How many surahs and verses are there in the Quran?

The Quran contains 114 surahs by unanimous agreement. In the Hafs 'an 'Asim recitation used in most printed mushafs today the total is 6,236 verses — this is the Kufan verse-count, traced back to 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him). The other well-known counting schools (Madinah, Makkah, Basrah and Sham) give slightly different totals, roughly between 6,200 and 6,240, because they differ over whether the Basmala is counted as a verse of a surah — the classic case being al-Fatihah, which Allah calls "the seven oft-repeated verses" (Quran 15:87) — and over where a few long verses are divided. The differences are therefore in numbering conventions only: not a single word of the recited text differs between them, in keeping with Allah's promise, "Indeed, it is We who sent down the Reminder, and indeed, We will be its guardian" (Quran 15:9). Precise word and letter totals circulate widely but are not established with certainty and should not be quoted as fact.

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