The Arrangement of Sūras in the Qurʾān: Continuity and Progression in Language and Themes

Rashid, Fatima

Abstract

Studies on the textual coherence of the Qurʾān have focused significantly on the internal structure and connectivity of individual sūra units. At the macro-level, the non-chronological nature of the muṣḥaf sūra sequence has often been viewed by Western readers as a primary obstacle to understanding the Qurʾān. This thesis argues that the arrangement of sūras, as a literary component of the Qurʾānic text, plays a functional role in the construction and communication of its meanings. The study consists of a close reading of four sample sequences of sūras across the Qurʾān, analysing the intratextual connections in language and themes between the sūras, with a specific focus on elements of continuity and progression. The aim is to synthesise a typology of connections and patterns within the sūra sequence that give insight into the workings of the Qurʾān’s macro-structure and how this contributes to the wider construction of meaning in the Qurʾān. The analysis draws on Muslim and Western scholarship on Qurʾānic coherence, with a particular focus on the theory of thematic-structural coherence at the intra-sūra and inter-sūra level as developed by the Indian scholar ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd al-Farāhī (1863-1930). This study challenges the dominant view of the sūra sequence in Western scholarship as simply the product of a redactional process that carries little pragmatic value. It also calls into question traditional approaches that, whilst exalting the text’s miraculous composition, divorce its content from its form through rigid alignments with the extra-scriptural tradition and Meccan/Medinan categorisations. Thus, this study offers an alternative reading of the Qurʾān as we have it today, paying due attention to its literary form.

Citation

Rashid, F. The Arrangement of Sūras in the Qurʾān: Continuity and Progression in Language and Themes. (Thesis). SOAS University of London

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jul 18, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 18, 2025
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00551365
• Additional Information: 346 pages
• Award Date: 2025