A Meccan surah is, according to the timing and contextual background of their revelation (asbāb al-nuzūl) within Islamic tradition, a chronologically earlier chapter (suwar, singular sūrah) of the Qur'an.
The traditional chronological order attributed to Ibn Abbas became widely accepted following its adoption by the 1924 Egyptian standard edition.
[1] The Meccan chapters are believed to have been revealed anytime before the migration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina (Hijra).
Classification of the chapters into these periods is based upon factors such as the length of the verse and the presence or absence of certain key concepts or words (e.g., al-Rahman as the name of God).
[3] Following are some characteristics of Meccan verses, No 7 and 8 are stylistic characteristics, and the last 4 are content and subject characteristics: One chronological order proposed by Abu al-Qasim `Umar ibn Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Kafi and considered the "traditional order"[7] consists of 86 chapters, as follows: Theodor Nöldeke proposed a different chronological order, later known as the Nöldeke-Schwally chronology,[8] consisting of 90 chapters, as follows: The First Meccan period refers to the first period in which Muhammad started receiving revelations.
[clarification needed] The major theme of these surahs revolves around presenting to humanity how obvious the existence of God is through the use of oath formulas involving the power of nature in an emphatic tone.
A stress is put on God being the creator of Earth and Heaven and everything that lies in between and also His unreachable generosity.
[16] For example, surah 20 begins with a section proclaiming the greatness of God, and then transitions immediately into a story about Moses.
This is manifest in the fact that surahs of the second Meccan period tend toward self-referentiality, wherein the Qur'an uses "qur'an" (recitation or the Qu'ran) and "kitaab" (book) to make mention to its own existence (surahs 54, 37, 15, et al.), noting that indeed there is a holy message coming from God.
[18] By the third Meccan period, sensuous imagery of full-bosomed, wide-eyed and virginal maidens have been replaced by references to spouses.