Makkan, by most — its opening said to be Madinan
The eve of the Hijrah, as the believers of Makkah were being told to leave
Ibn al-Jawzī gives it as Makkan from Ibn ʿAbbās, and from al-Ḥasan, Qatādah, ʿAṭāʾ, Jābir ibn Zayd and Muqātil. Another report from Ibn ʿAbbās has it Madinan. Between the two stands the view that it is part one and part the other — its first ten ayat from one city and the rest from the other, and the scholars who say so differ over which is which. The traditional order places it eighty-fifth, the last surah but one before the Hijrah; its subject is the trial of those who believed and had not yet left.
رَوى العَوْفِيُّ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ أنَّها مَكِّيَّةٌ، وبِهِ قالَ الحَسَنُ، وقَتادَةُ، وعَطاءٌ، وجابِرُ بْنُ زَيْدٍ، ومُقاتِلٌ. وفي رِوايَةٍ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ أنَّها مَدَنِيَّةٌمَكِّيَّةٌ كُلُّهَا فِي قَوْلِ الْحَسَنِ وَعِكْرِمَةَ وَعَطَاءٍ وَجَابِرٍ. وَمَدَنِيَّةٌ كُلُّهَا فِي أَحَدِ قَوْلَيِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ وَقَتَادَةَThe same, in other works
- al-BaghawīMaʿālim al-tanzīlAhl al-Sunnah in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Makkan.
سُورَةُ الْعَنْكَبُوتِ مَكِّيَّةٌ
- al-Suyūṭīal-Durr al-manthūrAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Ibn ʿAbbās: it came down in Makkah. Recorded by Ibn al-Ḍurays, al-Naḥḥās, Ibn Mardawayh and al-Bayhaqī.
أخْرَجَ ابْنُ الضُّرَيْسِ، والنَّحّاسُ، وابْنُ مَرْدُوَيْهِ، والبَيْهَقِيُّ في الدَّلائِلِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ قالَ: نَزَلَتْ سُورَةُ العَنْكَبُوتِ بِمَكَّةَ
A report he gathers; its chain is not graded here.
- al-RāzīMafātīḥ al-ghaybAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Makkan; Madinan is also said.
مَكِّيَّةٌ، وقِيلَ مَدَنِيَّةٌ، وقِيلَ نَزَلَتْ مِن أوَّلِها إلى رَأْسِ عَشْرٍ بِمَكَّةَ وباقِيها بِالمَدِينَةِ أوْ نَزَلَ إلى آخِرِ العَشْرِ بِالمَدِينَةِ وباقِيها بِمَكَّةَ وبِالعَكْسِ، وهي سَبْعُونَ أوْ تِسْعٌ وسِتُّونَ آيَةً
- Abū al-SuʿūdIrshād al-ʿaql al-salīmMāturīdī in creedḤanafī in fiqh→
Makkan.
مَكِّيَّةٌ، وهي تِسْعٌ وسِتُّونَ آيَةً
Each line of English says what the Arabic beneath it says.
What was happening
By the last years in Makkah, to say “I believe” had a price, and it was paid inside the home as well as in the street. Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ tells how his mother swore that she would neither eat nor drink until he renounced his religion. “You claim that Allah has enjoined on you goodness to your parents — I am your mother, and I command you this.” She kept it up for three days, until she fainted. The ayah came down: “We have enjoined on man goodness to his parents; but if they strive to make you associate with Me what you have no knowledge of, do not obey them.”
Ibn al-Jawzī relates three accounts of what the opening ayat came down about, and they are all of one kind: Muslims left in Makkah who were told that their Islam would not be accepted until they emigrated, who set out and were overtaken and forced back; and those who were tortured for their faith, ʿAmmār among them.◇ The surah’s first words are addressed to all of them. “Do people think that they will be left to say, ‘We believe,’ and not be tried? We tried those before them — so Allah will surely make known those who are truthful, and make known the liars.”
Then it gives them their predecessors, with the stress each time on how long and how hard. Nūḥ stayed among his people a thousand years less fifty. Ibrāhīm was answered with: “Kill him, or burn him.” Lūṭ, Shuʿayb, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Mūsā. And after the roll, the image that names the surah: all the power their persecutors relied on — wealth, numbers, idols, alliances — is a spider’s web.
Its last third is practical. Recite the Book; keep up the prayer, for the prayer restrains from indecency and wrong. Argue with the People of the Book only in the best manner. And if you cannot worship Me here: “O My servants who believe, My earth is wide — so worship Me alone.” Every soul will taste death; how many a creature does not carry its provision, and Allah provides for it and for you. The final ayah is a promise to anyone who has made the effort: “Those who strive for Us — We shall surely guide them to Our ways.”
- Related, not gradedRelated by the commentators without a graded chain; not established as authentic.
What came down about what
Those who were turned back
When the emigration was commanded, the Muslims wrote to their brothers in Makkah that their Islam would not be accepted until they emigrated. They set out for Madinah; the idolaters caught up with them and turned them back. Then Allah sent down the opening ayat of this surah.
Ibn al-Jawzī, the first of three accounts he gives; the others name ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, who was tortured for his faith, and Mihjaʿ, the first Muslim killed at Badr. Al-Baghawī, al-Qurṭubī, al-Suyūṭī and al-Shawkānī relate it too.
Related, not gradedRelated by the commentators without a graded chain; not established as authentic.
أنَّهُ لَمّا أُمِرَ بِالهِجْرَةِ، كَتَبَ المُسْلِمُونَ إلى إخْوانِهِمْ بِمَكَّةَ أنَّهُ لا يُقْبَلُ مِنكم إسْلامُكم حَتّى تُهاجِرُوا، فَخَرَجُوا نَحْوَ المَدِينَةِ فَأدْرَكَهُمُ المُشْرِكُونَ فَرَدُّوهُمْSaʿd and his mother
The mother of Saʿd swore that she would never speak to him, and would neither eat nor drink, until he renounced his religion. She went three days until she fainted from the strain. And Allah sent down this ayah: “We have enjoined upon man goodness to parents; but if they strive to make you associate with Me that of which you have no knowledge, do not obey them.”
Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ: Muslim (1748).
Ṣaḥīḥ
تركز على قضية الثبات والصبر حال الابتلاء والفتن وعاقبته.
It centres on firmness and patience in the midst of trial and persecution, and on what they lead to.
The surah’s aim, as al-Mukhtaṣar fī al-Tafsīr states it
- Trial as the proof of faith
- Parents and the limits of obedience
- The long patience of the prophets
- The spider’s house
- Prayer
- Emigration
- Striving and guidance
Its aims, as Ibn ʿĀshūr sets them out
افتتاح هذه السورة بالحروف المقطعة يؤذن بأن من أغراضها تحدي المشركين بالإتيان بمثل سورة منه كما بينا في سورة البقرة، وجدال المشركين في أن القرآن نزل من عند الله هو الأصل فيما حدث بين المسلمين والمشركين من الأحداث المعبر عنها بالفتنة في قوله هنا أن يقولوا آمنا وهم لا يفتنون [العنكبوت: 2] . فتعين أن أول أغراض هذه السورة تثبيت المسلمين الذين فتنهم المشركون وصدوهم عن الإسلام أو عن الهجرة مع من هاجروا.
ووعد الله بنصر المؤمنين وخذل أهل الشرك وأنصارهم وملقنيهم من أهل الكتاب.
From its first ayah to its last
- 1–1313 ayat · 16% of the surahRead from ayah 1 →
The test
Alif Lām Mīm. Do people think they will be left to say, “We believe,” and not be tried? We tried those before them. Whoever strives, strives only for himself. We have enjoined on man goodness to his parents — but if they strive to make you associate with Me, do not obey them. Among people is one who says, “We believe in Allah,” but when he is harmed for Allah’s sake, he treats people’s persecution as though it were Allah’s punishment.
- 14–2714 ayat · 23% of the surahRead from ayah 14 →
Nūḥ, and Ibrāhīm
We sent Nūḥ to his people, and he stayed among them a thousand years less fifty. And Ibrāhīm, when he said to his people: “Worship Allah and be mindful of Him.” Their only answer was: “Kill him, or burn him.” Allah saved him from the fire. Lūṭ believed him; and he said, “I am emigrating to my Lord.” We gave him Isḥāq and Yaʿqūb, and placed prophethood and the Book among his descendants.
- 28–4013 ayat · 20% of the surahRead from ayah 28 →
Lūṭ, Shuʿayb and the rest
Lūṭ said to his people, “You commit an indecency no one in the worlds has committed before you.” To Madyan, their brother Shuʿayb. ʿĀd and Thamūd — it is plain to you from their dwellings. Qārūn, Pharaoh and Hāmān. Each We seized for his sin: on some We sent a storm of stones, some the blast overtook, some We made the earth swallow, and some We drowned. Allah did not wrong them; they wronged themselves.
- 41–444 ayat · 5% of the surahRead from ayah 41 →
The spider’s house
The likeness of those who take protectors other than Allah is that of the spider, which takes a house: and the frailest of houses is the spider’s house, if only they knew. These are the examples We set for mankind; none understand them but those who have knowledge.
- 45–5511 ayat · 18% of the surahRead from ayah 45 →
The Book, the prayer, and the People of the Book
Recite what has been revealed to you of the Book, and establish the prayer: the prayer restrains from indecency and wrong, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. Do not argue with the People of the Book except in the best manner. You did not recite any book before it, nor write one with your right hand. Is it not enough for them that We have sent down to you the Book, recited to them?
- 56–6914 ayat · 18% of the surahRead from ayah 56 →
My earth is wide
O My servants who believe, My earth is wide, so worship Me alone. Every soul will taste death. How many a creature does not carry its own provision; Allah provides for it and for you. The life of this world is only diversion and play; the home of the Hereafter — that is the true life. And those who strive for Us, We shall surely guide them to Our ways; and Allah is with those who do good.
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 96% of its ayat, and the rhyme turns 4 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
No authenticated report specific to this surah is recorded here.
The name it is known by
From its forty-first ayah: those who take protectors other than Allah are like the spider that makes itself a house — and the flimsiest of houses is the spider’s.
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 Muslim
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.