# How Many Surahs Are in the Quran? 114 Chapters Explained The Quran has 114 surahs. Use the chapter index, ayah numbers and a portable verse reference to find the passage you want to read. Canonical URL: https://quran.blog/articles/how-many-surahs-in-the-quran Author: Quran Learning Desk (https://quran.blog/authors/quran-learning) Publisher: Quran Blog (https://quran.blog/) Published: 2026-10-10T07:04:17.816Z Modified: 2026-10-12T08:18:34.117Z Language: en Editorial principles: https://quran.blog/editorial-policy Terms: https://quran.blog/terms --- The Quran has 114 surahs, or chapters. Each surah has its own ayah numbering, so a reference needs both the chapter and the verse number. Begin with the surah index, open the chapter you want and check the ayah within it. Reading divisions such as juz are another way to organise a portion, rather than another name for a surah. ## A beginner's navigation check 1. Find a surah by its number and name in the index, then confirm the chapter heading. 2. Locate an ayah within that chapter and record both numbers as a reference. 3. Save the surah and ayah alongside your bookmark so the passage can be found in another mushaf or app. ## Start with the chapter index *An original, researched editorial guide. Sources checked on 10 October 2026. Worked exercises are editorial suggestions; tool instructions identify their provider sources. The cover is an editorial illustration.* The Quran contains 114 surahs, or chapters. The first in the standard mushaf order is Al-Fatihah; the last is An-Nas. Each surah contains numbered ayahs, commonly called verses in English. Those two numbers—chapter and ayah—give you a dependable way to find a passage across different books and reading apps. Knowing the total is a useful beginning. Knowing how the index works makes the Quran easier to navigate every day. You can find a passage someone mentions, reopen a lesson without searching through screenshots, and understand why finishing one chapter sometimes takes much longer than finishing another. ## Start with the surah index The [Quran.com chapter index]() lists all 114 surahs in mushaf order with their names and displayed ayah counts. For orientation, Al-Fatihah is chapter 1 with seven ayahs, Al-Baqarah is chapter 2 with 286, and An-Nas is chapter 114 with six. These examples show why counting completed chapters alone says little about how much text you have read. Try a small exercise before starting a new reading session. Find the chapter your teacher mentioned, write its number beside its name, and open its first ayah. Then return to the index and find the next chapter. This gives you a working connection between a name, a number and an actual place in the text. A printed contents page does the same job. It may give an Arabic name, a transliterated name, an English title or several of these together. Follow the chapter number when a spelling looks unfamiliar. Keep the printed page number as a convenience for that particular copy, alongside the more portable surah number. ## Surah names and English titles You may meet Al-Fatihah written as Al-Fatiha or Al-Faatiha. Transliteration systems represent Arabic letters differently, so a small spelling difference in a Latin-script title need not mean that you have found another chapter. The number and the Arabic title help you check. A bookmark labelled only with a remembered spelling can be harder to locate later. English chapter titles are another layer. An index may display an English rendering beside the Arabic name. If you hear the English title in a talk, find it in the index and save the Arabic or transliterated name with its number. This lets you recognize the same chapter when a different resource uses a different English title. A chapter title helps identify the chapter; reading the chapter is still necessary to discover what it contains. Avoid building a summary from the title alone. When you are learning, a useful note is simply “chapter number, name, passage studied.” Your observations about the passage can go beneath that line. ## Ayah numbers begin again in each chapter In the reference 112:1, the first number identifies Surah Al-Ikhlas and the second identifies its first ayah. In 113:1, the ayah number is again one, but the chapter is Al-Falaq. An ayah number without its chapter can point to many different places. Include both when asking a question or sharing a reference. You can practice with the opening of [Al-Ikhlas, 112:1](). Look at the chapter heading and the verse label before reading. Then open [Al-Falaq, 113:1]() and notice what changed. The exercise teaches the reference system without requiring you to learn every chapter name first. When someone says “the last three ayahs,” ask which surah they mean. When someone says “page twelve,” ask which edition they are using. These are ordinary navigation questions. Giving a complete reference at the beginning of a lesson saves everyone from checking the wrong passage and assuming the problem is their reading. ## Surahs and juz serve different purposes The chapter index and the juz index organize access to the same Quran in different ways. A surah is a chapter. A juz is a reading division. A juz boundary can occur within a surah, and one juz can contain multiple complete surahs. Switching between those indexes changes your navigation route rather than the passage itself. For example, a lesson can be assigned by chapter while a reading plan is assigned by juz. Record which kind of assignment you received. “Read surah 30” and “read juz 30” identify different selections. If your plan only says “30,” clarify the label before making a checklist or downloading an audio track. Our [guide to juz, hizb and quarters]() explains those additional divisions. You can learn them as you need them. A beginner who can confidently find a surah and ayah already has a useful navigation skill; the other indexes can be added when a lesson or reading plan calls for them. ## Make a bookmark you can use anywhere Imagine that today's lesson ended at Al-Ikhlas 112:2. A useful bookmark says “Al-Ikhlas 112:2 — next lesson: review from 112:1.” If you also write the page number, label it with the edition. On a phone, save a direct verse link. In a notebook, keep the chapter and ayah visible at the top. This small habit makes a change of device or book much easier. The page layout may change, the app may move its bookmark button, and the Latin spelling of the title may vary. Your numbered reference still gives you a clear starting point. It also makes a teacher's correction easier to record accurately. ## A five-minute orientation session - Find Al-Fatihah, Al-Baqarah and An-Nas in an index. - Choose one other surah and record its name and number. - Open one ayah and check both parts of its reference. - Save a bookmark containing the name, chapter number and ayah number. - Reopen that bookmark from the index to confirm that you can find the passage again. There is no need to memorize the entire index during this exercise. Aim to move around the text with confidence. The number 114 answers the opening question; being able to find, check and revisit a passage is what makes that answer useful in your reading. --- [Quran.com surah index]()* — Chapter order, names and displayed ayah counts were checked against the live index. Navigation exercises are original editorial suggestions.* ## Related reading Continue with [How to Read Quran Verse References: Surah and Ayah]() or [Juz, Hizb and Rub el Hizb: Quran Divisions Explained]().