Exploring the longest word in the Qur’an

The Holy Qur’an has been analyzed extensively in every regard – also regarding its language.

The longest word

The longest word in the Qur’an is: “fa’asqaynākumūhu” (فَأَسْقَيْنَاكُمُوهُ).

Okay, this is not a word, it is a sentence. It is actually the longest chain of letters. It consists of 11 letters.

Anyway, it is interesting to take a look at the word: فَأَسْقَيْنَاكُمُوهُ.

Semitic languages work differently

Arabic is a Semitic language. It works very different compared to English or French. There is only little use in looking for the shortest or longest word because most words have a root consist­ing of three letters.

You can add vowels, pre- and suffixes, and put the root into several patterns. Notice that in Arabic, the above-men­tioned “word” is actually a whole sentence.

In which verse do you find the “longest word” of the Qur’an?

فَأَسْقَيْنَاكُمُوهُ is found in sura 15 The Rocky Tract – in Arabic: al-Hijr (سُورة الْحِجْر):

The words of Sura 15:22

وَأَرْسَلْنَا الرِّيَاحَ لَوَاقِحَ فَأَنزَلْنَا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَسْقَيْنَاكُمُوهُ وَمَا أَنتُمْ لَهُ بِخَازِنِينَ

We send the winds to fertilize, and We bring down water from the sky for you to drink – you do not control its sources.

Other interesting facts about the Qur’an

How many words does the Qur’an contain?

Answer: Most scholars say 77,429 words. It is not clear how to count them. In the Qur’an, at the beginning of some suras, you will find strange combinations of letters which do not have a meaning; at least we don’t know them. They are called al-Muqatta‘āt (الْمُقَطَّعات).

Some more statistics – please note that some people count several aspects differently, but the order of magnitude is of course the same.

1. Number of Suras: 114
2. Number of verses: 6,236
3. Number of dots in Qur’an: 1,015.030
4. Number of letters: 323,671
5. Most common word: from (مِن); it occurs 2,763 times

What kind of things does the Qur’an mention?

• 16 places, cities or countries
• 15 names of things that can be eaten or drunk
• 7 colors
• 1 month – Ramadan (رَمَضان)
• 1 woman – Maryam (Mary)