Surah Baqarah: the ‘miniature’ Qur’an

This is the longest Surah in the Qur’an with 286 verses and revealed over the span of 9 years.  Yet there is well connected textual coherence between its verses which could be explained through ‘ring composition’.  The first half of the Surah is a survey of the Children of Israel and the second half of the Surahs lays down the foundation of the Muslim Ummah with detailed laws on acts of worship, family life, and governance of state affairs.  It is essentially a summary of the contents of the entire in more detail than in the opening chapter.