Why
is the term 'Surah' used?
A surah
is different from a chapter for linguistic reasons. The word surah
comes from “the outer walls of a city.” If you can visualize: in
the old days, they didn’t have borders and signs saying
“Welcome
to such-and-such city.” Rather, there were outer walls that you had
to go through; it was a security measure. Inside of the city, there
are a bunch of things happening – commerce, residences, markets,
etc – but it is all connected. That is kind of what is going on in
a surah – there’s a lot going on, but it’s all connected
somehow.
- Nouman Ali Khan [in his Bayyinah tafseer
discussion on Surah Naba']