The first surah (chapter) in the Holy Qur’an after Al-Fatihah is Al-Baqarah. It is the surah that Rasulullah r recommends to be read in houses, as he r has said:

((لَا تَجْعَلُوا بُيُوتَكُمْ مَقَابِرَ إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ يَنْفِرُ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ الَّذِي تُقْرَأُ فِيهِ سُورَةُ الْبَقَرَةِ))

“Do not make your houses like graves. Verily, satan runs away from houses which have Surah Al-Baqarah recited in them.”^[1]

It is the canopy of the Holy Qur’an, the longest surah and it is Medinan in nature.

The difference between the surahs which are Meccan and Medinan are that the Meccan surahs give a lot of attention to Aqeedah (Creed). This is because, they were revealed during the years that the Prophet r was facing the polytheists of Mecca whom he strived to call to believe in Allah, the Hereafter, the paradise and hellfire. On the other hand, the Medinan surahs focus more on the establishing of the new community. As such, they contain many verses of legislative nature.