The Quran is divided into 114 chapters, called surahs (Arabic: سُورَة, romanized: sūrah; pl. سُوَر, suwar) and around 6,200 verses (depending on school of counting) called ayahs (Arabic: آية, Arabic pronunciation: [ʔaː.ja]; plural: آيات ʾāyāt). Chapters are arranged broadly in descending order of length. For a preliminary discussion about the chronological order of chapters, see Surah.
Each surah except the ninth (al-Tawba) is preceded by a formula known as the basmala or tasmiah, which reads bismi-llāhi r-raḥmāni r-raḥīm ("In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful."). In twenty-nine surahs, this is followed by a group of letters called "muqaṭṭa'āt" (lit. "abbreviated" or "shortened"), unique combinations of a few letters whose meaning are unknown.