
2	286	91	86	95	87	Med:1	Al-Baqrah	The Cow
3	200	97	88	96	89	Med:7	Al-Imran	The House of 'Imran
4	175	100	91	102	92	Med:10	An-Nisa	Women
5	120	114	112	100	113	Med:24	Al-Maidah	The Repast
6	165	89	54	81	55	Mec3:20	Al-Anam	Cattle
7	205	87	38	91	39	Mec3:18	Al-Araf	The Faculty of Discernment
8	76	95	87	97	88	Med:5	Al-Anfal	Spoils of War
9	130	113	113	114	113	Med:23	At-Tawbah	Repentance
10	109	84	50	79	51	Mec3:15	Yunus	Jonah
11	123	75	51	78	52	Mec3:6	Hud	Hud
12	111	77	52	77	53	Mec3:8	Yosuf	Joseph
13	43	90	98	89	96	Mec3:21	Ar-Ra'd	Thunder
14	52	76	71	80	72	Mec3:7	Ibrahim	Abraham
15	99	57	53	62	54	Mec2:9	Al-Hijr	Al-Hijr (or The Rock)
16	128	73	69	88	70	Mec3:4	An-Nahl	The Bee
17	111	67	49	87	50	Mec2:19	Al-Isra	The Night Journey
18	110	69	68	69	69	Mec2:21	Al-Kahf	The Cave
19	98	58	43	68	44	Mec2:10	Maryam	Mary
20	135	55	44	75	45	Mec2:7	Ta Ha	Ta Ha (or O Man)
21	112	65	72	86	73	Mec2:17	Al-Anbiy�'	The Prophets
22	78	107	103	85	103	Med:17	Al-Hajj	The Pilgrimage
23	118	64	73	84	74	Mec2:16	Al-Mu'min�n	The Believers
24	64	105	102	106	102	Med:15	An-N�r	The Light
25	77	66	41	74	42	Mec2:18	Al-Furq�n	The Criterion
26	228	56	46	61	47	Mec2:8	Ash-Shu'ar�'	The Poets
27	95	68	47	70	48	Mec2:20	An-Naml	The Ants
28	88	79	48	83	49	Mec3:10	Al-Qasas	The Story
29	69	81	84	90	85	Mec3:12	Al-'Ankab�t	The Spider
30	60	74	83	60	84	Mec3:5	Ar�R�m	The Byzantines
31	34	82	56	50	57	Mec3:13	Luqm�n	Luqman
32	30	70	74	44	75	Mec3:1��	As�Sajdah	Prostration
33	73	103	89	107	90	Med:13	Al�Ahz�b	The Confederate Tribes
34	54	85	57	49	58	Mec3:16	Saba'	Sheba
35	45	86	42	66	43	Mec3:17	F�tir	The Creator
36	83	60	40	67	41	Mec2:12	Y�S�n.	Ya Sin (O Thou Human Being)
37	182	50	55	59	56	Mec2:2	As-S�ff�t	Drawn Up In Ranks
38	88	59	37	73	38	Mec2:11	S�d.	Sad
39	75	80	58	45	59	Mec3:11��	Az-Zumar	The Throngs
40	85	78	59	72	60	Mec3:9	Gh�fir	The Forgiving One
41	54	71	60	53	61	Mec3:2	Fussilat	Revelations Well-Expounded
42	53	83	61	71	62	Mec3:14	Ash-Sh�ra	Consultation
43	89	61	62	76	63	Mec2:13	Az-Zukhruf	Ornaments of Gold
44	59	53	63	58	64	Mec2:5	Ad-Dukh�n	Smoke
45	36	72	64	57	65	Mec3:3	Al-J�thiya	Kneeling
46	34	88	65	64	66	Mec3:19	Al-Ahq�f	The Sand Dunes
47	40	96	94	98	95	Med:6	Muhammad	Muhammad
48	29	108	111	110	111	Med:18	Al-Fath	Victory
49	17	112	106	113	106	Med:22�	Al-Hujur�t	The Private Apartments
50	45	54	33	56	34	Mec2:6	Q�f.	Qaf
51	60	39	66	63	67	Mec1:39	Az-Z�riy�t	The Scattering Winds
52	49	40	75	55	76	Mec1:40	At-T�r	The Mountain
53	62	28	22	43	23	Mec1:28	An-Najm	The Star
54	55	49	36	48	37	Mec2:1	Al-Qamar	The Moon
55	78	43	96	40	97	Mec1:43	Ar-Rahm�n	The Beneficient
56	96	41	45	41	46	Mec1:41	Al-W�qi'ah	That Which is Coming
57	29	99	93	108	94	Med:9	Al-Had�d	Iron
58	22	106	105	103	105	Med:16	Al-Muj�dilah	She That Pleaded
59	24	102	100	101	101	Med:12	Al-Hashr	The Gathering [of Forces]
60	13	110	90	111	91	Med:20	Al-Mumtahana	Women Tested
61	14	98	110	109	109	Med:8	As-Saff	The Ranks
62	11	94	95	99	110	Med:4	Al-Jumu'ah	The Congregation
63	11	104	104	105	104	Med:14	Al-Munafiqin	The Hypocrites
64	18	93	109	82	108	Med:3	At-Taghabum	Loss and Gain
65	12	101	108	104	99	Med:11	At-Talaq	Divorce
66	12	109	107	112	107	Med:19	At-Tahrim	Prohibition
67	30	63	76	42	77	Mec2:15	Al-Mulk	Dominion
68	52	18	2	52	2	Mec1:18	Al-Qalam	The Pen
69	52	38	77	51	78	Mec1:38	Al-Haqqah	The Laying-Bare of the Truth
70	44	42	78	37	79	Mec1:42	Al-Ma'arij	The Ways of Ascent
71	29	51	70	54	71	Mec2:3	Nuh	Noah
72	28	62	39	65	40	Mec2:14	Al-Jinn	The Jinn
73	20	23	3	46	3	Mec1:23	Al-Muzzammil	The Enwrapped One
74	55	2	4	21	4	Mec1:2	Al-Muddaththir	The Enfolded One
75	39	36	30	36	31	Mec1:36	Al-Qiyamah	Resurrection
76	31	52	97	35	98	Mec2:4	Al-Insan	Man
77	50	32	32	34	33	Mec1:32	Al-Mursalat	Those Sent Forth
78	41	33	79	33	80	Mec1:33	An-Naba	The Tiding
79	45	31	80	47	81	Mec1:31	An Nazilat	Those That Rise
80	42	17	23	26	24	Mec1:17	'Abasa	He Frowned
81	29	27	6	27	7	Mec1:27	At-Takwir	Shrouding in Darkness
82	19	26	81	11	82	Mec1:26	Al-Infitar	The Cleaving Asunder
83	36	37	85	32	86	Mec1:37	Al-Mutaffifin	Those Who Give Short Measure
84	25	29	82	28	83	Mec1:29	Al-Inshiqaq	The Splitting Asunder
85	22	22	26	31	27	Mec1:22	Al-Buruj	The Great Constellations
86	17	15	35	29	36	Mec1:15	At-Tariq	That Which Comes in the Night
87	19	19	7	23	8	Mec1:19	Al-A'la	The All-Highest
88	26	34	67	25	68	Mec1:34	Al-Ghashiyah	The Overshadowing Event
89	30	35	9	14	10	Mec1:35	Al-Fajr	The Daybreak
90	20	11	34	15	35	Mec1:11	Al-Balad	The Land (or The City)
91	15	16	25	4	26	Mec1:16	Ash-Shams	The Sun
92	21	10	8	12	9	Mec1:10	Al-Layl	The Night
93	11	13	10	16	11	Mec1:13	Ad-Duha	The Bright Morning Hours
94	8	12	11	17	12	Mec1:12	Ash-Sharh	The Opening-Up of the Heart
95	8	20	27	8	28	Mec1:20	At-Tin	The Fig
96	19	1	1	19	1	Mec1:1	Al-'Alaq	The Germ-Cell
97	5	14	24	24	25	Mec1:14	Al-Qadr	Destiny
98	8	92	99	94	100	Med:2	Al-Bayyinah	The Evidence of the Truth
99	8	25	92	3	93	Mec1:25	Az-Zalzalah	The Earthquake
100	11	30	13	2	14	Mec1:30	Al-'Adiyat	The Chargers
101	8	24	29	7	30	Mec1:24	Al-Qaria'ah	The Sudden Calamity
102	8	8	15	9	16	Mec1:8	Al-Takathur	Greed for More and More
103	3	21	12	1	13	Mec1:21	Al-'Asr	The Flight of Time
104	9	6	31	10	32	Mec1:6	Al-Humazah	The Slanderer
105	5	9	18	13	19	Mec1:9	Al-Fil	The Elephant
106	4	4	28	5	29	Mec1:4	Quraysh	Quraysh
107	7	7	16	39	17	Mec1:7	Al-Ma'un	Assistance
108	3	5	14	18	15	Mec1:5	Al-Kawthar	Good in Abundance
109	6	45	17	38	18	Mec1:45	Al-Kafirun	Those Who Deny the Truth
110	3	111	101	30	114	Med:21	An-Nasr	Soccour
111	5	3	5	22	6	Mec1:3	Al-Masad	The Twisted Strands
112	4	44	21	20	22	Mec1:44	Al-Ikhlas	The Declaration of [God's] Perfection
113	5	46	19	92	20	Mec1:46	Al-Falaq	The Rising Dawn
114	6	47	20	93	21	Mec1:47	An-Nas	Men (or The People)

Q — the order of the suras in the Qur'an (1 is the first sura in the Qur'an etc)
A — number of ayahs (verses) in respective sura. As the reader can see, sura 2 is the longest with 286 verses, whilst there are three suras with only 3 verses (103, 108 and 110)
N — temporal order according to Noldeke
J — temporal order according to Jelalu�d
M — temporal order according to Muir
K — temporal order according to Khalifa
Period — means the period in Muhammad's life when the sura was written
Sura — the Arabic name of the sura (each sura has a name expressing its content or in what context it was written)
Translation — translation of the Arabic name to English.

The interpretation of the table is most easily understood by an example. Let us take sura 104 (column Q). It contains 9 verses according to the second column (A). The next four columns (N,J,M,K) give the temporal order (6, 31, 10, 32) of this sura (according to Noldeke, Jelalu'd etc). "Mec 1:6" in the next column (Period) means that this sura was written in Mecca during a certain period in Muhammad's life. And the two last columns (Sura and Translation) give the name of the sura (The Slanderer) in Arabic and English.

As we can see, there is agreement among the scholars regarding the chronological order of certain suras (e.g. sura 9 and 59). In other cases, like sura 1, the scholars have come to very different conclusions, which means that it is difficult to interpret such suras. Is sura 1, as Jelalu'd says, nr 114, it is the last written sura of the Qur'an and its content has more weight than any other sura, which deals with the same topics. If, on the other hand, Khalifa is right, and sura 1 is one of the (chronologically) first suras in the Qur'an (nr. 5) it is of lesser importance, as all later suras then are given higher priority.

As is evident from the table, sura 1 is very short (7 verses). The text is a tribute to Allah. For this reason the temporal order of sura 1 is of limited value for the practical application of Islam. In other cases, however, ambiguities regarding the temporal order of the suras can lead to major difficulties for the interpretation of the Qur'an.