Quran
The middle of the Quran
Where the middle of the Quran falls depends on what you count. By words, letters and pages, and at the end of juz 15, it is in Surah Al-Kahf — at 18:77, 18:71 and around 18:84. By number of verses it is later, between Ash-Shu'ara 26:186 and 26:187, because the early verses are far longer than the late ones.
| Measured by | Midpoint | How |
|---|---|---|
| Verses | Ash-Shu'ara 26:186 / Ash-Shu'ara 26:187 | Between verse 3,118 and 3,119 of 6,236. |
| Words | Al-Kahf 18:77 | The 38,717th of 77,433 words falls in this verse. |
| Letters | Al-Kahf 18:71 | The 162,693rd of 325,386 letters falls in this verse. |
| Pages | Al-Kahf 18:84 | Between pages 302 and 303 of 604; page 303 begins at this verse. |
| Juz | Al-Kahf 18:74 | The end of juz 15 of 30. |
| Surahs | Al-Hadid (57) / Al-Mujadilah (58) | Between surah 57 and 58 of 114. |
How the text was counted
Everything is counted from the Tanzil Uthmani text, the same text this site displays. A word is a space-separated group that contains at least one letter, so the small pause marks between words are not counted. A letter is a base Arabic letter, from hamza to yaa plus alif wasla; the vowel marks, the small alif written above a letter and the other small signs are not counted. On that basis the Quran has 77,433 words and 325,386 letters.
Older counts were made by hand, with conventions of their own — whether a doubled letter counts once or twice, whether an alif that is written but not pronounced counts at all — so their totals and midpoints differ slightly. That is why many printed copies mark the word وَلْيَتَلَطَّفْ in Al-Kahf 18:19 as the traditional middle, a little before the point computed here. Both are in the same surah.
Common questions
What is the middle verse of the Quran?
By number of verses the midpoint falls between Ash-Shu'ara 26:186 and Ash-Shu'ara 26:187: the Quran has 6,236 verses, so these are the 3,118th and 3,119th. Verses near the start of the Quran are much longer than those near the end, which is why this point lies well past the middle of the text.
What is the middle word of the Quran?
Counted by the method on this page, the 38,717th of 77,433 words is in Al-Kahf 18:77. Many printed copies instead mark the word وَلْيَتَلَطَّفْ in Al-Kahf 18:19 as the traditional middle; that count was made by hand with different conventions, and it falls in the same surah.
What is the middle surah of the Quran?
By number, surahs 57 and 58 — Al-Hadid and Al-Mujadilah — sit at the middle of the 114. By length, the middle of the text is in Al-Kahf (surah 18), because the long surahs come first.
What is the middle page of the Quran?
The standard mushaf has 604 pages, so the middle falls between pages 302 and 303. Page 303 begins at Al-Kahf 18:84.
Why do sources give different answers?
Because they measure different things — verses, words, letters or pages — and because hand counts used their own conventions, such as whether a doubled letter counts once or twice. Every measure that counts the amount of text puts the middle in Surah Al-Kahf; only the count of verses lands elsewhere.
The Quran by the numbers: words, letters and verses in every surah