wikishia:Featured Article/2017/28

Verse (Arabic: "آیة", Āya) in technical usage is the sentences and phrases of the Qur'an which are separated from each other in a special order and form the suras (chapters) of the Qur'an.

In the Qur'an the word is used in the technical meaning, and the Qur'an ayas (verses) are described as "al-bayyinat", meaning manifest and clear.

The literal meaning of "aya" is "sign" or "something clear and obvious". The word is also used in the Qur'an in its literal meaning in some places and refers to every creature as a sign of the existence and the attributes of God, and to the miracles of the prophets as they are signs of truth of their mission. In this application, the ayas (signs) of God are divided to "afaqi" (signs in the outer world) and "anfusi" (the signs in one's self).

The most correct and the most prevalent opinion about the first verses revealed to the Prophet (s), is that they are the first five verses of Sura al-'Alaq; but about the last verses, there is a disagreement.

Regardless of al-Muqatta'at verses (separate letters), the shortest verse in the number of words is the verse 64 of sura al-Rahman (Arabic: مُدهامَّتان, transliteration: "mudhāmmatān") which means, "dark green". This verse contains only one word. And the shortest in the number of the letters is the first verses of Suras al-Fajr (Arabic: والفجر, transliteration: "wa l-fajr") meaning, "by the dawn"; and the first verse of Sura al-'Asr (Arabic: والعصر, transliteration: "wa l-'asr", translation: "by the time") and some others (with six letters and two words).

The longest verse of the Qur'an is the al-Dayn Verse (debt) (Q 2:282) which nearly fills a page.Read more...