Surah Ar-Rahman is the 55th surah, with 78 ayat across a little over three pages of the Madani mushaf (pages 531 to 534). It’s famous for its refrain:
فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
Fabi ayyi ala’i rabbikuma tukadhdhiban: “So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?” in the Saheeh International translation (Ar-Rahman 55:13). It appears 31 times.
The refrain makes Ar-Rahman easier than it looks, because a large part of the surah is a single line you’ll know after the first day. It also creates its own problem: it’s easy to lose your place, recite the refrain one time too many, or skip an ayah between two refrains. Most of what follows is about solving that.
Surah Ar-Rahman at a glance
- Surah
- 55
- Juz
- 27
- Mushaf
- Pages 531 to 534
- Ayat
- 78
- Length
- About 3 pages
- Recited in
- about 12 minutes
How many days will it take?
| New lines a day | Days |
|---|---|
| 3 (a few lines) | 15 days |
| 5 (a third of a page) | 9 days |
| 7 (half a page) | 7 days |
| 10 (two thirds of a page) | 5 days |
| 15 (a full page) | 3 days |
Counts days of new memorization on the 45 lines of Surah Ar-Rahman. Add revision on top. Make a day-by-day plan.
Test yourself
Memorized Surah Ar-Rahman? Find the ayat you’re not sure of.
Quran Memorizer asks you what comes next, which ayah is missing and which look-alike ayah goes where, on the same Madani mushaf pages you learned from. With Premium, Daily Review brings your weakest ayat back first, so you can revise Surah Ar-Rahman a little every day.
Free to start, no card needed. On the web or iPhone, choose Surah Ar-Rahman as what you want to be tested on.
More on Surah Ar-Rahman: How long it takes to memorize · All surah guides
The sections
| Ayat | What it’s about |
|---|---|
| 1 to 12 | The Most Merciful taught the Quran, created man, and set the balance |
| 13 to 25 | The creation of man and jinn, the two easts and two wests, the two seas, the ships |
| 26 to 30 | Everyone on earth perishes, and only the Face of your Lord remains |
| 31 to 45 | The Day of Judgment for jinn and mankind |
| 46 to 61 | Two gardens for whoever fears standing before their Lord |
| 62 to 78 | Two more gardens, and the closing praise |
Read a translation of each section first. The rich descriptions in the second half, gardens, springs, fruit, companions, are much easier to remember in order when you can picture them.
Where the refrain falls
Here’s the full list of ayat that are the refrain:
13, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 45, 47, 49, 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67, 69, 71, 73, 75, 77
That looks hard to remember, but there’s a simple pattern:
- Ayat 13 to 25: the refrain comes after one or two ayat each time: 13, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25. This is the only irregular stretch, so learn it carefully.
- Ayat 28 to 42: the refrain is every even ayah.
- Ayat 45 to 77: the refrain is every odd ayah, right to the end.
So from ayah 28 onwards, after the pair 26 and 27, you’re simply alternating: one ayah of content, one refrain. Before ayah 45 the refrain lands on even numbers, and from 45 onwards on odd numbers. Ayat 43 and 44 are the two content ayat in a row that cause the switch, describing Hell and the scalding water.
Memorize the content, not the refrain
Because you’ll know the refrain from the first day, focus all your effort on the content ayat between them. One helpful exercise: recite the surah with the refrain left out, content ayat only. If you can do that smoothly, adding the refrains back is easy.
Pairs to watch
Ar-Rahman is full of pairs, and several pairs of ayat are similar:
- 55:27 ends dhul-jalali wal-ikram, with dhu. The very last ayah, 55:78, ends dhil-jalali wal-ikram, with dhi. The grammar changes because of what each phrase describes. It’s a small difference that’s easy to miss.
- The two pairs of gardens: 55:46 begins wa liman khafa maqama rabbihi jannatan (for whoever fears… two gardens), and 55:62 begins wa min dunihima jannatan (and besides those, two more gardens). The descriptions that follow each are similar but not identical. Compare them side by side.
A ten-day plan
| Days | New ayat |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 to 13 |
| 2 | 14 to 25 |
| 3 | 26 to 36 |
| 4 | 37 to 45 |
| 5 | 46 to 55 |
| 6 | 56 to 61 |
| 7 | 62 to 69 |
| 8 | 70 to 78 |
| 9 | Recite the whole surah, content ayat only, then with refrains |
| 10 | Recite the whole surah to a listener |
A story to remember it by
Jabir reported that the Prophet ﷺ recited Ar-Rahman to his companions from beginning to end and they stayed silent. He told them he had recited it to the jinn, and they responded better: each time he reached the refrain, they said, “We deny none of Your favors, our Lord. To You is all praise” (Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 3291, graded hasan).
Revising Ar-Rahman
Ar-Rahman is lovely to recite in night prayer. Once you’ve memorized it, recite it weekly, and check the refrain count against the mushaf every few weeks. The Quran Memorizer “what comes next” questions are an easy way to make sure you know exactly where each refrain falls.
