The Sunlight · Quran
Search the Quran
The tool that lets us stop taking anyone's word for it, including this site's.
Why do they not study the Quran carefully? Do they have locks on their minds?
[47:24]Search
Type a reference, a phrase in quotation marks, or a word. Every result links to the verse in its place. A verse pulled out of its passage can be made to say almost anything.
More Than a Search Box
A search box is not usually a spiritual instrument. This one is. It is what lets us stop taking anyone's word for anything, including this site's.
Anyone can say the Quran says something. Thirty seconds here tells us whether it does.
God asks for exactly this: “Why do they not study the Quran carefully? Do they have locks on their minds?” [47:24]
The Three Ways In
All three go in the same box. The search works out which one we meant.
A reference
Type 2:177 for one verse, 2:177-182 for a passage, or 2 for a whole sura. A list works too: 2:177, 3:97. Anything that is not a real verse is named as such, instead of quietly returning nothing.
A phrase in quotation marks
Type the words obligatory charity inside quotation marks, and only verses carrying those words in that order come back. Useful when we half-remember a line and want the rest of it.
Words
Type orphan, or forgive patience, and every verse carrying those words is ranked and shown, with the words marked. Verses with all of them come first.
The Two Options Under the Box
Both are off until we switch them on.
Include related words
Translations differ, and one idea can wear several words. With this on, a search for charity also looks for alms, spend, give, poor and needy. It draws on a map of 223 terms built from this translation. It also tells us which extra words it used.
Search the footnotes too
This translation carries 398 footnotes, and some of what people look for is in them and not in a verse. With this on, a footnote match is shown open, marked as a footnote, so it is never mistaken for scripture.
What Every Result Shows
The reference, and the sura it belongs to. The subtitle above the verse, where this translation has one.
The verse itself, with the searched words marked. Then the footnote, folded away, if the verse has one.
And a link to the verse in its place in the reader. The passage around it is one click away. That last link is the important one. It is the difference between checking something and collecting a fragment.
Questions About Searching
How do I look up a verse by its number?
Type it as it is written. Typing 2:177 gives that verse, 2:177-182 gives the passage, and a bare 2 gives the whole sura. Several at once works too, separated by commas: 2:177, 3:97, 22:78. Brackets are fine, so pasting [2:177] straight from another page on this site works. If a number is not a verse in the Quran, the search says so instead of returning nothing. There are 114 suras, and each has its own number of verses.
Why does a search find fewer verses than I expected?
Usually because the translation uses a different word for the idea we are after. The subject may be everywhere under words we did not try. If charity finds little, give, spend, poor and needy will find more. Turning on the related words option does that automatically. It also helps to search the concrete word instead of the abstract one. Most of what the Quran says about family sits in verses that use inherit, divorce, spouse and nurse. They never use the word family at all.
Is this a search by meaning?
Not yet. It matches words. The related words option widens that to the other words the translation uses for the same idea. That covers most of what people need. It also has one advantage over a search by meaning. We can see exactly which words it used, listed above the results. A true search by meaning would need a model reading the whole Quran and our question together. That is planned, and it is a bigger piece of work than a search box.
Does the search cover the footnotes and the appendices?
The footnotes, yes, once the option under the box is switched on. The appendices are not in this search. This translation's 398 footnotes are searched separately so that a footnote is never mistaken for a verse. A footnote match is labelled and shown open. The appendices are on the Appendices page, and searching them is a separate job still to be done. Until then, the Ask panel on every page reaches them.
Topic Index
A curated index, by what people actually come looking for. Each entry runs a prepared search with related words switched on, and links to the page here that covers the subject.
God — attributes and names
Passages describing who God is. The starting point for everything else. Begin at 59:22-24, which names Him more times in three verses than most of the book does in a chapter.
[59:22-24] · [2:255] · [112:1-4] · [7:180] · [20:8] · [17:110] · [57:1-6] · [6:59] · [24:35]
Monotheism and idolatry
The Oneness of God, and everything the Quran identifies as a rival to it. Read 12:106 first — it is the verse that stops this being a subject about other people.
[2:163] · [3:18] · [39:3] · [39:45] · [4:48] · [16:36] · [21:25] · [47:19] · [2:22] · [12:106] · [112:1-4]
Creation and the natural world
The heavens, the earth, the origins of life, and creation as a sign. The six days are in 7:54 and 41:9-12; the point of all of it is in 3:190-191.
[21:30] · [24:45] · [7:54] · [41:9-12] · [2:164] · [51:47] · [55:5-6] · [36:38-40] · [6:99] · [16:10-11] · [45:13] · [3:190-191]
Prayer and remembrance
The contact prayers, their timing, and the remembrance of God more broadly. The five times are scattered, not listed — 11:114, 17:78, 2:238 and 24:58 between them give you all of it.
[11:114] · [17:78] · [2:238] · [24:58] · [4:103] · [20:14] · [62:9] · [29:45] · [107:4-6] · [2:152] · [13:28] · [33:41-42]
Charity, wealth and the poor
Obligatory giving, voluntary giving, and what the Quran says about accumulation. 9:60 is the list of who it goes to; 104:1-3 is what happens to the person who keeps it.
[2:43] · [2:110] · [2:215] · [2:261] · [2:267] · [2:271] · [2:274] · [9:60] · [57:7] · [63:10] · [70:24-25] · [104:1-3] · [92:18]
Fasting and self-restraint
The fast, its conditions, its exemptions and its purpose — the entire law in five consecutive verses, and that is worth sitting with.
[2:183-187] · [33:35] · [19:26]
Pilgrimage
The journey, its obligation, and its conditions. 3:97 sets the condition most people skip: when you can afford it.
[2:196-197] · [3:96-97] · [22:26-29] · [2:125-128] · [2:158] · [5:97]
Death, resurrection and judgement
The stages after this life, and what the Quran says about each. Start at 39:68-70, which compresses the whole sequence into three verses.
[21:35] · [6:60] · [23:99-100] · [39:68-70] · [36:51-52] · [75:1-2] · [82:4-5] · [99:6-8] · [101:6-9] · [56:83-84]
Paradise and Hell
The descriptions, in the Quran's own words in the Quran's own words, not in later embellishment. Read 13:35 and 47:15 first, and see the word allegory sitting inside both.
[2:25] · [13:35] · [47:15] · [55:46] · [55:62] · [56:15-26] · [76:5] · [76:21] · [9:72] · [18:29] · [22:19-20] · [14:16-17] · [25:65]
Intercession
Every passage bearing on whether anyone can speak to God on your behalf. 39:44 settles it in one line; the rest show how thoroughly.
[39:44] · [2:48] · [2:123] · [2:254] · [2:255] · [6:51] · [20:109] · [21:28] · [43:86] · [53:26] · [74:48]
Prophets and messengers
Who was sent, to whom, and with what message. 40:78 is the verse that keeps this list from ever being complete: some were named to us and some were not.
[4:163-165] · [21:7] · [21:25] · [16:36] · [40:78] · [33:40] · [2:136] · [2:285] · [3:84]
Earlier scriptures and their followers
What the Quran says about what came before it. 2:62 and 5:69 are the two verses most often left out of this conversation.
[3:3-4] · [5:44] · [5:46-48] · [2:62] · [5:69] · [2:136] · [3:84] · [29:46]
Women, marriage and family
Rights, responsibilities, inheritance, divorce and parenting. Read 33:35 before anything else in this topic; it sets the terms.
[33:35] · [4:1] · [4:7] · [4:11-12] · [4:19] · [4:32] · [4:34-35] · [2:228-233] · [24:30-31] · [30:21] · [65:1-7] · [60:12]
Animals and creatures
Every creature named, and what it is doing in the text. 6:38 is the verse to start from — they are communities like you.
[6:38] · [24:41] · [16:5-8] · [16:68-69] · [27:18-19] · [29:41] · [18:18] · [105:1-5] · [2:259]
Patience and hardship
For a season when you are being asked to endure something. 2:155-157 tells you the test is coming; 2:286 tells you its size.
[2:153] · [2:155-157] · [2:286] · [3:200] · [16:96] · [16:127] · [39:10] · [31:17] · [42:43] · [70:5] · [94:5-6] · [103:1-3] · [12:18] · [12:83]
Gratitude
What the Quran says about thankfulness, and about its opposite. 14:7 is the promise; 16:18 is the reason you will never finish the count.
[14:7] · [2:152] · [16:18] · [16:53] · [27:40] · [31:12] · [34:13] · [7:10] · [76:3]
Repentance and forgiveness
The passages people most need and least expect. If you read only one, read 39:53. If you read two, read 25:70 as well.
[39:53] · [25:70-71] · [4:110] · [42:25] · [66:8] · [11:3] · [71:10-12] · [3:135-136] · [20:82] · [40:3] · [24:22] · [42:37] · [42:40]
Justice, honesty and contracts
Dealing fairly — including the surprisingly detailed material on debts and witnesses. 2:282 is the longest verse in the book, and it is about writing down a loan.
[4:135] · [5:8] · [16:90] · [4:58] · [2:282-283] · [17:34-35] · [6:152] · [55:9] · [83:1-3] · [5:1]
Parents and the elderly
One of the most emphatic and least discussed themes in the book. 17:23 puts honouring your parents in the same breath as worshipping God alone.
[17:23-24] · [31:14-15] · [46:15] · [29:8] · [4:36] · [2:83] · [2:180]
Food and dietary rules
What is prohibited, what is permitted, and how short the list actually is. 6:145 gives the whole of it in one verse; 16:112-116 warns against adding to it.
[6:145] · [2:173] · [5:3] · [16:112-116] · [5:4-5] · [5:96] · [5:90] · [2:168] · [6:118-119]
Satan and temptation
The enemy, his method, and the limits of his power. 14:22 is his own account of what he actually does, given after the judgement.
[7:16-17] · [7:20-22] · [7:27] · [14:22] · [15:39] · [15:42] · [17:64] · [35:6] · [36:60] · [43:36-37] · [4:120] · [58:19] · [16:98-99] · [2:168] · [2:208]
Guidance and misguidance
How the Quran describes people finding the path and losing it. 16:93 and 29:69 are the two that keep this from becoming fatalism.
[2:2] · [2:26] · [6:125] · [7:178] · [13:27] · [16:93] · [28:56] · [29:69] · [64:11] · [76:29] · [92:12] · [10:99] · [2:256] · [18:17]
Notes on the Topic Index
The references beside each topic are a starting set, not a complete one. They were chosen because a subject is actually built on them, which is not the same as containing a particular word.
A few warnings, subject by subject, for the places where people reliably go wrong.
On God's names: they are descriptions, not incantations. God says to call on Him by them, and to leave alone the people who distort them [7:180].
On monotheism: 12:106 makes this a question about us, not about somebody else's religion. Read it before anything else in that topic.
On prayer: the five times are not gathered in one list anywhere. They have to be assembled from 11:114, 17:78, 2:238 and 24:58.
On charity: the searches return far more about voluntary giving than about the obligatory amount. That imbalance is in the text, and it is worth sitting with.
On Paradise and Hell: the word allegory appears inside the descriptions themselves [13:35], [47:15]. Anyone reading those passages as a travel brochure has skipped the Quran's own instruction.
On intercession: read the whole set in one sitting. The weight of it is in the repetition.
On women, marriage and family: search the concrete words: inherit, divorce, witness, nurse, spouse. Not the word woman. Most of it sits in verses that never use it.
On patience: the verses are short, and the temptation is to read twenty in four minutes. Read one.
On guidance: the verses about God sending people astray read as fatalism until 16:93 and 29:69 are put beside them. Never take one of these alone.
How to Search Well
Six habits that turn a search box into a study tool.
Search the idea, not only the word
Translations differ. If charity returns little, try give, spend, poor and needy, or switch on related words. The subject may be everywhere under words we did not try.
Read around every hit
Open the full passage. The verses before and after change the meaning more often than people expect, and the link to do it is on every result.
Notice who is being addressed
A verse addressed to one person in one situation is not automatically a general instruction. Check who is being spoken to before taking it as a rule.
Count the hits
How often a theme appears is information. A subject mentioned constantly and a subject mentioned once do not carry the same weight.
Look for the absence
Searching for something and finding nothing is a real result. Write it down, and do not assume the search was done badly.
Save what is found
Copy the references into a journal as they turn up. A search we cannot repeat next month was half wasted. The address bar keeps the query, so the link can be saved as it is.
Verse Connections
Every search result carries a Verse Connections panel. Five kinds of link, generated for each result, so that one verse always opens onto the rest of the book.
Same theme elsewhere
Other passages addressing the same subject, so a single verse is never read in isolation.
The fuller treatment
Where a theme mentioned briefly in one place is developed at length in another.
The qualifying verse
Passages that condition or limit the one you are reading. These are the connections most often missed — and most often needed.
Same account, different angle
Where a story or event is told again elsewhere with different emphasis and different detail.
Where this site discusses it
A link to the page here that deals with this verse, so you can see what has been said about it and disagree if you want to.
Building the Connections
Worked examples. For a handful of the verses people look up most, here is what the five kinds of connection actually produce. Use these as a pattern for building your own.
[2:255] — THE VERSE ABOUT GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY. Same theme elsewhere: [59:22-24], [20:8], [112:1-4]. Fuller treatment: [57:1-6] on His being first, last, outermost and innermost. The qualifying verse: [39:44], which closes off the reading of “Who could intercede with Him” [2:255] that people most want. Same account, different angle: [6:59] on the keys to all secrets. Where this site discusses it: Greatness of God.
[2:183] — FASTING IS DECREED FOR YOU. Same theme elsewhere: the rest of the passage, [2:184-187], which nobody should read separately from it. Fuller treatment: [2:185] on why the month and not another. The qualifying verse: [2:184], which supplies the exemptions before it supplies a single instruction about how to fast. Same account, different angle: [19:26], a fast of speech, not of food. Where this site discusses it: Fasting (Seyam).
[17:23] — HONOUR YOUR PARENTS. Same theme elsewhere: [31:14-15], [46:15], [29:8]. Fuller treatment: [17:24], the next verse, which is where the instruction becomes physical. The qualifying verse: [31:15] and [29:8] — obey them, but not into idolatry. Same account, different angle: [4:36] and [2:83], where parents appear inside a longer list of people you owe something to. Where this site discusses it: Religious Duties — Why They Exist.
[13:28] — HEARTS FIND PEACE IN REMEMBERING GOD. Same theme elsewhere: [2:152], [33:41-42], [29:45]. Fuller treatment: [20:14], which names remembrance as the reason the prayer exists at all. The qualifying verse: [107:4-6], on prayer observed with the mind somewhere else. Same account, different angle: [43:36-37], the same law stated from the other direction. Where this site discusses it: Commemorating God.
[39:53] — NEVER DESPAIR OF GOD'S MERCY. Same theme elsewhere: [4:110], [42:25], [40:3]. Fuller treatment: [25:70-71], where sins are not merely forgiven but converted. The qualifying verse: [39:54] — the very next line, which attaches a condition people skip. Same account, different angle: [66:8] on what a firm repentance actually involves. Where this site discusses it: Finding Happiness.
[4:34] — THE VERSE PEOPLE ARRIVE AT THIS PAGE FOR. Same theme elsewhere: [4:19], [4:32], [30:21], [65:6]. Fuller treatment: [4:35], the following verse, which is the instruction nobody quotes. The qualifying verse: [33:35], which addresses men and women in identical terms ten times over. Same account, different angle: [2:228-229] on divorce, where the same relationship is governed from the other side. Where this site discusses it: Women in Islam.
[6:38] — COMMUNITIES LIKE YOU. Same theme elsewhere: [24:41], [16:68-69], [27:18-19]. Fuller treatment: [16:5-8] on what the livestock are for. The qualifying verse: the second half of 6:38 itself, which is quoted far more often than the first half and in a completely different argument — a useful lesson in reading a whole verse. Same account, different angle: [29:41], where a creature is an allegory and not a description. Where this site discusses it: Pets & Animals.
Build the rest the same way. The two categories that repay the most work are the qualifying verse and the fuller treatment, because those are the two that a person quoting at you has usually left out.
Use This Against This Site
The best thing anyone can do with this page is check the claims made everywhere else on growyoursoul.info. If a page here says the Quran says something, come and find it. That is the method, not disloyalty.
Growth Prompt
Do it before closing this page. Type the claim into the box, give it a real attempt, and write down what came back, including if the answer was nothing.
What have I always believed about my faith that I have never once searched for?
Keep growing
Every topic on this site connects to the others. Here is where this page leads next.