{{Short description|Verse of the Quran}} {{Redirect|Ayat|other uses|Ayah (disambiguation)|and|Ayat (disambiguation)}} {{Quran|expanded=divisions}} thumb|A Quran showing verses of Al-Baqarah, Verse 253 to Verse 256, the Ayat al Kursi which is the 255th verse is also shown. [[File:Ahmet Karahisari 001.jpg|thumb|A 16th-century Quran opened to show ''sura'' (chapter) 2, '''''ayat''''' (verses) 1–4.]] thumb
An '''āyah''' ({{langx|ar|آية}}, {{IPA|ar|ʔaː.ja}}; {{small|plural:}} {{lang|ar|آيات}} {{Transliteration|ar|ʾāyāt}}) is a "verse" in the Quran, one of the statements of varying length that make up the chapters (''surah'') of the Quran and are marked by a number. In a purely linguistic context the word means "evidence", "sign" or "miracle", and thus may refer to things other than Quranic verses, such as religious obligations (''āyat taklīfiyyah'') or cosmic phenomena (''āyat takwīniyyah'').<ref name="khaleel">{{cite web |last1=Mohammed |first1=Khaleel |title=Muhammad Al-Ghazali's View on Abrogation in the Qur'an |url=http://www.forpeoplewhothink.org/Topics/Abrogation_in_the_Quran.html |website=forpeoplewhothink.org |accessdate=27 August 2018}}</ref> In the Quran it is referred to with both connotations in several verses such as:
{{Blockquote|{{lang|ar|تِلْكَ آيَاتُ ٱللَّٰهِ نَتْلُوهَا عَلَيْكَ بِٱلْحَقِّۖ فَبِأَيِّ حَدِيثٍۭ بَعْدَ ٱللَّٰهِ وَآيَاتِهِۦ يُؤْمِنُونَ}}<br/> "These are the '''''āyah'''''s of Allah that We recite for you in truth. So what discourse will they believe after God and His '''''āyah'''''s?" | author=Quran 45:6<ref>[https://al-quran.info/#45:6/1 Quran 45:6]</ref>}}
==Overview of the meaning== Although meaning "verse" when using the Quran, it is doubtful whether ''āyah'' means anything other than "sign", "proof", or "remarkable event" in the Quran's text. The "signs" refer to various phenomena, ranging from the universe, its creation, the alternation between day and night, rainfall, and the life and growth of plants. Other references are to miracles or to the rewards of belief and the fate of unbelievers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Campo |first=Juan E. |title=Encyclopedia of Islam |year=2009 |publisher=Facts On File |location=New York |isbn=9780816054541 |pages=77}}</ref> For example:
: "And of his signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and what He has dispersed throughout them of creatures." (Q42:29) : "And a sign for them is the dead earth. We have brought it to life and brought forth from it grain, and from it, they eat." (Q36:33) : "... and they denied him; therefore we destroyed them. Herein is indeed a sign yet most of them are not believers." (Q26:139) : "... you are but a mortal like us. So bring some sign if you are of the truthful." (Q26:154)
Chapters (''surah'') in the Quran consist of several verses, varying in number from 3 to 286. Within a long chapter, the verses may be further grouped into thematic sequences passages.
For the purpose of interpretation, the verses are separated into two groups: those that are clear and unambiguous (''muhkam'') and those that are ambiguous (''mutashabeh'').<ref>[http://www.aicp.org/SupportingDocs/The%20Ayahs.pdf The Ayahs of the Quran: The Muhkam and the Mutashabih] (Association of Islamic Charitable Projects).</ref> This distinction is based on the Quran itself: "It is God Who has sent down to you the Book. In it are verses that are 'clear', they are the foundation of the Book. Others are 'allegorical' but those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meanings except God. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: We believe in the Book, the whole of it is from our Lord. And none will grasp the Message except men of understanding."{{#tag:ref|"Al-Imran<ref>[http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=3&verse=7 3:7]</ref> from the Yusuf Ali translation of the Quran online at the Quranic Arabic Corpus.|group=Note}}
An incorrect anti-Islamic claim is that the number of verses in the Quran is 6,666.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hixon |first=Lex |title=The Heart of the Qurʼan: An Introduction to Islamic Spirituality |publisher=Quest |year=2003 |isbn=9780835608220 |edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wang |first=Wei |date=2022-08-16 |title=On the Historical Background and Ideological Resources of the Confluence of Islam and Confucianism |journal=Religions |language=en |volume=13 |issue=8 |pages=4–5 |doi=10.3390/rel13080748 |issn=2077-1444 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In fact, the total number of verses in the Quran is 6,236 excluding ''Bismillah'' and 6,348 including ''Bismillah''. (There are 114 chapters in the Quran, however there are only 112 unnumbered ''Bismillah''<nowiki/>'s because Surah At-Tawbah does not have one at the beginning and fatiha's is numbered, there is another Bismillah in the middle of āyah 30 of Surah An-Naml but it's not included because it has already been added as a verse.)
The Unicode symbols for a Quran verse, including U+06DD (),{{#tag:ref|A (scanned) example of the Unicode ''ayah'' character is on page 3 of this [http://www.evertype.com/standards/iso10646/pdf/09419-encode-koranic.pdf Proposal for additional Unicode characters].|group=Note}} and U+08E2 ().
The first āyah in the Quran from a chronological order is ''Read [O Muhammad!] in the name of your Lord who created'' (Q96:1) from surah Al-Alaq. The first āyah from a traditional order is ''In the name of God, the Compassionate Merciful One'' from surah Al-Fatiha. The first ayahs after the opening surah are ''ʾalif-lām-mīm. This is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance for the God-fearing'', from surah Al-Baqara.
==See also== * Ayatollah * Quranism
== References ==
===Notes=== {{Reflist|group=Note}}
===Citations=== {{Reflist}}
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Category:Quranic verses Category:Components of the Quran Category:Islamic terminology