Madinan, by agreement
Madinah, between the truce of al-Ḥudaybiyah and the conquest of Makkah — the sixth to the eighth year
It is Madinan in the saying of all. Its opening came down about Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah, as the Prophet ﷺ was preparing to march on Makkah in the eighth year; its tenth ayah belongs to the time of the truce of al-Ḥudaybiyah, two years earlier, when believing women began to arrive from Makkah. The traditional order places it ninety-first.
وَهِيَ مَدَنَيَّةٌ كُلُّها بِإجْماعِهِمْكَانَ سَبَبُ نُزُولِ صَدْرِ هَذِهِ السُّورَةِ الْكَرِيمَةِ قِصَّةَ حَاطِبِ بْنِ أَبِي بَلْتَعَةَ، وَذَلِكَ أَنَّ حَاطِبًا هَذَا كَانَ رَجُلًا مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ، وَكَانَ مِنْ أَهْلِ بَدْرٍ أَيْضًاThe same, in other works
- al-BaghawīMaʿālim al-tanzīlAhl al-Sunnah in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Madinan.
سُورَةُ الْمُمْتَحِنَةِ مَدَنِيَّةٌ
- 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.
أخْرَجَ ابْنُ الضُّرَيْسِ، والنَّحّاسُ، وابْنُ مَرْدُويَهْ، والبَيْهَقِيُّ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ قالَ: نَزَلَتْ سُورَةُ المُمْتَحَنَةِ بِالمَدِينَةِ
A report he gathers; its chain is not graded here.
- al-ShawkānīFatḥ al-qadīr→
Madinan.
هي مَدَنِيَّةٌ
- al-RāzīMafātīḥ al-ghaybAshʿarī in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Madinan.
وهِيَ ثَلاثَ عَشْرَةَ آيَةً مَدَنِيَّةً
- Abū al-SuʿūdIrshād al-ʿaql al-salīmMāturīdī in creedḤanafī in fiqh→
Madinan.
مَدَنِيَّةٌ وآياتُها ثَلاثَ عَشْرَةَ
Each line of English says what the Arabic beneath it says.
What was happening
Quraysh had broken the truce, and the Prophet ﷺ was quietly readying an army to take Makkah before they could prepare — hoping, by surprise, to take it without a slaughter. Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah knew of it. He was an Emigrant who had fought at Badr; but unlike the other Emigrants he was not of Quraysh by blood, and his family in Makkah had no clan to protect them. He wrote to the leaders of Quraysh telling them what was coming, and gave the letter to a woman travelling south.
ʿAlī tells the rest. “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent me, al-Zubayr and al-Miqdād, saying: ride until you reach the meadow of Khākh; there you will find a woman in a litter with a letter. Take it from her.” They found her; she denied having anything; they told her to produce it or be searched, and she drew it from her braids.
The Prophet ﷺ asked: “Ḥāṭib, what is this?” He said: do not be hasty with me, Messenger of Allah. I was a man attached to Quraysh, not one of them. The Emigrants with you have kin there to protect their families; I had none, and wanted to do them a favour by which they would protect mine. I did not do it out of disbelief, nor to leave my religion. The Prophet ﷺ said: “He has told you the truth.” ʿUmar asked leave to strike his neck. He said: “He was present at Badr. How do you know? Perhaps Allah has looked upon the people of Badr and said: do as you will, for I have forgiven you.”
Then the surah came down — addressing Ḥāṭib, even in his fault, with “O you who believe”.
What came down about what
Ḥāṭib’s letter
ʿAlī said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent me, al-Zubayr and al-Miqdād, and said: “Ride until you come to the meadow of Khākh. There is a woman there, travelling by camel, who has a letter with her; take it from her.” We set off, our horses racing under us, until we reached the meadow, and there was the woman. We said: “Bring out the letter.” She said: “I have no letter.” We said: “You will bring out the letter, or we shall strip you of your clothes.” And she drew it out from the plaits of her hair.
We brought it to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. It was from Ḥāṭib ibn Abī Baltaʿah to some of the idolaters in Makkah, telling them something of what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ intended. He said: “Ḥāṭib, what is this?” He said: “Messenger of Allah, do not be hasty with me. I was a man attached to Quraysh — an ally of theirs, and not one of them by blood. The Emigrants who are with you have kinsmen there who protect their families and their property. Since I lacked that tie of blood among them, I wished to do them a service for which they would protect my kin. I did not do it to turn back from my religion, nor because I am content with disbelief after Islam.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “He has told you the truth.”
ʿUmar said: “Messenger of Allah, let me strike the neck of this hypocrite.” He ﷺ said: “He was at Badr. And what do you know? Perhaps Allah looked upon those who were at Badr and said: Do what you will, for I have forgiven you.” And Allah sent down the surah: “O you who believe, do not take My enemy and your enemy as allies, offering them affection…” as far as “he has strayed from the right way.”
ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib: al-Bukhārī (4274, 4890) and Muslim (2494).
Ṣaḥīḥ
Asmāʾ and her mother
Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr said: “My mother came to me, while she was still an idolater, in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I asked him: my mother has come to me hoping for my kindness — shall I keep ties with her?” He said: “Yes. Keep ties with your mother.”
Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr: al-Bukhārī (2620) and Muslim (1003).
Ṣaḥīḥ
The women who emigrated
After the truce, believing women came to Madinah as emigrants, and their families demanded them back under its terms. They were examined as to their faith and not returned. ʿĀʾishah said: the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would examine them by this ayah; whoever accepted its conditions, he would say to her, “I have accepted your pledge” — in words only. By Allah, his hand never touched the hand of a woman in taking the pledge.
ʿĀʾishah: al-Bukhārī (4891) and Muslim (1866).
Ṣaḥīḥ
تخليص قلوب المؤمنين من الولاء لغير دين الله تعالى.
To free the hearts of the believers from loyalty to anything other than the religion of Allah.
The surah’s aim, as al-Mukhtaṣar fī al-Tafsīr states it
- Loyalty and disavowal
- The example of Ibrāhīm
- Kindness to those who do not fight you
- The emigrant women
- The women’s pledge
Its aims, as Ibn ʿĀshūr sets them out
اشتملت من الأغراض على تحذير المؤمنين من اتخاذ المشركين أولياء مع أنهم كفروا بالدين الحق وأخرجوهم من بلادهم.
وإعلامهم بأن اتخاذهم أولياء ضلال وأنهم لو تمكنوا من المؤمنين لأساؤوا إليهم بالفعل والقول، وأن ما بينهم وبين المشركين من أواصر القرابة لا يعتد به تجاه العداوة في الدين، وضرب لهم مثلا في ذلك قطيعة إبراهيم لأبيه وقومه.
وأردف ذلك باستئناس المؤمنين برجاء أن تحصل مودة بينهم وبين الذين أمرهم الله بمعاداتهم أي هذه معاداة غير دائمة.
From its first ayah to its last
- 1–33 ayat · 21% of the surahRead from ayah 1 →
Do not take My enemy as an ally
O you who believe, do not take My enemy and your enemy as allies, offering them affection when they have rejected the truth that has come to you, and driven out the Messenger and yourselves because you believe in Allah. If they got the better of you they would be your enemies. Neither your kin nor your children will benefit you on the Day of Resurrection.
- 4–63 ayat · 24% of the surahRead from ayah 4 →
The example of Ibrāhīm
There is an excellent example for you in Ibrāhīm and those with him, when they said to their people: “We are free of you and of what you worship besides Allah.” And their prayer: “Our Lord, upon You we rely, to You we turn, and to You is the journey’s end. Our Lord, do not make us a trial for those who disbelieve.”
- 7–93 ayat · 16% of the surahRead from ayah 7 →
Who is, and is not, an enemy
It may be that Allah will put affection between you and those you now hold as enemies. Allah does not forbid you, concerning those who have not fought you over religion nor driven you from your homes, to deal kindly and justly with them: Allah loves the just (60:8). He forbids you only to take as allies those who fought you over religion, drove you out, or helped in driving you out.
- 10–112 ayat · 22% of the surahRead from ayah 10 →
The believing women who emigrate
When believing women come to you as emigrants, examine them — Allah knows best their faith. If you find them to be believers, do not send them back to the disbelievers: they are not lawful for them, nor are those lawful for these. Give the husbands what they spent. And do not hold to marriage ties with disbelieving women.
- 12–132 ayat · 16% of the surahRead from ayah 12 →
The women’s pledge
O Prophet, when believing women come to pledge to you that they will associate nothing with Allah, will not steal, will not commit unlawful intercourse, will not kill their children, will not bring a slander they have invented, and will not disobey you in what is right — accept their pledge, and ask Allah to forgive them. And, once more: do not ally yourselves with a people with whom Allah is angry.
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 62% of its ayat, and the rhyme turns 6 times. One of those turns comes 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
No authenticated report specific to this surah is recorded here.
The name it is known by
After its tenth ayah, which commands that believing women who emigrate be examined. Al-Qurṭubī notes that it is also read al-Mumtaḥinah, “the examiner” — the surah itself, which tests. It is sometimes called Sūrat al-Imtiḥān.
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)
- فتح القدير للشوكانيFatḥ al-qadīrMuḥammad al-Shawkānī (d. 1250 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 and 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.