Makkan
The later years in Makkah
ʿAṭiyyah and Ibn Abī Ṭalḥah relate from Ibn ʿAbbās that it is Makkan, and so said al-Ḥasan and ʿIkrimah; al-Qurṭubī adds ʿAṭāʾ and Jābir. Reports except two or three ayat as Madinan, usually those beginning “If you are in doubt” (10:94). It opens a run in the muṣḥaf: five surahs that begin with the letters Alif Lām Rā, the first three of them named after prophets. Of the people it is named for, Qatādah said: this was granted to no community that believed as the punishment descended, except the people of Yūnus. The traditional order places it fifty-first, followed directly by Hūd and Yūsuf.
رَوى عَطِيَّةُ، وابْنُ أبِي طَلْحَةَ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ أنَّها مَكِّيَّةٌ، وبِهِ قالَ الحَسَنُ، وعِكْرِمَةُمَكِّيَّةٌ فِي قَوْلِ الْحَسَنِ وَعِكْرِمَةَ وَعَطَاءٍ وَجَابِرٍوقالَ قَتادَةُ: لَمْ يَكُنْ هَذا لِأُمَّةٍ آمَنَتْ عِنْدَ نُزُولِ العَذابِ، إلّا لِقَوْمِ يُونُسَThe same, in other works
- al-BaghawīMaʿālim al-tanzīlAhl al-Sunnah in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Makkan, except three ayat.
سُورَةُ يُونُسَ عَلَيْهِ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ مَكِّيَّةٌ إِلَّا ثَلَاثَ آيَاتٍ
- al-Suyūṭīal-Durr al-manthūrAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Ibn ʿAbbās: it came down in Makkah. Recorded by al-Naḥḥās, Abū al-Shaykh and Ibn Mardawayh.
أخْرَجَ النَّحّاسُ وأبُو الشَّيْخِ، وابْنُ مَرْدُويَهْ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ قالَ: نَزَلَتْ سُورَةُ يُونُسَ بِمَكَّةَ
A report he gathers; its chain is not graded here.
- al-ShawkānīFatḥ al-qadīr→
Makkan, except three ayat, from “If you are in doubt” (10:94) onward.
هي مَكِّيَّةٌ إلّا ثَلاثَ آياتٍ مِن قَوْلِهِ: ﴿فَإنْ كُنْتَ في شَكٍّ﴾ إلى آخِرِهِنَّ
- Abū al-SuʿūdIrshād al-ʿaql al-salīmMāturīdī in creedḤanafī in fiqh→
Makkan.
سُورَةُ يُونُسَ - عَلَيْهِ السَّلامُ – مَكِّيَّةٌ، وهي مِائَةٌ وتِسْعُ آياتٍ
Each line of English says what the Arabic beneath it says.
What was happening
The objection in Makkah had taken a particular form by now. It was no longer only that the message was unwelcome; it was that the messenger was one of them. A man they had watched grow up, with no kingdom and no following, was saying that the Lord of the worlds had spoken to him. The surah opens on exactly that: “Is it a wonder to people that We have revealed to a man from among them: warn mankind, and give good news to those who believe?”
They had a counter-offer. “Bring a Qurʾan other than this, or change it.” The answer is one of the plainest statements of what revelation is: “Say: it is not for me to change it of my own accord. I follow only what is revealed to me… Had Allah willed, I would not have recited it to you, nor would He have made it known to you. I lived among you a lifetime before it. Will you not reason?” And then the challenge: if he invented it, produce one surah like it, and call on whomever you can.
What is unusual in the surah is how much of it is appeal. “Allah calls to the Abode of Peace.” “For those who do good is the best, and more.” “O mankind, there has come to you an admonition from your Lord, and a healing for what is in the breasts, and guidance, and mercy for the believers. Say: in the bounty of Allah and in His mercy — in that let them rejoice; it is better than what they gather.” It describes how people actually behave: calling on Allah lying down, sitting and standing when harm touches them, and walking on when it is lifted as though they had never called; praying in earnest on a ship in a storm, and forgetting on the shore.
The stories come late and are kept short. Nūḥ, standing alone against his people. Mūsā and Hārūn — and at the end of that story, something told in this way only here. Pharaoh, drowning, says: “I believe that there is no god but He in whom the Children of Israel believe.” The reply: “Now — when you had disobeyed before?” His body is cast up as a sign.
Then one ayah about a people on the Tigris. “Why was there not a single town that believed, so that its faith profited it — except the people of Yūnus? When they believed, We lifted from them the punishment of disgrace in this life.” Quraysh are being shown both doors. And the Prophet ﷺ is told what he may not do about which one they take: “Had your Lord willed, all who are on the earth would have believed, together. Would you then compel people until they become believers?”
مواجهة المكذبين للوحي بالحجج والبراهين ودعوتهم للإيمان ترغيبا وترهيبا.
To confront those who deny the revelation with arguments and proofs, and to call them to faith by both hope and fear.
The surah’s aim, as al-Mukhtaṣar fī al-Tafsīr states it
- Revelation to “a man from among them”
- “Bring a Qurʾan other than this”
- The challenge of a single surah
- Man in distress and in ease
- The Abode of Peace
- A healing for what is in the breasts
- The friends of Allah
- Pharaoh’s faith, too late
- The people of Yūnus
Its aims, as Ibn ʿĀshūr sets them out
ابتدئت بمقصد إثبات رسالة محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم بدلالة عجز المشركين عن معارضة القرآن، دلالة نبه عليها بأسلوب تعريضي دقيق بني على الكناية بتهجية الحروف المقطعة في أول السورة كما تقدم في مفتتح سورة البقرة، ولذلك أتبعت تلك الحروف بقوله تعالى: تلك آيات الكتاب الحكيم [يونس: 1] إشارة إلى أن إعجازه لهم هو الدليل على أنه من عند الله. وقد جاء التصريح بما كني عنه هنا في قوله: قل فأتوا بسورة مثله [يونس: 38] .
From its first ayah to its last
- 1–1010 ayat · 10% of the surahRead from ayah 1 →
A man from among them
Alif Lām Rā. These are the ayat of the wise Book. Is it a wonder to people that We have revealed to a man from among them? Your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rose over the Throne, directing the affair. He made the sun a radiance and the moon a light, and measured out its stations. Those who believe and do right — their call in the gardens of bliss is “Glory be to You, O Allah,” their greeting is “Peace,” and the close of their call: “Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.”
- 11–2313 ayat · 16% of the surahRead from ayah 11 →
“Change it”
When harm touches man he calls on Us, lying on his side, sitting or standing; and when We remove it he passes on as though he had never called on Us. Those who do not expect to meet Us say: “Bring a Qurʾan other than this, or change it.” Say: it is not for me to change it of my own accord. I lived among you a lifetime before it. He it is who carries you by land and sea: when a storm wind comes and the waves from every side, they call on Allah, sincere to Him in religion — and when He saves them, they transgress in the land.
- 24–3613 ayat · 14% of the surahRead from ayah 24 →
This life, and the Abode of Peace
The likeness of the life of this world is as water We send down from the sky: the earth takes on its ornament, and its people think they have power over it — then Our command comes by night or by day. Allah calls to the Abode of Peace. For those who do good is the best, and more (10:26). Say: who provides for you from the sky and the earth? Who owns hearing and sight? They will say, “Allah.” What is there after the truth but error? Most of them follow nothing but conjecture.
- 37–5620 ayat · 15% of the surahRead from ayah 37 →
It could not have been invented
This Qurʾan could not have been devised by any but Allah. Do they say, “He has invented it”? Say: then bring a surah like it, and call on whomever you can besides Allah. No — they have denied what they could not encompass in knowledge. Among them are those who listen to you; but can you make the deaf hear? For every community there is a messenger. They say, “When is this promise?” Say: I have no power over harm or benefit for myself, except what Allah wills.
- 57–7014 ayat · 13% of the surahRead from ayah 57 →
A healing, and the friends of Allah
O mankind, there has come to you an admonition from your Lord, a healing for what is in the breasts, guidance and mercy. Say: in the bounty of Allah and His mercy — in that let them rejoice. You are not engaged in any matter, nor do you recite any of the Qurʾan, but We are witness over you; not an atom’s weight escapes your Lord. Truly, the friends of Allah — no fear is upon them, nor do they grieve: those who believe and are mindful. For them is good news in this life and the next. Let not their words grieve you: all might belongs to Allah.
- 71–9323 ayat · 19% of the surahRead from ayah 71 →
Nūḥ, Mūsā and Pharaoh
Recite to them the story of Nūḥ: “My people, if my standing here is hard on you — then resolve on your plan, you and your partners, and give me no respite.” Then We sent Mūsā and Hārūn to Pharaoh. “Whatever you have brought is sorcery; Allah will bring it to nothing.” None believed Mūsā but some youths of his people. “Our Lord, do not make us a trial for the wrongdoing people.” We brought the Children of Israel across the sea. When drowning overtook him he said: “I believe.” — “Now? Today We shall save you in your body, that you may be a sign for those after you.”
- 94–10916 ayat · 13% of the surahRead from ayah 94 →
The people of Yūnus, and the last word
If you are in doubt about what We have sent down to you, ask those who read the Book before you. Why was there not a town that believed, so that its faith profited it — except the people of Yūnus? Would you compel people until they become believers? Say: look at what is in the heavens and the earth. Say: O mankind, if you are in doubt about my religion — I worship Allah, who takes your souls. If Allah touches you with harm, none can remove it but He. Follow what is revealed to you, and be patient until Allah judges.
The division into passages is a reading aid, written for this page; it is not part of the muṣḥaf. Each passage is drawn as long as its words are.
The sound each ayah closes on
Read aloud, every ayah closes on a sound — its fāṣilah — and the closes answer one another for a stretch, then turn. Each sound this surah closes on is a line of the staff below, and the surah is the gold line stepping along them, an ayah at a time: where it steps to another line, the rhyme turns. The dotted lines are where its passages begin.
Its commonest close carries 99% of its ayat, and the rhyme turns 2 times. None of them comes where a passage begins, as this page divides the surah.
Move along the staff to see what each ayah closes on.
Computed from the text, each ayah as it is said when the reciter stops on it: the last vowel falls away, tanwīn on alif is said as a long ā, and tāʾ marbūṭah as h. Closes the ear hears as one rhyme share a line — -ūn, -īn and -īm; -ān and -ām — and an ayah that is only the opening letters closes on the name of its last letter.
From the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions
فَمَا أُعْطُوا شَيْئًا أَحَبَّ إِلَيْهِمْ مِنَ النَّظَرِ إِلَى رَبِّهِمْ
“When the people of the Garden have entered the Garden, Allah, blessed and exalted, will say: ‘Do you wish for anything more that I should give you?’ They will say: ‘Have You not made our faces bright? Have You not admitted us to the Garden and saved us from the Fire?’ Then He will lift the veil; and they will have been given nothing dearer to them than looking upon their Lord.” Then he recited: “For those who do good is the best, and more.”ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about “For them is good news in the life of this world.” He said: “It is the righteous dream, which the believer sees, or which is seen for him.”“When Allah drowned Pharaoh, he said: ‘I believe that there is no god but He in whom the Children of Israel believe.’ Jibrīl said: ‘Muḥammad, if only you had seen me taking the mud of the sea and thrusting it into his mouth, for fear that mercy would reach him.’”The name it is known by
After the people of Yūnus, mentioned in a single ayah near its end (10:98). The prophet himself appears nowhere else in the surah.
Its place in the muṣḥaf
Ayat you will hear named
- 10:2“A man from among them”
- 10:10The close of their call: praise
- 10:12Man when harm touches him
- 10:15–16“Bring a Qurʾan other than this”
- 10:25–26The Abode of Peace; the best, and more
- 10:38Bring a surah like it
- 10:57–58A healing for what is in the breasts
- 10:62–64The friends of Allah
- 10:90–92Pharaoh at the sea
- 10:98The people of Yūnus
- 10:99“Would you compel people?”
- 10:107None can remove it but He
Where this comes from
The figures at the head of the page are counted from the text. The Arabic quotations are taken letter for letter from the copies of the classical works held on this site, and each links to the passage it stands in. The rest was written for Mishkāt from the works below. It is an introduction, not a tafsir: where it matters, read the scholars themselves.
Works quoted on this page
- تفسير البغويMaʿālim al-tanzīlal-Ḥusayn al-Baghawī (d. 516 AH)
- تفسير ابن الجوزيZād al-masīrAbū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597 AH)
- تفسير القرطبيal-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-QurʾānShams al-Dīn al-Qurṭubī (d. 671 AH)
- تفسير ابن كثيرTafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿaẓīmIsmāʿīl ibn Kathīr (d. 774 AH)
- الدر المنثورal-Durr al-manthūrJalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūṭī (d. 911 AH)
- فتح القدير للشوكانيFatḥ al-qadīrMuḥammad al-Shawkānī (d. 1250 AH)
- تفسير أبي السعودIrshād al-ʿaql al-salīmAbū al-Suʿūd al-ʿImādī (d. 982 AH)
- التحرير والتنويرal-Taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīrMuḥammad al-Ṭāhir ibn ʿĀshūr (d. 1393 AH)
- المختصر في التفسيرal-Mukhtaṣar fī al-tafsīrMarkaz Tafsīr, a committee of scholars
Beside each scholar quoted stand his creed and his school of fiqh, so that he can be read with discernment. The site’s library holds other commentaries as well; the introductions do not draw on them.
al-Qurṭubī is quoted on these pages only for what he transmits: who said a surah is Makkan or Madinan, and what it has been called. On the attributes of Allah his commentary interprets, in places, in the way of the Ashʿarīs rather than the way of the Salaf, and nothing of that is taken from him here.
al-Rāzī and Abū al-Suʿūd are quoted on these pages only for where a surah came down, and Ibn ʿĀshūr only for the aims of the surah. Nothing on the attributes of Allah is taken from them, and no report comes by way of them. Ibn ʿĀshūr’s statement of the aims is not in the site’s copy of his book: it is read from the Shamela typing as OpenITI holds it, with reports and al-Zamakhsharī’s words left out, and it links to its page there.
Every hadith here says where it is recorded and how it is graded. What is in al-Bukhārī or Muslim is marked ṣaḥīḥ. Outside the two, the grading followed is al-Albānī’s; where none of his was found, the scholar who graded it is named. A report known to be weak or fabricated is not given here at all. A report that is ḥasan, or a Companion’s own saying, or related by the commentators without a graded chain, says so beside it. In the account of what was happening, a small sign after a sentence says the same of the report that sentence tells, and a question mark stands where a date or a figure is not certain, or beside a grading — underlined — that has something to say about its own source: rest on it, or touch it, and it gives the reason. What is drawn from the sīrah — the campaigns, the dates, who was present — is history as its scholars transmit it, and is not graded here.
Also drawn on
- Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim; Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī
The order of revelation is the one printed at the head of each surah in the Egyptian muṣḥaf, which rests on lists transmitted from Ibn ʿAbbās and Jābir ibn Zayd. It places a surah by where it began. Many surahs came down in parts, over years, and the scholars treat the list as a guide, not a certainty.