The Meccan suras are the chronologically earlier sura

Sura

A sura is a division of the Qur'an, often referred to as a chapter. The term chapter is sometimes avoided, as the suras are of unequal length; the shortest sura has only three ayat while the longest contains 286 ayat...

s of the Qur'an

Qur'an

The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...

 that were, according to Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic tradition, revealed anytime before the Hijrah (pilgrimage of the Prophet Muhammed from Makkah to Medina). The other type of sura is the Madinan sura

Madinan sura

The Medinan suras or Medinan chapters of the Qur'an are those later suras which, according to Islamic tradition, were revealed at Medina, after Muhammad's hijra from Mecca. These suras appeared when the Muslims were in larger numbers, rather than being an oppressed minority as in Mecca.They are...

.

Meccan suras are typically shorter, with relatively short ayat, and mostly come near the end of the Qur'an. Most of the suras containing Muqatta'at

Muqatta'at

Muqatta'at are unique letter combinations that begin certain suras of the Qur'an. Muqatta'at literally means abbreviated or shortened. Their meanings remain unclear and are considered by most Muslims to be divine secrets....

 are Makki. A detail characteristics of Makki and Madani Sura can be found here.

The division of surahs into 'Meccan surahs' and 'Medinan surahs' is primarily a consequence of stylistic and thematic considerations. Classification of the surahs into these periods is based upon factors such as the length of the verse and the presence or absence of certain key concepts or word (e.g. al-Rahman as name of God).

Chronological order of Meccan suras

One proposed chronological order consists of 86 suras, as follows:

96, 68, 73, 74, 1, 111, 81, 87, 92, 89,

93, 94, 103, 100, 108, 102, 107, 109, 105, 113,

114, 112, 53, 80, 97, 91, 85, 95, 106, 101,

75, 104, 77, 50, 90, 86, 54, 38, 7, 72,

36, 25, 35, 19, 20, 56, 26, 27, 28, 17,

10, 11, 12, 15, 6, 37, 31, 34, 39, 40,

41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 88, 18, 16,

71, 14, 21, 23, 32, 52, 67, 69, 70, 78,

79, 82, 84, 30, 29, 83

Theodor Nöldeke

Theodor Nöldeke

Theodor Nöldeke was a German Semitic scholar, who was born in Harburg and studied in Göttingen, Vienna, Leiden and Berlin....

 proposed a different chronological order, consisting of 90 suras, as follows:

• from the first to the fifth year of Mohammed's mission

96, 74, 111, 106, 108, 104, 107, 102, 105, 92,

90, 94, 93, 97, 86, 91, 80, 68, 87, 95,

103, 85, 73, 101, 99, 82, 81, 53, 84, 100,

79, 77, 78, 88, 89, 75, 83, 69, 51, 52,

56, 70, 55, 112, 109, 113, 114, 1

• the fifth and sixth year of his mission:

54, 37, 71, 76, 44, 50, 20, 26, 15, 19,

38, 36, 43, 72, 67, 23, 21, 25, 17, 27, 18

• from the seventh year to Hijra
  Hijra (Islam)
  The Hijra is the migration or journey of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE. Alternate spellings of this Arabic word are Hijrah, Hijrat or Hegira, the latter following the spelling rules of Latin.- Hijra of Muhammad :In September 622, warned of a plot to...
  
  :

32, 41, 45, 16, 30, 11, 14, 12, 40, 28,

39, 29, 31, 42, 10, 34, 35, 7, 46, 6, 13