Al-Baqarah · An introduction

Where and when it came down

Madinan — the first surah of Madinah

Madinah, from the first year after the Hijrah — and added to until the last

87th of the 114 surahs to come down · the first years in Madinah

← It came afterAl-Mutaffifin and before →Al-Anfal

Ibn ʿAbbās said it was the first to come down in Madinah, and that is the saying of al-Ḥasan, Mujāhid, ʿIkrimah, Jābir ibn Zayd and Qatādah. But it was not sent down at once: al-Qurṭubī says it came down over separate periods, and that its ayat on usury are among the last of the Qurʾan to be revealed. Ibn ʿAbbās said the last ayah sent down to the Prophet ﷺ was the ayah of usury; and its two hundred and eighty-first ayah — “Be mindful of a Day on which you will be returned to Allah” — is reported from him as the very last, which some placed at Minā during the Farewell Pilgrimage. The traditional order places it eighty-seventh: the first after the Hijrah.

قالَ ابْنُ عَبّاسٍ: هي أوَّلُ ما نَزَلَ بِالمَدِينَةِ، وهَذا قَوْلُ الحَسَنِ، ومُجاهِدٌ، وعِكْرِمَةُ، وَجابِرُ بْنُ زَيْدٍ، وقَتادَةُ، ومُقاتِلٌ

Abū al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597 AH)Zād al-masīrRead it in its place →

سُورَةُ الْبَقَرَةِ مَدَنِيَّةٌ، نَزَلَتْ فِي مُدَدٍ شَتَّى

Shams al-Dīn al-Qurṭubī (d. 671 AH)al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-QurʾānQuoted for what he relates, not for creed.Read it in its place →

وَيُقَالُ لَهَا: فُسْطَاطُ الْقُرْآنِ، قَالَهُ خَالِدُ بْنُ مَعْدَانَ. وَذَلِكَ لِعِظَمِهَا وَبِهَائِهَا، وَكَثْرَةِ أَحْكَامِهَا وَمَوَاعِظِهَا

Shams al-Dīn al-Qurṭubī (d. 671 AH)al-Jāmiʿ li-aḥkām al-QurʾānQuoted for what he relates, not for creed.Read it in its place →

The same, in other works

al-BaghawīMaʿālim al-tanzīlAhl al-Sunnah in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh
Madinan.
سُورَةِ الْبَقَرَةِ مَدَنِيَّةٌ وَهِيَ مِائَتَانِ وَثَمَانُونَ وَسَبْعُ آيَاتٍ
→
al-Suyūṭīal-Durr al-manthūrAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh
Ibn ʿAbbās: it came down in Madinah. Recorded by Ibn al-Ḍurays, al-Naḥḥās, Ibn Mardawayh and al-Bayhaqī, through several chains.
أخْرَجَ ابْنُ الضُّرَيْسِ في فَضائِلِهِ وأبُو جَعْفَرٍ النَّحّاسُ في النّاسِخِ والمَنسُوخِ، وابْنُ مَرْدُوَيْهِ والبَيْهَقِيُّ في دَلائِلِ النُّبُوَّةِ مِن طُرُقٍ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ قالَ: نَزَلَتْ بِالمَدِينَةِ سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ
A report he gathers; its chain is not graded here.
→
al-ShawkānīFatḥ al-qadīr
Madinan, citing al-Qurṭubī.
قالَ القُرْطُبِيُّ في تَفْسِيرِ سُورَةِ البَقَرَةِ: مَدَنِيَّةٌ نَزَلَتْ في مُدَدٍ شَتّى
→
Abū al-SuʿūdIrshād al-ʿaql al-salīmMāturīdī in creedḤanafī in fiqh
Madinan.
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ؛ مَدَنِيَّةٌ؛ وهي مِائَتانِ وسَبْعٌ وثَمانُونَ آيَةً
→

Each line of English says what the Arabic beneath it says.

What was happening

In Makkah the Qurʾan had spoken to one kind of opponent. In Madinah the Prophet ﷺ found a city of three populations: those who believed, the Emigrants and the Helpers; the Jewish tribes of the oasis, who had a scripture and had long spoken of a prophet to come; and a class Makkah had never produced, because there had been nothing to gain there by pretending — the hypocrites. The surah opens by sorting mankind into exactly these. Mujāhid counted it: four ayat describing the believers, two the disbelievers, and thirteen the hypocrites.

Then, for nearly a third of its length, it speaks to the Children of Israel. They are reminded of what they were given — rescue from Pharaoh, the sea parted, the Book, manna and quails, water struck from the rock — and of what they did with it: the calf, the grumbling, the covenant taken under the raised mountain and broken. The story that gives the surah its name is the smallest of these and the most telling. Told to slaughter a cow, they asked what kind, what colour, what sort exactly, until a simple command had become nearly impossible; “and they slaughtered it, though they almost did not.” The new community is listening. This is what it looks like to be handed a revelation and to argue with it.

Then the surah turns. It goes back behind Mūsā to Ibrāhīm, raising the foundations of the House with Ismāʿīl and praying for a messenger from among their descendants — and announces the change that followed from it. For sixteen or seventeen months in Madinah the Prophet ﷺ had prayed towards Jerusalem, and he longed for it to be the Kaʿbah. “We see the turning of your face to the sky; so We shall turn you to a qiblah that will please you.” Al-Barāʾ relates that a man who had prayed that prayer with him passed a mosque where people were bowing, and said: I bear witness by Allah that I have just prayed with the Prophet ﷺ facing Makkah. They turned as they were, towards the House. “Thus We have made you a middle nation, that you may be witnesses over mankind.”

What follows is the law a community needs in order to be one: retaliation and bequest, the fast of Ramaḍān, the Pilgrimage, fighting, wine and gambling at their first stage, orphans, marriage and divorce, the nursing of children, the mourning of widows, charity, usury, and the writing down of debts — in the longest ayah of the Qurʾan. The laws do not come as a code. They come between stories and prayers, and each ends by naming the thing it is for: “that you may be mindful.”

Its close is one of the most moving reports in the Ṣaḥīḥ. When the ayah came down, “whether you disclose what is within yourselves or conceal it, Allah will call you to account for it,” the Companions came to the Prophet ﷺ and went down on their knees: we have been charged with what we can bear — the prayer, the fast, striving, charity — but this we cannot bear. He said: “Do you wish to say what the people of the two Books said before you — ‘we hear and we disobey’? Say rather: we hear and we obey; Your forgiveness, our Lord; to You is the return.” They said it, until their tongues were at ease with it. Then the last two ayat came down, with their prayer — “Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or err” — and after each petition Allah said: “I have done so.” The surah that began by recounting a people who said we hear and disobey ends with a people who said we hear and obey, and were relieved.

What came down about what

Ayah 142–144

The change of the qiblah

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed towards Jerusalem for sixteen or seventeen months, and he wished that his qiblah might be towards the House. The first prayer he prayed towards it was the afternoon prayer, and people prayed with him. A man who had prayed with him went out and passed the people of a mosque while they were bowing, and said: “I bear witness by Allah that I have prayed with the Prophet ﷺ towards Makkah.” And they turned round, as they were, towards the House.

Al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib: al-Bukhārī (4486) and Muslim (525).

Ṣaḥīḥ

Ayah 158

Al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah

ʿUrwah said to ʿĀʾishah: it seems to me there is no harm on one who does not go between them. She said: “How wrong, son of my sister. Had it been as you take it, it would have said: no blame on him if he does not go between them. It was sent down about the Helpers: before Islam they used to dedicate themselves to the idol Manāt, and those who did felt uneasy about going between al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah. When they became Muslims they asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about it, and Allah sent down: ‘Al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah are among the symbols of Allah.’”

ʿĀʾishah: al-Bukhārī (1643) and Muslim (1277).

Ṣaḥīḥ

Ayah 187

The nights of Ramaḍān

“When the fast of Ramaḍān was sent down, they would not approach their wives for the whole of Ramaḍān, and some men were betraying themselves. So Allah sent down: ‘Allah knew that you were betraying yourselves, so He turned to you and pardoned you.’”

Al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib: al-Bukhārī (4508).

Ṣaḥīḥ

Ayah 219

“Make it clear to us about wine”

ʿUmar said: “O Allah, make clear to us about wine, with a clarity that heals.” Then the ayah in al-Baqarah came down. He was called and it was recited to him, and he said the same again; then the ayah in al-Nisāʾ came down, and he said it again; then the one in al-Māʾidah: “Will you then desist?” ʿUmar said: “We desist, we desist.”

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb: al-Tirmidhī (3049); ṣaḥīḥ according to al-Albānī.

Graded ṣaḥīḥ

Ayah 238

Silence in the prayer

“We used to speak during the prayer — a man would talk to his companion about what he needed — until this ayah came down: ‘Guard the prayers, and the middle prayer, and stand before Allah in devotion.’ Then we were commanded to be silent.”

Zayd ibn Arqam: al-Bukhārī (4534) and Muslim (539).

Ṣaḥīḥ

Ayah 284–286

“We hear and we obey”

When “whether you disclose what is in yourselves or conceal it, Allah will call you to account for it” came down, it bore heavily on the Companions. They came and knelt: “Messenger of Allah, this ayah has been sent down to you and we cannot bear it.” He said: “Do you wish to say as the people of the two Books said before you, ‘We hear and we disobey’? Rather say: ‘We hear and we obey; Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the return.’” When they had recited it and their tongues had yielded to it, Allah sent down after it: “The Messenger believes in what was sent down to him from his Lord, and so do the believers…” and then: “Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity.”

Abū Hurayrah: Muslim (125); and from Ibn ʿAbbās, with “I have done so” after each petition: Muslim (126).

Ṣaḥīḥ

What it is for

إعداد الأمة لعمارة الأرض والقيام بدين الله، وبيان أقسام الناس، وفيها أصول الإيمان وكليات الشريعة.

To prepare the community to cultivate the earth and to uphold the religion of Allah, and to set out the kinds of people; in it are the foundations of faith and the universal principles of the Law.

The surah’s aim, as al-Mukhtaṣar fī al-Tafsīr states it

Believers, disbelievers and hypocrites
Ādam, and the trust of the earth
The Children of Israel and their covenant
Ibrāhīm and the House
The qiblah and the middle nation
Fasting, pilgrimage and the laws of the family
Āyat al-Kursī
Spending, usury and debt
“We hear and we obey”

Its aims, as Ibn ʿĀshūr sets them out

هذه السورة مترامية أطرافها، وأساليبها ذات أفنان، قد جمعت من وشائج أغراض السور ما كان مصداقا لتلقيبها فسطاط القرآن، فلا تستطيع إحصاء محتوياتها بحسبان، وعلى الناظر أن يترقب تفاصيل منها فيما يأتي لنا من تفسيرها، ولكن هذا لا يحجم بنا عن التعرض إلى لائحات منها، وقد حيكت بنسج المناسبات والاعتبارات البلاغية من لحمة محكمة في نظم الكلام، وسدى متين من فصاحة الكلمات.

ومعظم أغراضها ينقسم إلى قسمين: قسم يثبت سمو هذا الدين على ما سبقه وعلو هديه وأصول تطهيره النفوس، وقسم يبين شرائع هذا الدين لأتباعه وإصلاح مجتمعهم.

وكان أسلوبها أحسن ما يأتي عليه أسلوب جامع لمحاسن الأساليب الخطابية، وأساليب الكتب التشريعية، وأساليب التذكير والموعظة، يتجدد بمثله نشاط السامعين بتفنن الأفانين، ويحضر لنا من أغراضها أنها ابتدئت بالرمز إلى تحدي العرب المعاندين تحديا إجماليا بحروف التهجي المفتتح بها رمزا يقتضي استشرافهم لما يرد بعده وانتظارهم لبيان مقصده، فأعقب بالتنويه

بشأن القرآن فتحول الرمز إيماء إلى بعض المقصود من ذلك الرمز له أشد وقع على نفوسهم فتبقى في انتظار ما يتعقبه من صريح التعجيز الذي سيأتي بعد قوله:

وإن كنتم في ريب مما نزلنا على عبدنا فأتوا بسورة من مثله [البقرة: 23] . فعدل بهم إلى ذات جهة التنويه بفائق صدق هذا الكتاب وهديه، وتخلص إلى تصنيف الناس تجاه تلقيهم هذا الكتاب وانتفاعهم بهديه أصنافا أربعة (وكانوا قبل الهجرة صنفين) بحسب اختلاف أحوالهم في ذلك التلقي.

وإذ قد كان أخص الأصناف انتفاعا بهديه هم المؤمنين بالغيب المقيمين الصلاة- يعني المسلمين- ابتدئ بذكرهم، ولما كان أشد الأصناف عنادا وحقدا صنفا المشركين الصرحاء والمنافقين لف الفريقان لفا واحدا فقورعوا بالحجج الدامغة والبراهين الساطعة، ثم خص بالإطناب صنف أهل النفاق تشويها لنفاقهم وإعلانا لدخائلهم ورد مطاعنهم، ثم كان خاتمة ما قرعت به أنوفهم صريح التحدي الذي رمز إليه بدءا تحديا يلجئهم إلى الاستكانة ويخرس ألسنتهم عن التطاول والإبانة، ويلقي في قرارات أنفسهم مذلة الهزيمة وصدق الرسول الذي تحداهم، فكان ذلك من

رد العجز على الصدر فاتسع المجال لدعوة المنصفين إلى عبادة الرب الحق الذي خلقهم وخلق السماوات والأرض، وأنعم عليهم بما في الأرض جميعا. وتخلص إلى صفة بدء خلق الإنسان فإن في ذلك تذكيرا لهم بالخلق الأول قبل أن توجد أصنامهم التي يزعمونها من صالحي قوم نوح ومن بعدهم، ومنة على النوع بتفضيل أصلهم على مخلوقات هذا العالم، وبمزيته بعلم ما لم يعلمه أهل الملأ الأعلى وكيف نشأت عداوة الشيطان له ولنسله، لتهيئة نفوس السامعين لاتهام شهواتها ولمحاسبتها على دعواتها.

فهذه المنة التي شملت كل الأصناف الأربعة المتقدم ذكرها كانت مناسبة للتخلص إلى منة عظمى تخص الفريق الرابع وهم أهل الكتاب الذين هم أشد الناس مقاومة لهدى القرآن، وأنفذ الفرق قولا في عامة العرب لأن أهل الكتاب يومئذ هم أهل العلم ومظنة اقتداء العامة لهم من قوله: يا بني إسرائيل اذكروا نعمتي التي أنعمت عليكم وأوفوا بعهدي [البقرة:

40] الآيات فأطنب في تذكيرهم بنعم الله وأيامه لهم، ووصف ما لاقوا به نعمه الجمة من الانحراف عن الصراط السوي انحرافا بلغ بهم حد الكفر وذلك جامع لخلاصة تكوين أمة إسرائيل وجامعتهم في عهد موسى، ثم ما كان من أهم أحداثهم مع الأنبياء الذين قفوا موسى إلى أن تلقوا دعوة الإسلام بالحسد والعداوة حتى على الملك جبريل، وبيان أخطائهم، لأن ذلك يلقي في النفوس شكا في تأهلهم للاقتداء بهم. وذكر من ذلك نموذجا من أخلاقهم من تعلق الحياة: ولتجدنهم أحرص الناس على حياة [البقرة:

96] ، ومحاولة العمل بالحسر واتبعوا ما تتلوا الشياطين إلخ [البقرة: 102] وأذى النبيء بموجه الكلام لا تقولوا راعنا [البقرة: 104] .

ثم قرن اليهود والنصارى والمشركون في قرن حسدهم المسلمين والسخط على الشريعة الجديدة: ما يود الذين كفروا من أهل الكتاب ولا المشركين إلى قوله: ولا خوف عليهم ولا هم يحزنون [البقرة: 105- 112] ، ثم ما أثير من الخلاف بين اليهود والنصارى وادعاء كل فريق أنه هو المحق: وقالت اليهود ليست النصارى على شيء إلى يختلفون [البقرة:

113] ثم خص المشركون بأنهم أظلم هؤلاء الأصناف الثلاثة لأنهم منعوا المسلمين من ذكر الله في المسجد الحرام وسعوا بذلك في خرابه وأنهم تشابهوا في ذلك هم واليهود والنصارى واتحدوا في كراهية الإسلام.

وانتقل بهذه المناسبة إلى فضائل المسجد الحرام، وبانيه، ودعوته لذريته بالهدى، والاحتراز عن إجابتها في الذين كفروا منهم، وأن الإسلام على أساس ملة إبراهيم وهو التوحيد، وأن اليهودية والنصرانية ليستا ملة إبراهيم، وأن من ذلك الرجوع إلى استقبال الكعبة ادخره الله للمسلمين آية على أن الإسلام هو القائم على

أساس الحنيفية، وذكر شعائر الله بمكة، وإبكات أهل الكتاب في طعنهم على تحويل القبلة، وأن العناية بتزكية النفوس أجدر من العناية باستقبال الجهات: ليس البر أن تولوا وجوهكم قبل المشرق والمغرب [البقرة: 177] . وذكروا بنسخ الشرائع لصلاح الأمم وأنه لا بدع في نسخ شريعة التوراة أو الإنجيل بما هو خير منهما.

ثم عاد إلى محاجة المشركين بالاستدلال بآثار صنعة الله: إن في خلق السماوات والأرض واختلاف الليل والنهار والفلك إلخ [البقرة:

164] ، ومحاجة المشركين في يوم يتبرأون فيه من قادتهم، وإبطال مزاعم دين الفريقين في محرمات من الأكل:

يا أيها الذين آمنوا كلوا من طيبات ما رزقناكم [البقرة: 172] ، وقد كمل ذلك بذكر صنف من الناس قليل وهم المشركون الذين لم يظهروا الإسلام ولكنهم أظهروا مودة المسلمين: ومن الناس من يعجبك قوله في الحياة الدنيا [البقرة: 204] .

ولما قضى حق ذلك كله بأبدع بيان وأوضح برهان، انتقل إلى قسم تشريعات الإسلام إجمالا بقوله: ليس البر أن تولوا وجوهكم قبل المشرق والمغرب [البقرة:

177] ، ثم تفصيلا: القصاص، الوصية، الصيام، الاعتكاف، الحج، الجهاد، ونظام المعاشرة والعائلة، المعاملات المالية، والإنفاق في سبيل الله، والصدقات، والمسكرات، واليتامى، والمواريث، والبيوع والربا، والديون، والإشهاد، والرهن، والنكاح، وأحكام النساء، والعدة، والطلاق، والرضاع، والنفقات، والأيمان.

وختمت السورة بالدعاء المتضمن لخصائص الشريعة الإسلامية وذلك من جوامع الكلم فكان هذا الختام تذييلا وفذلكة: ما في السماوات وما في الأرض وإن تبدوا ما في أنفسكم أو تخفوه [البقرة:

284] الآيات.

وكانت في خلال ذلك كله أغراض شتى سبقت في معرض الاستطراد في متفرق المناسبات تجديدا لنشاط القارئ والسامع، كما يسفر وجه الشمس إثر نزول الغيوث الهوامع، وتخرج بوادر الزهر عقب الرعود القوارع، من تمجيد الله وصفاته: الله لا إله إلا هو [البقرة: 255] ورحمته وسماحة الإسلام، وضرب أمثال: أو كصيب [البقرة: 19] واستحضار نظائر: وإن من الحجارة [البقرة: 74] ألم تر إلى الذين خرجوا من ديارهم [البقرة:

243] وعلم وحكمة، ومعاني الإيمان والإسلام، وتثبيت المسلمين: يا أيها الذين آمنوا استعينوا بالصبر [البقرة: 153] والكمالات الأصلية، والمزايا التحسينية، وأخذ الأعمال والمعاني من حقائقها وفوائدها لا من هيئاتها، وعدم الاعتداد بالمصطلحات إذا لم ترم إلى غايات: وليس البر بأن تأتوا البيوت من ظهورها [البقرة: 189] ليس البر أن تولوا وجوهكم [البقرة: 177] وإخراج أهله منه أكبر عند الله [البقرة: 217] والنظر والاستدلال، ونظام المحاجة، وأخبار الأمم الماضية، والرسل وتفاضلهم، واختلاف الشرائع.

1 of 14

Muḥammad al-Ṭāhir ibn ʿĀshūr (d. 1393 AH)al-Taḥrīr wa-l-tanwīrAshʿarī in creedMālikī in fiqhVol. 1, p. 203 · Read it on Shamela

Passage by passage

From its first ayah to its last

Ayah 1Ayah 286

1–2020 ayat · 4% of the surah
Three kinds of people
Alif Lām Mīm. This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the mindful: those who believe in the unseen, keep up the prayer and spend of what We have given them. As for those who disbelieve, it is the same to them whether you warn them or not. And among people are those who say “We believe in Allah and the Last Day,” and they are not believers. They are like one who kindled a fire, and when it lit up what was around him, Allah took away their light — or like a rainstorm from the sky, with darkness, thunder and lightning.
Read from ayah 1 →
21–3919 ayat · 6% of the surah
O mankind — and the first man
O mankind, worship your Lord who created you. If you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our servant, then produce a surah like it. Your Lord said to the angels: “I am placing a successor on the earth.” He taught Ādam the names, all of them. The angels prostrated, except Iblīs. Ādam and his wife were brought down from the Garden; then Ādam received words from his Lord, and He turned to him. “When guidance comes to you from Me, whoever follows My guidance — no fear will be on them, nor will they grieve.”
Read from ayah 21 →
40–7435 ayat · 9% of the surah
Children of Israel: remember My favour
Children of Israel, remember My favour which I bestowed upon you, and fulfil My covenant. Seek help in patience and prayer. We saved you from the people of Pharaoh; We parted the sea for you; you took the calf; We sent down manna and quails; Mūsā struck the rock. You said, “We cannot endure one kind of food.” We raised the Mount above you. And Mūsā said to his people: “Allah commands you to slaughter a cow.” — “Ask your Lord to make clear to us what she is.” Then your hearts hardened after that, like stones, or harder.
Read from ayah 40 →
75–12349 ayat · 16% of the surah
What they did with the Book
Do you hope that they will believe you, when a party of them used to hear the word of Allah and then distort it? Woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and say, “This is from Allah.” We took your covenant: you shall not shed one another’s blood. They said: “We hear and we disobey.” Whoever is an enemy to Jibrīl — it is he who brought it down upon your heart. They followed what the devils recited in the reign of Sulaymān. We do not abrogate an ayah but We bring one better or the like of it. To Allah belong the east and the west: wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah.
Read from ayah 75 →
124–14118 ayat · 6% of the surah
Ibrāhīm, and the House
When his Lord tested Ibrāhīm with words and he fulfilled them, He said: “I am making you a leader for mankind.” We made the House a place of return for people, and a sanctuary. Ibrāhīm and Ismāʿīl raised its foundations: “Our Lord, accept this from us… and raise up among them a messenger from among themselves.” Who turns away from the religion of Ibrāhīm but one who makes a fool of himself? Say: we believe in Allah and what was sent down to us, and to Ibrāhīm, Ismāʿīl, Isḥāq, Yaʿqūb and the tribes. The colouring of Allah — and who is better than Allah in colouring?
Read from ayah 124 →
142–15211 ayat · 4% of the surah
The qiblah turned
The foolish among the people will say, “What has turned them from the qiblah they used to face?” Say: to Allah belong the east and the west. Thus We have made you a middle nation, that you may be witnesses over mankind (2:143). We see the turning of your face to the sky; so turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque, and wherever you are, turn your faces towards it. Each has a direction to which he turns; so race to what is good. Remember Me; I will remember you.
Read from ayah 142 →
153–17725 ayat · 8% of the surah
Patience, and what righteousness is
O you who believe, seek help in patience and prayer; Allah is with the patient. Do not say of those killed in the way of Allah, “dead.” We shall test you with something of fear and hunger; give good news to the patient, who say when struck: “To Allah we belong, and to Him we return.” Your God is One God. Eat of the good things of the earth. Righteousness is not that you turn your faces east or west; righteousness is one who believes in Allah and the Last Day, gives wealth for love of Him, keeps up the prayer, fulfils his pledge, and is patient in hardship.
Read from ayah 153 →
178–20326 ayat · 10% of the surah
Retaliation, the fast, the Pilgrimage
Retaliation is prescribed for you in cases of murder — and in retaliation there is life for you. Fasting is prescribed for you as it was for those before you, that you may be mindful. The month of Ramaḍān, in which the Qurʾan was sent down. When My servants ask you about Me: I am near; I answer the call of the caller when he calls on Me (2:186). Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you, and do not transgress. Complete the Pilgrimage and the ʿumrah for Allah. “Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the next, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.”
Read from ayah 178 →
204–24239 ayat · 16% of the surah
They ask you…
Enter into submission wholly. Fighting is prescribed for you, though you dislike it; perhaps you dislike a thing and it is good for you. They ask you about wine and gambling; about what they should spend; about orphans; about menstruation. Do not marry idolatresses until they believe. Divorce is twice: then keep her honourably, or release her with kindness. Mothers shall nurse their children two full years. Guard the prayers, and the middle prayer. For divorced women, a fair provision.
Read from ayah 204 →
243–25412 ayat · 6% of the surah
Ṭālūt, and the few who stood
Have you not seen the chiefs of the Children of Israel after Mūsā, who said to a prophet of theirs, “Appoint us a king”? Allah sent Ṭālūt; they said, “How can he have kingship over us?” He tested them with a river, and all but a few drank. “How many a small company has overcome a large one, by Allah’s leave.” And Dāwūd killed Jālūt. Those are the messengers; We favoured some above others.
Read from ayah 243 →
255–2606 ayat · 4% of the surah
The Throne, and the giving of life
Allah — there is no god but He, the Living, the Sustainer. Neither slumber overtakes Him nor sleep. His Kursī extends over the heavens and the earth, and guarding them does not weary Him. There is no compulsion in religion: right guidance stands clear from error. Allah is the ally of those who believe: He brings them out of darknesses into the light. The one who argued with Ibrāhīm about his Lord; the one who passed by a town fallen in on its roofs; and Ibrāhīm: “My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead.”
Read from ayah 255 →
261–28323 ayat · 10% of the surah
Spending, usury, and the written debt
The likeness of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah is that of a grain that grows seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains. A kind word and forgiveness are better than charity followed by hurt. Those who devour usury will not stand except as one whom Satan has struck with madness. Allah blots out usury and makes charity grow. Be mindful of a Day on which you will be returned to Allah (2:281). O you who believe, when you contract a debt for a fixed term, write it down.
Read from ayah 261 →
284–2863 ayat · 2% of the surah
The close
To Allah belongs what is in the heavens and what is on the earth. The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and so do the believers: each believes in Allah, His angels, His books and His messengers. They say: “We hear and we obey. Your forgiveness, our Lord; to You is the return.” Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity. “Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or err… Pardon us, forgive us, have mercy on us. You are our Protector; so help us against the disbelieving people.”
Read from ayah 284 →

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.

Its rhyme

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 86% of its ayat, and the rhyme turns 51 times. 3 of those turns come just where a new passage begins, as this page divides the surah.

Move along the staff to see what each ayah closes on.

All 52 runs, ayah by ayah

1–19ـيم
20ـير
21–105ـون
106–107ـير
108ـيل
109–110ـير
111–119ـين
120ـير
121–124ـون
125ـود
126ـير
127–147ـيم
148ـير
149–164ـون
165–166ـاب
167ـار
168–174ـين
175ـار
176ـيد
177–195ـون
196–197ـاب
198–199ـين
200ـاق
201ـار
202ـاب
203ـون
204ـام
205–207ـاد
208–209ـين
210ـور
211–212ـاب
213ـيم
214ـيب
215–232ـيم
233–234ـير
235–236ـيم
237ـير
238–252ـين
253ـيد
254–258ـون
259ـير
260–264ـيم
265ـير
266ـون
267ـيد
268ـيم
269ـاب
270ـار
271ـير
272–283ـون
284–285ـير
286ـين

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.

What is narrated about it

From the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions

اقْرَءُوا سُورَةَ الْبَقَرَةِ فَإِنَّ أَخْذَهَا بَرَكَةٌ وَتَرْكَهَا حَسْرَةٌ وَلاَ تَسْتَطِيعُهَا الْبَطَلَةُ

“Recite Sūrat al-Baqarah: to take hold of it is a blessing, to leave it is a cause of regret, and the sorcerers cannot prevail against it.”

Narrated by Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 804Ṣaḥīḥmuslim:804 at sunnah.com ↗

إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ يَنْفِرُ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ الَّذِي تُقْرَأُ فِيهِ سُورَةُ الْبَقَرَةِ

“Do not make your houses into graveyards. Satan flees from the house in which Sūrat al-Baqarah is recited.”

Narrated by Abū Hurayrah · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 780Ṣaḥīḥmuslim:780 at sunnah.com ↗

وَاللَّهِ لِيَهْنِكَ الْعِلْمُ أَبَا الْمُنْذِرِ

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Abū l-Mundhir, do you know which ayah of the Book of Allah that you have is greatest?” I said: “Allah — there is no god but He, the Living, the Sustainer.” He struck me on the chest and said: “By Allah, may knowledge delight you, Abū l-Mundhir.”

Narrated by Ubayy ibn Kaʿb · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 810Ṣaḥīḥmuslim:810 at sunnah.com ↗

Abū Hurayrah was set to guard the zakāh of Ramaḍān, and for three nights caught a thief taking from it. On the third the thief said: “Let me go, and I will teach you words by which Allah will benefit you. When you go to your bed, recite Āyat al-Kursī to its end: a guardian from Allah will remain over you, and no devil will come near you until morning.” The Prophet ﷺ said: “He told you the truth, though he is a liar. That was a devil.”

Narrated by Abū Hurayrah · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 5010Ṣaḥīḥbukhari:5010 at sunnah.com ↗

مَنْ قَرَأَ بِالآيَتَيْنِ مِنْ آخِرِ سُورَةِ الْبَقَرَةِ فِي لَيْلَةٍ كَفَتَاهُ

“Whoever recites the two ayat at the end of Sūrat al-Baqarah in a night, they will suffice him.”

Narrated by Abū Masʿūd al-Anṣārī · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, 5009 · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 807Ṣaḥīḥbukhari:5009 at sunnah.com ↗muslim:807 at sunnah.com ↗

While Jibrīl was sitting with the Prophet ﷺ, an angel came down who had never come down before, and said: “Rejoice in two lights that you have been given, which no prophet before you was given: the Opening of the Book, and the closing ayat of Sūrat al-Baqarah. You will not recite a letter of them but you will be given it.”

Narrated by Ibn ʿAbbās · Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 806Ṣaḥīḥmuslim:806 at sunnah.com ↗

Its names

The names it is known by

البقرة

al-Baqarah

The Cow

After the cow that the Children of Israel were told to slaughter, and asked question after question about before they did (2:67–73). The Prophet ﷺ himself called it by this name.

فسطاط القرآن

Fusṭāṭ al-Qurʾān

The pavilion of the Qurʾan

So Khālid ibn Maʿdān called it — al-Qurṭubī explains: for its greatness and splendour, and the number of its rulings and counsels.

الزهراء

al-Zahrāʾ

The Radiant

The Prophet ﷺ called this surah and Āl ʿImrān together al-Zahrāwān, the two radiant ones.

Before and after

Its place in the muṣḥaf

← Before itAl-FatihahالفاتحةAl-Fātiḥah asked: “Guide us to the straight path.” Al-Baqarah opens with the answer: “This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guidance for the mindful.”Open its introduction After it →Ali 'Imranآل عمرانThe Prophet ﷺ named the two together: the radiant pair. Al-Baqarah speaks at length to the Jews among the People of the Book; Āl ʿImrān turns to the Christians. Both open with Alif Lām Mīm.Open its introduction

Ayat you will hear named

Sources

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

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 al-Bukhārī and 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.

Madinan — the first surah of Madinah

The same, in other works

What was happening

What came down about what

The change of the qiblah

Al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah

The nights of Ramaḍān

“Make it clear to us about wine”

Silence in the prayer

“We hear and we obey”

Its aims, as Ibn ʿĀshūr sets them out

From its first ayah to its last

Three kinds of people

O mankind — and the first man

Children of Israel: remember My favour

What they did with the Book

Ibrāhīm, and the House

The qiblah turned

Patience, and what righteousness is

Retaliation, the fast, the Pilgrimage

They ask you…

Ṭālūt, and the few who stood

The Throne, and the giving of life

Spending, usury, and the written debt

The close

The sound each ayah closes on

From the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions

The names it is known by

Its place in the muṣḥaf

Ayat you will hear named

Where this comes from

Works quoted on this page

Also drawn on