Makkan, by the majority
The later years in Makkah, when there was open talk of killing the Prophet ﷺ
It is Makkan in the saying of Ibn ʿAbbās, al-Ḥasan, Mujāhid, ʿIkrimah and Qatādah; a report from Ibn ʿAbbās and Qatādah excepts two ayat as Madinan. Ibn al-Jawzī cites al-Zajjāj: all of the Ḥawāmīm came down in Makkah. It is the first of the seven, which stand together in the muṣḥaf as they came down together; the traditional order places it sixtieth.
وهي مَكِّيَّةٌ، قالَهُ ابْنُ عَبّاسٍ، والحَسَنُ، ومُجاهِدٌ، وعِكْرِمَةُ، وقَتادَةُ. وحُكِيَ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ وقَتادَةُ أنَّ فِيها آَيَتَيْنِ نَزَلَتا بِالمَدِينَةِقَالَ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ مَسْعُودٍ: آلُ حم دِيبَاجُ الْقُرْآنِThe same, in other works
- al-BaghawīMaʿālim al-tanzīlAhl al-Sunnah in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Makkan.
سُورَةُ غَافِرٍ مَكِّيَّةٌ
- al-Suyūṭīal-Durr al-manthūrAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Ibn ʿAbbās: the seven Ḥā-Mīm surahs came down in Makkah. Recorded by Ibn al-Ḍurays, al-Naḥḥās and al-Bayhaqī.
أخْرَجَ ابْنُ الضُّرَيْسِ، والنَّحّاسُ، والبَيْهَقِيُّ في الدَّلائِلِ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ قالَ: أُنْزِلَتِ الحَوامِيمُ السَّبْعُ بِمَكَّةَ
A report he gathers; its chain is not graded here.
- al-RāzīMafātīḥ al-ghaybAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Makkan.
ثَمانُونَ وخَمْسُ آياتٍ مَكِّيَّةٍ
- Abū al-SuʿūdIrshād al-ʿaql al-salīmMāturīdī in creedḤanafī in fiqh→
Makkan.
سُورَةُ غافِرٍ مَكِّيَّةٌ، وآياتُها خَمْسٌ وثَمانُونَ آيَةً
Each line of English says what the Arabic beneath it says.
What was happening
The seven surahs that begin with Ḥā Mīm run from here to al-Aḥqāf. Ibn Masʿūd called them the brocade of the Qurʾan. They share an opening — the letters, and then the sending down of the Book — and a subject: the Qurʾan itself, and those who dispute about it. This one states the theme in its fourth ayah: “None dispute concerning the signs of Allah but those who disbelieve; so do not be deceived by their going to and fro in the land.”
By the time it came down the dispute in Makkah had turned murderous. ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr was asked what was the worst thing the idolaters ever did to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: “I saw ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ come to the Prophet ﷺ while he was praying, put his cloak round his neck and choke him with it, hard. Then Abū Bakr came and thrust him away, and said: ‘Would you kill a man because he says, My Lord is Allah — when he has brought you clear proofs from your Lord?’”
Those are the words of a man in this surah. Pharaoh has said, “Let me kill Mūsā.” And a believer from Pharaoh’s own family, who had been concealing his faith, speaks — carefully at first, as one of them: if he is a liar, his lie is on himself, and if he is truthful, some of what he warns you of will strike you. Then more and more openly, as it becomes clear that they will not listen: “My people, I fear for you a day like the day of the confederates… My people, this worldly life is only a passing enjoyment, and the Hereafter is the lasting home… How is it that I call you to salvation and you call me to the Fire?” He ends: “You will remember what I say to you. I entrust my affair to Allah.” And Allah protected him from the evils they plotted.
Around that story the surah sets two scenes in heaven and two in the Fire. The angels who bear the Throne ask forgiveness for the believers and their families. And the people of the Fire beg its keepers to ask their Lord to lighten a single day.
What came down about what
Abū Bakr at the Kaʿbah
ʿUrwah asked ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr: tell me the worst thing the idolaters did to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. He said: “While the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was praying in the courtyard of the Kaʿbah, ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ came, seized his shoulder, twisted his garment round his neck and throttled him severely. Abū Bakr came, took him by the shoulder and pushed him from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and said: ‘Would you kill a man because he says, My Lord is Allah, when he has come to you with clear proofs from your Lord?’”
ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr: al-Bukhārī (4815).
Ṣaḥīḥ
معالجة المجادلين في آيات الله بمحاورتهم ودعوتهم للرجوع إلى الحق.
To deal with those who dispute about the signs of Allah — by reasoning with them, and calling them back to the truth.
The surah’s aim, as al-Mukhtaṣar fī al-Tafsīr states it
- Disputing about Allah’s signs
- Forgiveness and repentance
- The angels’ prayer for the believers
- The believer of Pharaoh’s household
- Supplication
- Faith that comes too late
Its aims, as Ibn ʿĀshūr sets them out
تضمنت هذه السورة أغراضا من أصول الدعوة إلى الإيمان، فابتدئت بما يقتضي تحدي المعاندين في صدق القرآن كما اقتضاه الحرفان المقطعان في فاتحتها كما تقدم في أول سورة البقرة [1] .
وأجري على اسم الله تعالى من صفاته ما فيه تعريض بدعوتهم إلى الإقلاع عما هم فيه، فكانت فاتحة السورة مثل ديباجة الخطبة مشيرة إلى الغرض من تنزيل هذه السورة.
From its first ayah to its last
- 1–66 ayat · 5% of the surahRead from ayah 1 →
The Book, and those who dispute it
Ḥā Mīm. The sending down of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the Knowing: Forgiver of sin, Accepter of repentance, severe in punishment, Owner of abundance. None dispute the signs of Allah but those who disbelieve; let their movement through the land not deceive you. Before them the people of Nūḥ denied, and the confederates after them; every nation plotted to seize its messenger.
- 7–93 ayat · 5% of the surahRead from ayah 7 →
The prayer of the angels
Those who bear the Throne, and those around it, glorify their Lord with praise, believe in Him, and ask forgiveness for those who believe: “Our Lord, You encompass all things in mercy and knowledge; forgive those who repent and follow Your way, and shield them from the punishment of the Blaze. Admit them to the Gardens of Eden You promised them, and the righteous among their fathers, their spouses and their offspring.”
- 10–2213 ayat · 15% of the surahRead from ayah 10 →
The Day of Meeting
Those who disbelieved will be told: “Allah’s abhorrence of you was greater than your abhorrence of yourselves.” They say: “Our Lord, twice You made us die and twice You gave us life; is there any way out?” The Day they come forth, nothing of them hidden from Allah: “Whose is the dominion today?” — “Allah’s, the One, the Subduer.” Warn them of the Day drawing near, when hearts are at the throats. He knows the treachery of the eyes, and what the breasts conceal.
- 23–4624 ayat · 31% of the surahRead from ayah 23 →
The believer of Pharaoh’s household
We sent Mūsā to Pharaoh, Hāmān and Qārūn. Pharaoh said, “Let me kill Mūsā.” A believing man of Pharaoh’s family, who had hidden his faith, said: “Would you kill a man because he says, ‘My Lord is Allah’? My people, yours is the dominion today — but who will help us against Allah’s might if it comes? I fear for you the Day of Calling. This life is only a passing enjoyment; the Hereafter is the abiding home. I call you to the Almighty, the Forgiving. I entrust my affair to Allah.” So Allah protected him — and Pharaoh’s people were encompassed by the worst punishment: the Fire, to which they are exposed morning and evening.
- 47–559 ayat · 9% of the surahRead from ayah 47 →
In the Fire, and the promise of help
They argue in the Fire, the weak with the proud. They say to the keepers of Hell, “Call upon your Lord to lighten for us one day of the punishment.” We shall surely help Our messengers and those who believe, in the life of this world and on the Day the witnesses stand. So be patient: the promise of Allah is true. Ask forgiveness for your sin, and glorify your Lord with praise, evening and morning.
- 56–6813 ayat · 17% of the surahRead from ayah 56 →
“Call upon Me”
Those who dispute the signs of Allah without authority have nothing in their breasts but a pride they will never satisfy. The creation of the heavens and the earth is greater than the creation of mankind. Your Lord has said: “Call upon Me; I will answer you” (40:60). It is Allah who made the night for you to rest in and the day to see by; who made the earth a dwelling and the sky a canopy, and shaped you and made your shapes fair. He is the Living; there is no god but He — so call on Him, making the religion sincerely His.
- 69–8517 ayat · 18% of the surahRead from ayah 69 →
Belief at the sight of punishment
Have you seen those who dispute the signs of Allah — how they are turned away? When the shackles are on their necks, and the chains, they will be dragged through boiling water. So be patient. We sent messengers before you: of some We have told you, and of some We have not. When their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they exulted in the knowledge they had. And when they saw Our might they said, “We believe in Allah alone.” But their belief did not benefit them once they had seen Our might.
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 44% of its ayat, and the rhyme turns 43 times. 4 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.
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
الدُّعَاءُ هُوَ الْعِبَادَةُ
“Supplication is worship.” Then he recited: “And your Lord has said: Call upon Me; I will answer you. Those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell, humbled.”The names it is known by
From its third ayah, where Allah is named “Forgiver of sin, Accepter of repentance”.
After the believing man of Pharaoh’s household. This is the name Ibn al-Jawzī heads it with, and al-Qurṭubī gives both. It is also called al-Ṭawl, Abundance, from the same third ayah, and Ḥā Mīm al-Muʾmin.
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 Abū Dāwūd and 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.