Ta Ha: Meaning of the Opening of Surah Ta Ha

What Does Ta Ha Mean?

The most widely held position is that the meaning of these letters is known with certainty only to God. Ta Ha is one of the huruf muqattaat, the disjointed letters that open 29 surahs.

Over the centuries, commentators discussed several suggestions about Ta Ha, as they did for the other openings. The range of views is set out neutrally on the huruf muqattaat overview, so it is not repeated here.

The surah is also called by these letters. The opening and the name of the surah are the same word, written طه.

What Are the Basic Facts About Surah Ta-Ha?

Surah Ta-Ha sits between Maryam and al-Anbiya. The table collects its main reference facts in one place.

Two revelation orders appear in the table because scholars have not used a single list. The Egyptian standard edition and the list by Theodor Noldeke give different numbers.

A Short Outline of the Surah

One common outline divides the surah by verse ranges. A short introduction covers verses 1 to 8.

The longest part is verses 9 to 98, the account of Musa. It makes up two thirds of the surah, which is 90 of its 135 verses.

The remaining verses cover other themes. This page does not comment on that content. It notes the layout only, so a reader can place the opening letters at the very start.

Where Does Ta Ha Sit Among the 29 Openings?

Of the 29 surahs that open with letters, Ta-Ha is the eleventh in Quran order. Ten openings come before it and 18 come after it.

Its neighbors in this list are Maryam, which opens with كهيعص, and ash-Shuara, which opens with طسم. Surah 19 and surah 20 stand side by side, so Ta Ha follows the five-letter opening directly.

Ta Ha is also one of four openings made of exactly two letters. The other three are طس, يس and حم. The full table of all 29 is on the muqattaat list page.

How Are the Two Letters Named and Read?

The cluster is read as two letter names. The first is ta, written طاء in full, and the second is ha, written هاء. A reader says ta, then ha, and does not run them into a single word.

The first letter is an emphatic consonant, made with the tongue raised. Many English pages therefore write it as Ta or Taa, and the second as Ha or Haa. The spellings differ, but the two-part reading is the same.

Some Urdu texts write the group as طٰہٰ, with a small dagger alif above each letter. That mark is explained on the dagger alif page. A fuller guide to the sounds is on the muqattaat pronunciation page.

What Are the Letter Values of Ta Ha?

In the Abjad system, ta (ط) is the ninth letter and counts as 9. Ha (ه) is the fifth letter and counts as 5. The total is 14.

ط 9 + ه 5 = 14

1. Take each letter in turn: ط then ه.
2. Look up each value in the letter values chart: 9 and 5.
3. Add them to get 14.

Both letters have the same value in the Mashriqi and Maghribi orders, so the total is 14 in either. If you want to know why other letters do differ between systems, see why values differ.

Which Letters Are Easy to Confuse With Ta and Ha?

Writers often mix up similar shapes. The emphatic ta (ط) with value 9 is not the dotted ta (ت), which is worth 400. It is also not za (ظ), which is worth 900 in the Mashriqi order.

The same care applies to ha (ه). It is not hah (ح), which is worth 8, and not khah (خ), which is worth 600. Typing the wrong letter changes the total at once.

How Do the Letters Appear Across All the Openings?

Ta appears in 4 of the 29 surahs that open with letters. These are طه, طس and the two surahs that open with طسم. Ha appears in only 2 of them: طه and كهيعص.

So Ta-Ha is one of just two places where this letter is found. Do not mix it with the letter hah (ح) in حم, which is a different letter.

The four two-letter openings can be compared by their sums. The table shows both counting orders.

Ta Ha and Ha Mim keep the same sum in both orders. The two openings with sin change, because sin sits at a different place in the Maghribi order. You can read about the other one on the Ya Sin page, which covers the opening of surah 36.

Why Is the Surah Called by Its Letters?

Several surahs take their names from their opening letters. Wikipedia counts four or five such surahs, and Ta-Ha is one of them.

Many other surahs carry names taken from a word or a subject in the text. So the name طه is both the title and the opening. A reader who sees it on a contents page is looking at the same two letters.

A single opening can also be shared. Alif Lam Mim opens six surahs, so those six need other names. Ta Ha opens only one surah, so the two names never conflict.

How Is Ta Ha Different From Ta Sin and Ta Sin Mim?

Three openings begin with the same letter ta, and they are easy to mix up. Each has its own surah and its own total.

• طه has two letters and opens surah 20. Its sum is 14.
• طسم has three letters and opens surahs 26 and 28. Its sum is 109.
• طس has two letters and opens surah 27. Its sum is 69.

Ta Ha is the only one that pairs ta with ha. The other two use sin after the ta. The overview of all the openings shows how these groups fit together.

What Do the Spelled-Out Letter Names Add Up To?

Each letter name is itself written with letters, and historically some writers counted the full name as well. The table shows that arithmetic and nothing more.

The two written names add up to 16. The cluster itself adds up to 14. These are two different counts, and a writer should say which one is being used.

How Can You Find the Opening in a Printed Quran?

Surah 20 is easy to locate in a printed copy. Follow these steps.

1. Turn to Surah Maryam, number 19, which opens with كهيعص.
2. Go to the end of Maryam and turn the page to the next surah heading.
3. Read the two letters طه on the first line after the Bismillah.

A printed copy usually shows the surah name, its number and its verse count in the heading. Check that the heading says 135 verses, and you are in the right place.

Printed copies also vary in layout, such as the number of lines per page. The surah number and the letters stay the same, so these two details are the safest guide.

Is Taha Also a Personal Name?

Yes. Taha is used as a given name in many Muslim communities. In Latin letters it is written as Taha, Ta-Ha or Tahaa.

This is a separate use of the same letters, and this page makes no claim about it beyond that fact. Spelling varies from family to family.

Spelling matters when you add up a name. The short form طه is worth 14, while the longer spelling طاها adds an alif and gives 16. The page on how spelling changes a value explains why the same name can have more than one total.

• طه gives 14.
• طاها gives 16.
• تاها, with the dotted ta, gives 407.

These are three different spellings with three different totals. Pick the spelling first and then calculate. The names section has further guides.

How Can You Check the Value Yourself?

The sum is easy to verify with the Abjad value calculator. Type طه and the result shows 9, 5 and a total of 14. The phrase value calculator works the same way for longer text.

The muqattaat and Abjad page explains how writers in history added up these openings. This site records that counting method only and does not endorse any numerological reading.

The method is described on the methodology page. The words and phrases section lists more pages of this kind.

Sources and Further Reading

• Ta-Ha, Wikipedia. Surah number, verse count, Meccan setting, juz and the outline by verse ranges.
• List of chapters in the Quran, Wikipedia. Name, verse count, place and revelation order of surah 20 and its neighbors.
• Muqattaʿat, Wikipedia. The letters of surah 20, the neighboring openings and the majority view.
• Letter values and sums come from this site’s tested engine. See the methodology.

Frequently Asked Questions