Getting started
Understanding the mushaf: a beginner’s guide to a printed Quran
A printed Quran is full of banners, circles, margin signs and tiny marks. Here is what each one is, so you can find your place on any page.
Open a printed Quran for the first time and you see far more than a block of text. There are decorated banners, small circles with numbers, tiny signs floating above the words and notes in the margins. None of it is random. It is a navigation system refined over centuries, and this guide explains what each part is.
The mushaf: one text, many editions
A bound copy of the Quran is called a مصحف (mushaf). The text is the same in every copy, but editions differ in script style, page layout, the signs printed around the text, and the recitation tradition they follow. This guide describes the most widely printed kind: the Ḥafṣ text in the Uthmani script, with the Madinah mushaf as the main example. If you have a copy from North or West Africa, it probably follows the Warsh tradition, and a few details, including some verse numbers, will differ from what is described here.
114 surahs
The Quran is divided into 114 chapters called سورة (sūra, plural suwar; in English, surah). Each has a name, such as al-Fātiḥa, al-Baqara or an-Nās, and that name is how people refer to it.
Two things surprise newcomers:
- The order is not chronological. The book begins with al-Fātiḥa, continues with the long surahs, and the surahs then become generally shorter towards the end. The last one is an-Nās.
- Length varies enormously. al-Baqara has 286 verses. al-Kawthar has 3.
Because the short surahs sit at the end, the final part of the Quran is the usual place for a beginner to start practising.
The surah header
Every surah starts with a decorated banner or framed line. Depending on the edition, it contains the surah name, the number of verses it has, and often a note on whether it is Meccan or Medinan, a label about where the surah was revealed. Some editions also give the surah’s place in the order, from 1 to 114.
Letters at the start of some surahs
Twenty-nine surahs open with one or several separate Arabic letters, such as the ones at the opening of al-Baqara. They are called مقطعات (muqaṭṭaʿāt, “the separated letters”). They are read by the names of the letters, not sounded out as a word, and a teacher shows you how.
The basmala
Right below the header, on a line of its own, comes the basmala, the short opening formula that begins almost every surah. Three practical points help when you are reading:
- It opens every surah except at-Tawba, which begins without it.
- In most printed editions of the Ḥafṣ text, it is numbered as the first verse of al-Fātiḥa. In every other surah it stands before verse 1 and carries no number of its own.
- When you are reciting several surahs in a row, or starting in the middle of one, how to handle the basmala is a question for a teacher. This guide only shows you where it is on the page.
Verses and the circular markers
Each surah is made of verses, called آية (āya, plural āyāt). At the end of every verse you will see a small circle, usually ornamented, with a number inside. Three things to know:
- The marker comes after the verse, not before. It works like a full stop with a number on it.
- Numbering restarts at 1 in every surah. So a number alone is not an address. You need the surah name too. Many books and apps write a reference as two numbers, the surah’s place in the order first and the verse second.
- A verse is not a line. A short verse may share a line with the next one, and a long verse can run across several lines or even most of a page.
The numbers inside the circles are usually written in Eastern Arabic numerals, which differ from the digits you know. Learn these ten symbols and the markers become readable:
Numbers with several digits are written with the most significant digit first, so twelve is the symbol for one followed by the symbol for two. Across the whole Quran there are 6,236 verses in the Ḥafṣ count. Other traditions count slightly differently, which is why totals can vary between sources.
Juzʾ, ḥizb and quarters
Apart from surahs, the text has a second set of divisions that ignore surah boundaries. They exist for pacing, so that a reader can split the whole Quran into portions of similar size. They are printed in the margins or in the page header.
| Unit | How many | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Surah | 114 | The chapters, each with a name |
| Verse (āya) | 6,236 in the Ḥafṣ count | Each ends with a numbered circle |
| Juzʾ (جزء) | 30 | Parts of similar size |
| Ḥizb (حزب) | 60 | Two in each juzʾ |
| Quarter of a ḥizb (rubʿ) | 240 | Four in each ḥizb, so eight in each juzʾ |
| Manzil | 7 | Seven larger parts, found in some editions |
The numbers fit together: 30 juzʾ × 2 ḥizb gives 60 ḥizb, and 60 × 4 gives 240 quarters. In many editions, the start of a quarter is marked with a small star-like sign, ۞, and a note in the margin says which juzʾ or ḥizb is beginning.
A juzʾ does not start at a new surah. The second juzʾ, for instance, begins partway through al-Baqara. The thirtieth and last, called Juzʾ ʿAmma, begins with an-Nabaʾ and contains most of the short surahs. Because the parts are of similar size, they are handy for planning: reading one juzʾ a day takes you through the book in 30 days, and half a juzʾ is one ḥizb.
Page layouts
The Madinah mushaf, printed by the King Fahd Complex and one of the most widely distributed editions in the world, has 604 pages with 15 lines on most pages. Each juzʾ takes roughly 20 pages and starts on a new page. The layout is designed so that a page ends where a verse ends, which means you never have to turn the page in the middle of a verse. The first two pages are special: al-Fātiḥa has page 1 to itself, and the opening of al-Baqara begins on page 2, so those two pages are shorter than the rest.
Not every edition follows this layout. Editions printed in South Asia usually have a different number of lines per page, a different total page count and a slightly different script style. The result is that page numbers are not portable. If a teacher says “page 40”, check which edition they mean.
Some editions are made especially for learners. The most common kind uses colours to show recitation features such as elongation or nasalisation. The colours are explained in a key at the beginning or end of the book. They are a good support when you study with a teacher, and a poor substitute for one.
On a standard page, the top shows the surah name and juzʾ number, the margin holds the ḥizb and quarter markers, and the bottom shows the page number.
Stop and pause marks
Scattered through the text, above the line, you will see small signs: tiny letters and short strokes, much smaller than the words. These are the stop and pause marks. They guide a reciter on where to pause and where to keep going, each sign has its own name and meaning, and the set of signs used varies slightly between editions.
For now, you only need to know three things: they exist, they are not part of the letters of a word, and you can skip over them while you are learning to sound out words. Your edition normally prints a key to them near the start or end. A qualified teacher is the right person to explain what each one asks of you, and how to stop and restart correctly. Learning them is easiest once you can read the words themselves with confidence.
How to find your way: a short routine
- Look at the top of the page and read the surah name and juzʾ number.
- Find the last circle you passed and read the number inside. That is your verse.
- Check the margin to see whether a ḥizb or quarter begins on this page.
- Note the edition if you plan to share page numbers with anyone.
- Leave the pause signs until you are ready for them, and ask a teacher to go through them with you.
A good habit for the first weeks: pick one edition and keep using it, so your eye learns where things sit on the page.
Once the structure is familiar, the mushaf stops looking dense and starts looking organised.
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