The Order of the Qur'an - Muiz Bukhary

Was the order of the Suwar (surahs) in the Qur'ān instituted by the Prophet Muhammed ﷺ?

With regard to this question, there were differences among the scholars. The majority of scholars, including Imām Mālik and Al-Qādhi Abu Bakr, according to one of his two opinions, favoured the second opinion.

Ibn Fāris said: “There were two aspects to the compilation of the Qur’aan. One was putting the surahs in a certain order, such as putting al-Sab’ al-Tiwaal (the seven long soorahs) first, and following them with the Mi’een, which is what the Sahaabah did.
The second aspect is the compilation of the aayahs within the surahs. This was instituted by the Prophet ﷺ , who recited them as he was told to by Jibreel, on the command of his Lord. On this basis the salaf differed as to the order in which the soorahs should appear. Some of them put them in order of revelation, which was the mus-haf of ‘Ali (radhiyAllaahu anhu) , which started with Iqra’ (al-‘Alaq), then al-Muddaththir, then Noon (al-Qalam), then al-Muzzammil, and so on. The Mus-haf of Ibn Mas’ood (radhiyAllaahu anhu) started with al-Baqarah, then al-Nisa’, then Aal ‘Imraan, with other major differences. The Mus-haf of Ubayy was similar.”

Al-Karmaani said in al-Burhaan: the order of the surahs as it is now is the same as that in al-Lawh al-Mahfooz which is with Allāh. This is the order in which the Prophet ﷺ used to review the surahs of the Qur’ān he had received so far with Jibreel each year. In the year in which he died, he reviewed it with him twice, and the last aayahs to be revealed were (interpretation of the meaning): ‘And be afraid of the Day when you shall be brought back to Allaah…’ [al-Baqarah 2:281]. Jibreel commanded the Prophet ﷺ to put this between the aayahs dealing with riba and those dealing with loans.”

Imām Al-Zarkashi said in al-Burhaan: “The difference between the two views is one of wording. Those who support the second view say that it was taught to them so that they could learn the reasons of Revelation and the sequence of the words. Hence Imām Mālik said that they compiled the Qur’ān according to what they had heard from the Prophet ﷺ , as well as saying that the order of the surahs was the product of their ijtihaad. He said that the dispute boils down to one question which is: was this a verbal instruction of the Prophet ﷺ , or were they merely referring to what he used to do, which would give them room for ijtihaad.”

Al-Bayhaqi said in al-Madkhil: “At the time of the Prophet ﷺ , the surahs and aayahs of the Qur’aan were in this order, except for al-Anfaal and Baraa’ah (al-Tawbah), as we see from the hadeeth of ‘Uthmaan referred to above.”

Ibn ‘Atiyah said: “The order of many of the surahs was known during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ , such as the seven long soorahs, those that begin with Ha’-Meem, and al-Mufassal. With regard to the others, it may be the case that it was left for the Ummah to determine their order after he died.”

Abu Ja’far said: “The reports support most of what Ibn ‘Atiyah said, and a little is left which is open to debate, such as the hadeeth, ‘Recite the two shining ones, al-Baqarah and Aal ‘Imraan.’” (Reported by Muslim, no. 804).

Al-Bukhaari narrated (no. 4739) that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Mas’ood (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: “Bani Israa’eel (al-Israa’), al-Kahf, Maryam, Ta-Ha and al-Anbiya’, these are among the earliest and most beautiful soorahs and they are my treasures,” (meaning, these are among the earliest I recited).

Abu Ja’far al-Nahhaas al-Mukhtaar said that the surahs were compiled in this order from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ because of the hadeeth of Waathilah, “In place of the Tawraat I was given the seven long soorahs.” He said: “This hadeeth indicates that the order of the Qur’aan was taken from the Prophet ﷺ.

Imām Ibn Hajar said, “the fact that the surahs , or most of them, are in a given order does not contradict the idea that this was instituted by the Prophet ﷺ. What proves that this was instituted by the Prophet ﷺ is the report narrated by Imāms Ahmad and Abu Dawood from Aws ibn Hudhayfah, who said: ‘We asked the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the morning, “How did you write down the Qur’aan in chapters?” They said, “We wrote it down in chapters of six soorahs, five soorahs, seven soorahs, nine soorahs, eleven soorahs and thirteen soorahs, and the chapter of al-Mufassal, from Qaaf until the end. This indicates that the order of the soorahs – as it appears in the Mus-haf now – existed at the time of the Messenger of Allaah, or it is possible that what was known in order at that time was Hizb al-Mufassal specifically, which is not the case with the rest.”

See al-Itqaan fi ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan by al-Suyooti, 1/62-65).

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