Table of Qur’anic Surahs with short explanations.

• The necessity of God-consciousness.
• The error(s) committed by followers of earlier revelations.
• Legal ordinances (ethics, social relations, warfare etc.).
• Ibrahim.
• Kaaba.
• Ayatul Kursi. (v. 255)

• Unity of the human race and the mutual obligations of men and women towards one another. (v. 1)
• Rights of women.
• Questions related to family life (including marriage and inheritance).
• Peace and war.
• Relations of believers with unbelievers.
• Striving in the Cause of Allah (Jihad). (v. 95-97)

• This sūrah dwells on such themes as rejecting polytheism and unbelief, the establishment of Tawhīd, the Revelation, Messengership, and Resurrection.

• The Battle of Badr and the lessons that are to be taken from it
• Instructs believers in topics such us jihād, hijrah, the law of war, treaties, gains of war, patience, mutual helping and solidarity, and reliance on God.

• The revelation of the Qur’an to Muhammad (not Muhammad’s own work). (v. 15-17, 37-38, 94)
• References to earlier prophets.
• Fundamental tenets of Islam.

• The story of the prophet Joseph (as an illustration of God’s unfathomable direction of men’s affairs).
• Tells us of the truth contained in dreams

• In verse 5, Moses’ mission
• Declares that the Qur’ān was sent to Muhammad  to lead humankind out of the depths of darkness into the light, thus stressing the universality of his mission.

• God’s creativeness:
  • Manifested in the instincts of the bee.
  • Culmination: Guidance through his revealed word.

• A series of parables or allegories on the theme of faith in God versus excessive attachment to the life of this world. Including:
  • The men of the cave. (v. 13-20)
  • The rich man and the poor man. (v. 32-44)
  • Moses and the unnamed sage. (v. 60-82)
  • The allegory of Dhu’l-Qarnayn, the Two-Horned One’. (v. 83-98)

• The guidance offered by God through his prophets.
• The fundamental truths inherent in all revealed religions are identical.
  • The story of Moses. (v. 9-98)

• The Mecca pilgrimage and some of the rituals connected with it. (v. 25-38)
• It warns new believers, who might waver and be unwilling to persevere through some of the hardships that accepting a new faith naturally entails.

• Rules concerning relations between the sexes, and members of a family and society
• The mystic parable of the ‘light of God’ (“Verse of Light”). (v. 35)
• Declaring the chastity and innocence of ‘Â’ishah

• It rejects the Makkans’ claim that the Messenger  was a poet and that the Qur’ān is the work of a poet.
• Man’s weakness, which causes him to reject God’s message and worship power and wealth etc.

• Concerned with the Prophet Moses’ life and mission
• Contains glad tidings for God’s Messenger

• Predictions of the near victory of the Byzantines [over the Persians] and the Battle of Badr (2 A.H.). (v. 1-7)
• God’s ability to resurrect the dead at the end of time, and the people’s ignorance of this.

• God’s creation.
• God’s revelation and man’s acceptance or denial.
• The Day of Judgement.

• Divine Oneness, the afterlife, and Prophethood.
• The story of the people of Sheba, as an example of the impermanence of human power, wealth and glory. (v. 15-20)
• Always be conscious of God. (v. 46)

• Man’s moral responsibility, resurrection and God’s judgment.
• To be recited over the dying and in the prayers of the dead.
• Three of the pillars of faith, namely the Divine Oneness, afterlife, and Prophethood

• Divine guidance and its rejection by those who are lost in fast pride.
• It warns those who oppose the preaching of the Messenger.
• Gives examples from the experiences of earlier Messengers.

Ghafir

• Man’s false pride, worship of false values (wealth, power etc.) and his denial of divine guidance.
  • Stories of earlier prophets.

• God is undefinable and unfathomable. (v. 11, 16)
• All prophets taught the oneness of God, so all believers of all ‘denominations’ should see themselves as ‘one single community’. (v. 13, 15)
• The law of cause and effect: In the life to come man will only harvest ‘what his own hands have wrought’ in this world.

• Through revelation worldly pride is eventually brought to naught.
• Concentrates upon the Qur’ān’s Divine authorship, on God’s being the unique Creator and Lord of the whole universe

• Warning the disbelievers of their miserable fate, and reassuring the believers of their salvation.
• Presents some of the concrete proofs of the Messengership of the Prophet Muhammad

• The Truce of Hudaybiyyah
• Criticizes the attitudes of the hypocrites, continues with further promises to the Muslims, and ends by mentioning certain important virtues of the Muslim Community.

• It mentions many phenomena in the universe that indicate God, and then concentrates on the afterlife.

• It deals with the confused reactions of the Makkan polytheists to the revelation of the Qur’ān and how they made them look ridiculous.

• The splitting of the moon by a gesture of God’s Messenger
• The people of Noah
• The peoples of Lot

• Description of life in the Hereafter for the believers and the disbelievers.
• Proofs of God’s Existence and Oneness, and some characteristics of the Qur’ān.

• Divorce.
• Faith and denial.
• Hypocrisy.
• The attitude believers should have toward non-believers.

• The believers’ relations with unbelievers.

• Obligatory congregational prayer on Friday.

• Concentrates on faith in God and the Hereafter

• Certain aspects of Muhammad’s personal and family life.

• It categorically refutes some allegations of the polytheists against God’s Messenger.
• It cites the perfect character of the Messenger

• The unwillingness to believe, caused by the restlessness inherent in human nature.

• Emphasizes God’s absolute Oneness and the Messengership of Muhammad

• This short early surah outlines almost all fundamental Qur’anic concepts.
• Gods’ promise of eternal damnation for the disbelievers.

• It is about human perfectibility, the virtues of good believers and the reward they will get in the Hereafter.

• Life after death.
• Resurrection and God’s ultimate judgment.

• It stresses that everyone, whatever their family origin or social status, is equal with respect to the communication of God’s Message

• Draws attention to the Hereafter

• Warns people concerning God’s supreme Power

• Concentrates on the Resurrection

• The hardships and punishment the unbelievers will suffer in the Hereafter

• Invites people to help one another and prepare for the next life

• Do the things for salvation and avoid the things for perdition

• God’s favors upon the Messenger

• Implies the importance of knowledge, reading, and writing, and warns that people go astray by regarding themselves as being self-sufficient.

• God’s Messenger is the clear evidence for the truth of the Message

• Praises the vanguards of Islam
• Draws attention to some negative attitudes that exist in human beings

• Man’s greed and tendencies.

• It warns against slandering and defaming, and seeing oneself as being above other people

• The Quraysh, custodians of the Kaaba, should be thankful to God for protecting them from hunger and danger.

• Spiritual riches through devotion and sacrifice.
• Hatred results in the cutting off of all hope.

• The last complete surah revealed before Muhammad’s death.

• The oneness of God.

• Trust in God’s protection from temptations.