Makkan, by agreement
The later years in Makkah
It is Makkan in the saying of all: both Ibn al-Jawzī and al-Qurṭubī say so, and Ibn Kathīr. The traditional order places it seventy-fourth, among the last surahs before the Hijrah. A few of its ayat allude to a hardship that struck Quraysh — a famine — as something already upon them.
سُورَةُ المُؤْمِنُونَ مَكِّيَّةٌ في قَوْلِ الجَمِيعِسُورَةُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ مَكِّيَّةٌ كُلُّهَا فِي قَوْلِ الْجَمِيعِThe same, in other works
- al-BaghawīMaʿālim al-tanzīlAhl al-Sunnah in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Makkan.
سُورَةُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ مَكِّيَّةٌ
- al-Suyūṭīal-Durr al-manthūrAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Ibn ʿAbbās: it came down in Makkah. Recorded by Ibn Mardawayh.
أخْرَجَ ابْنُ مَرْدُوَيْهِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ قالَ: نَزَلَتْ بِمَكَّةَ سُورَةُ المُؤْمِنِينَ
A report he gathers; its chain is not graded here.
- al-RāzīMafātīḥ al-ghaybAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Makkan.
مِائَةٌ وثَمانِ عَشْرَةَ آيَةً مَكِّيَّةً
- Abū al-SuʿūdIrshād al-ʿaql al-salīmMāturīdī in creedḤanafī in fiqh→
Makkan.
مَكِّيَّةٌ وهي عِنْدَ البَصْرِيِّينَ مِائَةٌ وتِسْعَ عَشْرَةَ آيَةً، وعِنْدَ الكُوفِيِّينَ مِائَةٌ وثَمانِيَ عَشْرَةَ آيَةً
Each line of English says what the Arabic beneath it says.
What was happening
In Makkah the word for success was already taken. A man had succeeded if he had wealth, sons and a following; and by that measure the believers — poor, few, shut out — had plainly failed. This surah opens by taking the word back.
“Successful indeed are the believers.” And at once it describes them, so that the claim cannot be made cheaply: those who are humble in their prayer; who turn away from idle talk; who give the zakāh; who guard their chastity; who keep their trusts and their pledges; and who watch over their prayers. “Those are the heirs, who will inherit Firdaws.” When ʿĀʾishah was asked about the character of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, she said that his character was the Qurʾan, and recited these ayat.
The surah then makes the case for faith from the two things nearest to hand. First the human body: an extract of clay, a drop in a secure lodging, a clot, a lump, bones, flesh — “then We brought him forth as another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators.” Then the world a person lives in: the seven paths above him, rain measured out, gardens of palm and vine, the olive that grows on Mount Sinai, the cattle, the ships.
And it tells of five messengers in a row, to show that the objection Quraysh raised was the oldest one there is. Nūḥ’s people said: this is only a human being like you, who wants to make himself your better. The people after them said it. Pharaoh and his chiefs said it of Mūsā and Hārūn: “Shall we believe two human beings like ourselves?”
Near the end the listener is taken to the moment of death — “My Lord, send me back, that I may do right in what I left undone” — and told, in a single word, no. Then: “Did you think that We created you without purpose, and that you would not be returned to Us?”
ذكر الإيمان وحقيقته وثماره وعواقب مخالفته وذم الكافرين، ولذلك افتتحت بفلاح المؤمنين وعدم فلاح الكافرين.
To set out faith, its reality and its fruits, the consequences of going against it, and the fault of the disbelievers — which is why it opens with the success of the believers and closes by saying that the disbelievers will not succeed.
The surah’s aim, as al-Mukhtaṣar fī al-Tafsīr states it
- The qualities of the believers
- Humility in prayer
- The stages of human creation
- The messengers called “only human”
- Those who hasten to good
- The plea at death
- Created with a purpose
Its aims, as Ibn ʿĀshūr sets them out
هذه السورة تدور آيها حول محور تحقيق الوحدانية وإبطال الشرك ونقض قواعده، والتنويه بالإيمان وشرائعه.
فكان افتتاحها بالبشارة للمؤمنين بالفلاح العظيم على ما تحلوا به من أصول الفضائل الروحية والعلمية التي بها تزكية النفس واستقامة السلوك.
وأعقب ذلك بوصف خلق الإنسان أصله ونسله الدال على تفرد الله تعالى بالإلهية لتفرده بخلق الإنسان ونشأته ليبتدئ الناظر بالاعتبار في تكوين ذاته ثم بعدمه بعد الحياة.
From its first ayah to its last
- 1–1111 ayat · 5% of the surahRead from ayah 1 →
Who succeeds
Successful indeed are the believers: those who are humble in their prayer; who turn away from what is idle; who give the zakāh; who guard their private parts, except from their spouses; who are faithful to their trusts and their covenant; and who keep their prayers. Those are the heirs, who will inherit Firdaws, to abide in it.
- 12–2211 ayat · 10% of the surahRead from ayah 12 →
How you were made, and what was made for you
We created man from an extract of clay; then made him a drop in a secure lodging; then a clinging clot, a lump of flesh, bones, and clothed the bones with flesh; then We brought him forth as another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators. Then after that you will die, and on the Day of Resurrection be raised. We sent down water from the sky in measure, and brought forth for you gardens, and a tree that springs from Mount Sinai.
- 23–5028 ayat · 28% of the surahRead from ayah 23 →
Five messengers, one objection
We sent Nūḥ to his people, and their chiefs said: “This is only a human being like you, who wishes to gain superiority over you.” Then another generation, and a messenger from among them: “He eats of what you eat and drinks of what you drink.” Then Mūsā and Hārūn to Pharaoh: “Shall we believe two humans like ourselves, whose people are our slaves?” And We made the son of Maryam and his mother a sign.
- 51–6717 ayat · 13% of the surahRead from ayah 51 →
Those who hasten to good
O messengers, eat of the good things and do right. This community of yours is one community. Do they think that the wealth and sons We extend to them mean We are hastening good to them? Those who are in awe of their Lord; who believe in His ayat; who associate nothing with Him; and who give what they give with hearts trembling, because they will return to their Lord — it is those who hasten to good deeds, and are foremost in them. We burden no soul beyond its capacity.
- 68–9225 ayat · 22% of the surahRead from ayah 68 →
Have they not pondered?
Have they not pondered the word — or did they not recognise their Messenger? Had the truth followed their desires, the heavens and the earth would have been ruined. We seized them with punishment, yet they did not humble themselves to their Lord. Say: whose is the earth, and whoever is in it? They will say, “Allah’s.” Say: who is Lord of the seven heavens? Allah has taken no son, nor is there any god with Him.
- 93–11826 ayat · 21% of the surahRead from ayah 93 →
“Send me back”
Repel evil with what is better. Say: my Lord, I seek refuge with You from the promptings of the devils. Until, when death comes to one of them, he says: “My Lord, send me back, that I may do right in what I neglected.” No — it is only a word he says; and behind them is a barrier until the Day they are raised. “Did you think that We created you in vain, and that you would not be returned to Us?” (23:115) The disbelievers will not succeed. And say: “My Lord, forgive and have mercy; You are the best of the merciful.”
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.
All 118 of its ayat close on one sound.
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
ʿĀʾishah said: I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about this ayah — “those who give what they give while their hearts tremble.” “Are they those who drink wine and steal?” He said: “No, daughter of al-Ṣiddīq. They are those who fast, pray and give in charity, and fear that it will not be accepted from them. It is those who hasten to good deeds.”فَإِذَا سَأَلْتُمُ اللَّهَ فَاسْأَلُوهُ الْفِرْدَوْسَ
“When you ask Allah, ask Him for Firdaws: it is the middle of the Garden and the highest part of the Garden; above it is the Throne of the Most Merciful, and from it spring the rivers of the Garden.”The name it is known by
From its first ayah. It is also called Qad aflaḥa, after its opening words.
Its place in the muṣḥaf
Ayat you will hear named
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)
- تفسير الرازيMafātīḥ al-ghaybFakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606 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 al-Bukhārī; the Sunan of al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah
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.