Page:Thomas Patrick Hughes - Notes on Muhammadanism - 2ed. (1877).djvu/50

 Rh by Muhammad for short sections or verses of his supposed revelation. There are said to be 6,616 verses in the whole book; but the division of verses differs in different editions of the Arabic Qurán. The number of verses in the Arabic Quráns are recorded after the title of the Súra, and the verses distinguished in the text by a small cypher or circle.

4. Súra (pl. Suwar), Chapters. A word which signifies a row or series, but which is now used exclusively for the chapters of the Qurán, which are one hundred and fourteen in number. These chapters are called after some word which occurs in the text, and if the Traditions are to be trusted, they were so named by Muhammad himself, although the verses of their respective Súrás were undoubtedly arranged after his death, and sometimes with little regard to their sequence. Musalmán doctors admit that the Khalif Osmán arranged the chapters in the order in which they now stand in the Qurán.