Counting the verses ('add al-ay)

'Add al-ay, the counting of verses, is the science of knowing where each verse ends and how many verses each sura contains. All mushafs agree on the text of the Qur'an, but the scholars of the main cities differ over where some verses end: some count a given phrase as a verse of its own, others as part of a verse. That is why the number of verses in some suras differs according to the Kufan, Basran, Hijazi or Syrian count. ¹ In al-Tafsir al-Wasit, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi takes care to state this difference in the introduction to each sura. ^{2 3}

Tantawi explains the cause of the difference in Surat al-Nisa': the scholars of the Hijaz and Basra count 175 verses; the Kufans count 176 because they treat a short phrase in it as a separate verse; the Syrians count 177 because they agree with the Kufans on that phrase and count another phrase as a verse as well. The Hijazis and Basrans hold that what the Kufans and Syrians count is part of a verse, not a complete verse. ¹

Counting the verses is one of the Qur'anic sciences that Tantawi lists in his introduction among the ways scholars served the Book, alongside its script, its readings and its Meccan and Medinan parts. ⁴ The verse counts on the museum's sura records come from the frozen Tanzil files, which follow the Kufan count used in the Tanzil mushaf; the other counts given here are attributed to their source.