Surah Lazim: The Short Surahs Every Muslim Learns First
If you’re getting your child started on the short surahs, this page covers the full list, the order our teachers use, how long it usually takes and how you can help at home. The advice on order, timing and mistakes comes from our teachers’ own classes.
- Checked by a Hafiza teacher
- Free printable checklist
- First 3 classes free
A one-to-one online class: Surah Al-Falaq and Surah An-Nas are on screen while the student recites.
22
short surahs, Ad-Dhuha to An-Nas
157
ayat in those 22 surahs
~5
years old is when most children start
3–4 weeks
for most of our students, with regular practice
In short
Surah Lazim are the short surahs Muslims learn first and read most often in solat. In Singapore and Malaysia, the term usually means the 22 surahs from Ad-Dhuha (93) to An-Nas (114), 157 ayat in all, learned together with Al-Fatihah. There’s no single official list, so you’ll also see lists of 10 or 38.
Surah Lazim has nothing to do with Madd Lazim or Waqf Lazim. Those are Tajweed rules, not a list of surahs.
The list
Surah Lazim List: The 22 Surahs and What Their Names Mean
These are the last 22 surahs of the Quran, in the order they appear in the mushaf. Al-Fatihah (الفاتحة, 7 ayat) is learned alongside them, because it’s read in every rak’ah.
| No. | Surah | Also written as | Arabic | Meaning of the name | Ayat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 93 | Ad-Dhuha | Ad-Duha | الضحى | The Morning Light | 11 |
| 94 | Ash-Sharh | Al-Insyirah, Alam Nasyrah | الشرح | The Relief | 8 |
| 95 | At-Tin | التين | The Fig | 8 | |
| 96 | Al-‘Alaq | العلق | The Clinging Clot | 19 | |
| 97 | Al-Qadr | القدر | The Night of Decree | 5 | |
| 98 | Al-Bayyinah | البينة | The Clear Proof | 8 | |
| 99 | Az-Zalzalah | الزلزلة | The Earthquake | 8 | |
| 100 | Al-‘Adiyat | العاديات | The Running Horses | 11 | |
| 101 | Al-Qari’ah | القارعة | The Striking Hour | 11 | |
| 102 | At-Takathur | At-Takatsur | التكاثر | Competing for More | 8 |
| 103 | Al-‘Asr | العصر | Time | 3 | |
| 104 | Al-Humazah | الهمزة | The Slanderer | 9 | |
| 105 | Al-Fil | الفيل | The Elephant | 5 | |
| 106 | Quraysh | Quraisy | قريش | Quraysh (the tribe) | 4 |
| 107 | Al-Ma’un | الماعون | Small Kindnesses | 7 | |
| 108 | Al-Kawthar | Al-Kautsar | الكوثر | Abundance | 3 |
| 109 | Al-Kafirun | الكافرون | The Disbelievers | 6 | |
| 110 | An-Nasr | النصر | Help | 3 | |
| 111 | Al-Masad | Al-Lahab | المسد | The Palm Fibre | 5 |
| 112 | Al-Ikhlas | الإخلاص | Sincerity | 4 | |
| 113 | Al-Falaq | الفلق | Daybreak | 5 | |
| 114 | An-Nas | الناس | Mankind | 6 |
That’s 157 ayat across the 22 surahs. Ayat counts follow the standard mushaf (Hafs). The highlighted rows are the 10 surahs most children learn first.
Want this list on paper? The checklist has all 22 surahs, with boxes your child can tick.
Good to know
Why Do Some Lists Say 10, 22, 23 or 38?
People simply draw the line in different places.
| Number | What it covers | Where you’ll usually see it |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | Al-Fil to An-Nas | “Last 10 surahs” lists and short-surah videos |
| 22 | Ad-Dhuha to An-Nas | The end of the Muqaddam, and most Surah Lazim lists |
| 23 | The 22 plus Al-Fatihah | Lists made for solat |
| 38 | All 37 surahs of Juz Amma plus Al-Fatihah | Juz Amma memorisation programmes |
None of these is wrong. If your child’s madrasah or mosque class uses a different list, go with theirs. The surahs are the same. Only the place where the list stops is different.
Where to start
Which Surah Should Your Child Learn First?
There are three common ways to order the short surahs:
Muqaddam order
Start at Ad-Dhuha and go down to An-Nas, the way they appear in the book.
Shortest first
Start at An-Nas and work back up. This is the order our teachers use.
Prayer first
Al-Fatihah, then the three Quls, then the rest.
Our teachers go with shortest first. When children begin, they aren’t used to memorising yet. A short surah doesn’t feel like a burden, and once they finish one, most children want to start the next. In the first few weeks, building that habit matters more than speed.
If your child doesn’t know Al-Fatihah yet, they learn it before anything else, since it’s read in every rak’ah of solat. Our teachers also teach Ayat al-Kursi alongside the short surahs.
MuslimSG gives beginners the same advice: start with the short surahs, because the long ones can overwhelm a new reader (How to learn to read Quran).
The first 10, in the order our teachers use
- An-Nas
- Al-Falaq
- Al-Ikhlas
- Al-Masad
- An-Nasr
- Al-Kafirun
- Al-Kawthar
- Al-Ma’un
- Quraysh
- Al-Fil
After these, your child carries on up the list towards Ad-Dhuha.
Starting your child on the short surahs?
In our one-to-one classes, the teacher listens to every ayah your child recites. See how our Quran classes for kids work.
Before memorising
Does Your Child Need to Read Arabic First?
Your child doesn’t need to speak Arabic. But they do need to read the Arabic letters.
Our teachers find that memorising is very hard for a child who can’t read Arabic at all. All they can do is copy the sounds they hear, with no way to check a word against the page. That’s why we start with Iqra. Once a child can read and join the letters, the short surahs go much faster.
What about rumi, the surahs written in English letters? It looks like a shortcut, but some Arabic sounds have no English letter. ح and ه both turn into “h”, and ع usually just disappears. Children who learn from rumi often memorise these sounds wrongly, and that’s very hard to undo later.
If your child is just starting with the letters, our free Arabic alphabet chart is an easy first step at home.
Can’t read Arabic yet?
We start with Iqra, one to one. Read how our Iqra classes work.
Age and timing
When Can a Child Start, and How Long Does It Take?
Most children can start at around 5 years old.
Every child is different, but with regular practice our teachers find most students memorise the short surahs in about 3 to 4 weeks. “Regular” is the key word. A little every day works much better than one long session a week.
From a parent in Singapore
Mohd Hassan, a parent in Singapore, told us his son had just finished reading the Quran, and he wanted him to learn the short surahs too. Within a short time, the teacher had helped his son memorise all of them. Now his son recites and revises them, and it has become a habit.
Not sure how your child would do? A free class with our teacher will show you.
At home
How to Memorise Surah Lazim at Home
These are the steps our teachers use in class. You can follow the same steps at home.
- Read it right first. Before your child memorises an ayah, they read it from the page with the teacher until every word is correct.
- Look, then recall. Read the ayah 5 times while looking at it, then 5 times without looking.
- Join it on. Recite the new ayah together with the ones before it, and only then move to the next.
- Listen every day. Especially at the start, someone should hear the surahs daily. That can be you, an older sibling or the teacher.
- Get ready before solat. Decide which surah you’ll read before the prayer and go over it once. This is also what stops a surah slipping away halfway through.
Steps 1 to 4 are what our teachers do in every class. Want a teacher to take your child through them?
From our classes
Mistakes Our Teachers Hear Most
A word memorised wrongly
If a child reads a word wrongly while memorising, that wrong version sticks. Even after the teacher corrects it, the old version can come back now and then. That’s why our teachers make sure each ayah is read properly before it’s memorised.
Ayat that look alike
Some surahs repeat words with small changes, and children mix them up. In Surah Al-Kafirun, ayat 3 and 5 are exactly the same, and ayat 2 and 4 are very close. It helps to go slowly here and say out loud which ayah comes next.
Not sure your child’s surahs are right?
A teacher can listen and correct them, one ayah at a time.
Khatam
Surah Lazim at a Majlis Khatam
At many majlis khatam, the child recites these short surahs towards the end of the ceremony, in front of family and guests. If your child’s khatam is coming up, it helps to have them memorised and well revised beforehand.
Finishing the Quran is also a good time to start memorising them. Your child can already read well, so it goes faster. That’s what Mohd Hassan’s son did. Our khatam Quran guide explains how to plan a khatam and how long it takes.
Is your child’s khatam coming up? Our teachers can help them get the short surahs ready.
For adults
For Adults Who Already Know These Surahs
Many adults learned these surahs as children and have read them in solat ever since. Over the years, small mistakes can creep in: a short vowel that has become long, or ح that now sounds like ه. A teacher listening to the surahs you use most is a quick way to put them right.
Want your recitation checked?
A teacher listens one to one and corrects each surah. See our Quran classes for adults and Quran reading with Tajweed.
Free download
Free Printable Surah Lazim Checklist
All 22 surahs and Al-Fatihah on one page, in the order our teachers use. Each surah has a box for “memorised”, one for “recited to teacher” and three for revision. Print it, put it on the fridge, and let your child tick them off one by one.
FAQ
Surah Lazim: Frequently Asked Questions
How many Surah Lazim are there?
Usually 22, from Ad-Dhuha to An-Nas, learned with Al-Fatihah. Some lists only include the last 10, while Juz Amma programmes cover all 37 surahs of the 30th juz.
Which surah should a child memorise first?
Our teachers start with An-Nas and work upwards: Al-Falaq, Al-Ikhlas and so on. Short surahs first make the start easy and build the habit. Al-Fatihah comes before all of them if your child doesn’t know it yet.
What age can a child start memorising surahs?
Around 5 years old. Each child’s pace is different, and daily practice matters more than the starting age.
How long does it take to memorise the short surahs?
With regular practice, most of our students memorise them in about 3 to 4 weeks. Some children need longer, and that’s fine.
Can my child memorise surahs without reading Arabic?
They don’t need to speak Arabic, but they should be able to read the letters. Memorising without reading the script is very hard, so we begin with Iqra.
Is it OK to learn from rumi?
We don’t recommend it. Some Arabic sounds have no English letter, so children end up memorising them wrongly, and those mistakes are hard to fix.
What if my child forgets a surah during solat?
Choose the surah before the prayer and go over it once. Hearing the surahs every day, from you or a teacher, keeps them fresh.
Is Ayat al-Kursi part of Surah Lazim?
No. Ayat al-Kursi is ayah 255 of Surah Al-Baqarah, not a surah of its own. Many families learn it at the same time, and our teachers teach it alongside the short surahs.
Have a question that isn’t answered here? Send it to us and a teacher will reply.
Want a Teacher to Listen to Your Child Recite?
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