A Surah (سورة‎‎) is the term for a chapter of the Qur'an. There are 114 Surahs in the Qur'an, each divided into verses. The chapters or suras are of unequal length, the shortest chapter (Al-Kawthar) has only three ayat (verses) while the longest (Al-Baqara) contains 286 verses. Of the 114 chapters in the Qur'an, 87 are classified as Meccan, while 27 are Medinan. Except for sura At-Tawba, all chapters or suras commence with 'In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate'. The chapters are arranged roughly in order of descending size; therefore the arrangement of the Qur'an is neither chronological nor thematic.