Coherence in the Quran:

  The Quran has 114 Surahs (I will translate that to 'chapters' at the moment) – all of which were revealed at different times and these Surahs are divided into two categories:

1.   Makki Surahs (Surahs revealed in Makkah - the main audience were the Quraish – most Ayat are an introduction to Allah, His signs, Paradise, Hell Fire and the Day of Judgment)
2. Madani Surahs (Surahs revealed in Madinah, the main audience were the Muslims)

  The Quran starts with Surah Al Fatihah and ends with Surah Al Naas – at first glance, one may wonder what kind of order the Surahs in the Quran are in? The word Surah, although normally translated in English to “chapter” does not properly explain the word Surah. The word Surah was used in the olden days to refer to the outer walls of a city inside which you had many things going on all of which were connected. So with that in mind, let’s discuss some of the possibilities.

  Clearly the Quran is not in chronological order: for if it was, the first Surah would be Surah Al-Alaq (which in fact is placed near the end). It is not in size order either (Biggest Surah first and smallest last) because then the last Surah would have been Surah Al Kauthar which is not the case. And neither is it in subject order with for example, Taqwa (piety) discussed first, Eman (faith) second etc. nor does it deal with a single subject matter one at a time. The conclusion many may eventually arrive to is that seeing as each Surah is independent of each other, there must not be a connection. Many scholars believe that this is not the case (for concrete reasons that are too long to go into at the moment): just as the order of each Ayah is set by Allah, the order of each Surah in the Quran is also according to Him. With this knowledge they studied the order of the Surahs in-depth and found many beautiful connections between the Surahs and here I will share with you just one such finding. In Surah Ar- Rahman and Surah Al Waqiah, (the 55^th and 56^th Surahs in the Quran), one of the connections between them can be seen when listing the subjects discussed in each Surah.

55- Surah Ar-Rahman -

Subjects discussed in order:

1) Greatness of the Quran (Ayat (signs) in the Book)

2) List of Allah's favors (Ayat (signs) around you.)

3) What happens to people who fail to be grateful? Day of Judgment and Hellfire.

4) People of paradise and what they get. (Tour of paradise)

5) Tour of Elite paradise.

56- Surah Al Waqiah -

Subjects discussed in order:

1) The Elite. (Who will be rewarded elite paradise)

2) People of the right hand (Who will be rewarded paradise)

3) Hell fire and Day of Judgment.

4) The favors of Allah. (Ayat (signs) around you)

5) Greatness of the Quran (Ayat (signs) in the Book)

As you can see, the subjects are reflected in the Surah right after it – this is just one example of the divine connections between each Surah in the Quran. (There can even be multiple connections as well) 

Taken from Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan’s Divine Speech Seminar videos which can be found at Bayyinah.tv.

Note: My knowledge of the Quran is extremely limited – this is just my attempt to share with you whatever minute knowledge I know so that maybe you can learn to fall in love with the Quran’s beauty as I have. Any good that came out of this was from Allah and any mistakes are from myself.