Makkan
The middle years in Makkah
Three students of Ibn ʿAbbās — al-ʿAwfī, Ibn Abī Ṭalḥah and Abū Ṣāliḥ — relate from him that it is Makkan, and it is the saying of al-Ḥasan, Mujāhid, ʿIkrimah, ʿAṭāʾ, Jābir ibn Zayd and Qatādah. A report from Ibn ʿAbbās and Qatādah excepts five ayat beginning “Ask them about the town that stood by the sea” (7:163), and al-Qurṭubī gives the exception as eight. The traditional order places it thirty-ninth, after Ṣād.
رَوى العَوْفِيُّ، وابْنُ أبِي طَلْحَةُ، وأبُو صالِحٍ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ، أنَّ سُورَةَ (الأعْرافِ) مِنَ المَكِّيِّ، وهَذا قَوْلُ الحَسَنِ، ومُجاهِدٍ، وعِكْرِمَةَ، وعَطاءٍ، وجابِرِ بْنِ زَيْدٍ، وقَتادَةَوَرَوَى النَّسَائِيُّ عَنْ عَائِشَةَ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَرَأَ فِي صَلَاةِ الْمَغْرِبِ بِسُورَةِ الْأَعْرَافِ، فَرَّقَهَا فِي رَكْعَتَيْنِThe same, in other works
- al-BaghawīMaʿālim al-tanzīlAhl al-Sunnah in creedShāfiʿī in fiqh→
Makkan, all of it, except five ayat.
سورة الأعراف مَكِّيَّةٌ كُلُّهَا إِلَّا خَمْسَ آيَاتٍ
- 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, through several chains.
أخْرَجَ ابْنُ الضُّرَيْسِ والنَّحّاسُ في ناسِخِهِ، وابْنُ مَرْدَوَيْهِ والبَيْهَقِيُّ في الدَّلائِلِ مِن طُرُقٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ قالَ: سُورَةُ الأعْرافِ نَزَلَتْ بِمَكَّةَ
A report he gathers; its chain is not graded here.
- al-ShawkānīFatḥ al-qadīr→
Makkan, except eight ayat.
هي مَكِّيَّةٌ إلّا ثَمانِ آياتٍ
- Abū al-SuʿūdIrshād al-ʿaql al-salīmMāturīdī in creedḤanafī in fiqh→
Makkan.
مَكِّيَّةٌ غَيْرَ ثَمانِي آياتٍ مِن قَوْلِهِ: ﴿واسْألْهُمْ﴾ إلى قَوْلِهِ: ﴿وَإذْ نَتَقْنا الجَبَلَ﴾، وآيُها مِائَتانِ وسِتٌّ
Each line of English says what the Arabic beneath it says.
What was happening
It begins by speaking to the Prophet ﷺ about his own chest: “A Book sent down to you — so let there be no tightness in your breast because of it — that you may warn by it.” What follows is the long view that makes the tightness bearable. The opposition he is facing in Makkah did not begin in Makkah.
It began with Ādam. Iblīs is told to bow and refuses: “I am better than he; You created me from fire, and him from clay.” Cast out, he asks for time and is given it, and says what he means to do with it: “I shall lie in wait for them on Your straight path; then I shall come at them from before them and behind them, from their right and their left.” Ādam and his wife are deceived, and stripped of what covered them. But where Iblīs had argued, they say: “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves; and if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we shall surely be among the lost.” Two responses to having done wrong — and the rest of the surah follows the two lines down through history.
Four times in a row it then calls out, “O children of Ādam,” a form of address found almost nowhere else in the Qurʾan: We have sent down clothing to you; do not let Satan seduce you as he drove your parents from the Garden; take your adornment at every place of prayer; when messengers come to you from among yourselves. The third of those was aimed at a custom of the idolaters. Ibn ʿAbbās relates that people used to go round the Kaʿbah naked.
Then the messengers, one after another, each with the same first sentence: “My people, worship Allah; you have no god but Him.” Nūḥ, Hūd, Ṣāliḥ, Lūṭ, Shuʿayb — and each time the chiefs answer for the people, and each time the story ends the same way. The surah pauses to state the rule: “Had the people of the towns believed and been mindful, We would have opened upon them blessings from the sky and the earth.” Then comes Mūsā, at greater length than all the others together: Pharaoh and the sorcerers, the plagues, the sea — and after the sea, a people who had barely crossed before they asked for an idol.
In the middle of that story, in a surah sent down while the Muslims were still a small band in one valley, stands a sentence addressed to the whole of humanity: “Say: O mankind, I am the Messenger of Allah to you all.”
What came down about what
“Take your adornment at every place of prayer”
“A woman used to go round the House naked, and say: ‘Who will lend me a covering to go round in?’ and she would say: ‘Today some of it shows, or all of it, and what shows of it I do not make lawful.’ So this ayah came down: ‘Take your adornment at every place of prayer.’”
Ibn ʿAbbās: Muslim (3028).
Ṣaḥīḥ
بيان سنة الصراع بين الإيمان والكفر وعاقبته من خلال عرض سير الأنبياء مع أقوامهم.
To show the way the struggle between faith and disbelief runs, and how it ends — by setting out the lives of the prophets with their peoples.
The surah’s aim, as al-Mukhtaṣar fī al-Tafsīr states it
- Ādam and Iblīs
- “O children of Ādam”
- The people of the Heights
- Five messengers, one sentence
- Mūsā, Pharaoh and the sorcerers
- The calf, and the seventy
- The unlettered Prophet, sent to all mankind
- “Am I not your Lord?”
- The Most Beautiful Names
Its aims, as Ibn ʿĀshūr sets them out
افتتحت هذه السورة بالتنويه بالقرآن والوعد بتيسيره على النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ليبلغه وكان افتتاحها كلاما جامعا وهو مناسب لما اشتملت عليه السورة من المقاصد فهو افتتاح وارد على أحسن وجوه البيان وأكملها شأن سور القرآن.
وتدور مقاصد هذه السورة على محور مقاصد منها:
النهي عن اتخاذ الشركاء من دون الله.
وإنذار المشركين عن سوء عاقبة الشرك في الدنيا والآخرة.
From its first ayah to its last
- 1–1010 ayat · 3% of the surahRead from ayah 1 →
No tightness in your breast
Alif Lām Mīm Ṣād. A Book sent down to you — so let there be no tightness in your breast because of it — that you may warn by it, and as a reminder to the believers. Follow what has been sent down to you from your Lord. How many a town We destroyed: Our might came upon them by night, or while they rested at midday. The weighing that Day is the truth. We established you on the earth and made for you in it a livelihood; little thanks do you give.
- 11–2515 ayat · 6% of the surahRead from ayah 11 →
Ādam and Iblīs
We created you, then shaped you, then said to the angels, “Prostrate to Ādam.” They prostrated, except Iblīs: “I am better than he.” — “Go down from it; it is not for you to be arrogant here.” — “Because You have sent me astray, I shall lie in wait for them on Your straight path.” He whispered to the two of them, and swore he was a sincere adviser. When they tasted of the tree their nakedness became apparent to them. They said: “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves; if You do not forgive us and have mercy on us, we shall surely be among the lost” (7:23).
- 26–3914 ayat · 9% of the surahRead from ayah 26 →
O children of Ādam
O children of Ādam, We have sent down to you clothing to cover your nakedness, and as adornment; but the clothing of mindfulness — that is best. O children of Ādam, do not let Satan seduce you as he brought your parents out of the Garden. O children of Ādam, take your adornment at every place of prayer; eat and drink, and do not be excessive. Say: who has forbidden the adornment of Allah which He brought out for His servants? O children of Ādam, when messengers come to you from among yourselves.
- 40–5819 ayat · 11% of the surahRead from ayah 40 →
The Garden, the Fire, and the Heights
The gates of heaven will not be opened to those who deny Our ayat. Those who believe will say: “Praise be to Allah, who guided us to this; we would not have been guided had Allah not guided us.” Between the two is a barrier, and on the Heights are men who recognise each by their marks. The people of the Fire call: “Pour some water upon us.” Your Lord is Allah, who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then rose over the Throne. Call upon your Lord humbly and in secret.
- 59–10244 ayat · 21% of the surahRead from ayah 59 →
Five messengers, and the rule
We sent Nūḥ to his people: “My people, worship Allah; you have no god but Him.” And to ʿĀd their brother Hūd; to Thamūd their brother Ṣāliḥ — “this is the she-camel of Allah, a sign for you”; and Lūṭ; and to Madyan their brother Shuʿayb: “Give full measure and weight.” The chiefs who were arrogant said: “We shall drive you out, Shuʿayb.” Had the people of the towns believed and been mindful, We would have opened upon them blessings from the sky and the earth. Did they feel secure from the plan of Allah?
- 103–13735 ayat · 12% of the surahRead from ayah 103 →
Mūsā and Pharaoh
Then We sent Mūsā with Our signs to Pharaoh. He threw down his staff, and it was a serpent, plain to see. The sorcerers bewitched the eyes of the people; then the staff swallowed up what they had faked, and the sorcerers fell down prostrating: “We believe in the Lord of the worlds.” — “I shall cut off your hands and feet on opposite sides.” — “Our Lord, pour upon us patience.” We sent upon them the flood, locusts, lice, frogs and blood. And We made the people who had been held weak inherit the east and the west of the land.
- 138–17134 ayat · 23% of the surahRead from ayah 138 →
After the sea
We brought the Children of Israel across the sea, and they said: “Mūsā, make for us a god, as they have gods.” Mūsā said: “My Lord, show me, that I may look upon You.” — “You will not see Me; but look at the mountain.” The people of Mūsā took, after him, a calf made of their ornaments. He chose seventy men. “My mercy encompasses all things; I shall ordain it for those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find written with them in the Torah and the Gospel.” Say: O mankind, I am the Messenger of Allah to you all. Ask them about the town by the sea, when they broke the Sabbath.
- 172–18817 ayat · 8% of the surahRead from ayah 172 →
The covenant, and the Names
When your Lord took from the children of Ādam, from their loins, their descendants, and made them testify about themselves: “Am I not your Lord?” They said: “Yes; we bear witness.” Recite to them the story of the one to whom We gave Our ayat, and he slipped out of them. To Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names; so call on Him by them. They ask you about the Hour: when will it arrive? Say: I have no power to benefit or harm myself, except as Allah wills.
- 189–20618 ayat · 7% of the surahRead from ayah 189 →
The close
He it is who created you from a single soul. Do they associate with Him those who create nothing, and are themselves created? Take to forgiveness, enjoin what is right, and turn away from the ignorant. If a prompting from Satan should prompt you, seek refuge in Allah. When the Qurʾan is recited, listen to it and be silent, that you may receive mercy. Remember your Lord within yourself, humbly and in awe. Those who are near your Lord are not too proud to worship Him; they glorify Him, and to Him they prostrate.
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 99% of its ayat, and the rhyme turns 5 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
ʿĀʾishah said that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recited Sūrat al-Aʿrāf in the sunset prayer, dividing it between the two rakʿahs.Zayd ibn Thābit said to Marwān: “Why do you recite the short surahs in the sunset prayer? I heard the Prophet ﷺ recite in it the longer of the two long ones.” He was asked: “What is the longer of the two long ones?” He said: “Al-Aʿrāf.”وَكَانَ وَقَّافًا عِنْدَ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ
ʿUyaynah ibn Ḥiṣn came in to ʿUmar and said: “Son of al-Khaṭṭāb, by Allah, you do not give us much, nor judge between us with justice.” ʿUmar grew so angry that he was about to strike him. Al-Ḥurr ibn Qays said: “Commander of the Faithful, Allah said to His Prophet ﷺ: ‘Take to forgiveness, enjoin what is right, and turn away from the ignorant’ — and this is one of the ignorant.” By Allah, ʿUmar did not go beyond it when it was recited to him. He was one who stopped at the Book of Allah.The names it is known by
After the elevated barrier between the Garden and the Fire, and the people upon it who can see both (7:46–48).
So Zayd ibn Thābit called what he had heard the Prophet ﷺ recite in the sunset prayer; asked what he meant, he said: al-Aʿrāf.
Its place in the muṣḥaf
Ayat you will hear named
- 7:12“I am better than he”
- 7:16–17“I shall lie in wait for them”
- 7:23“Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves”
- 7:26The clothing of mindfulness
- 7:31Adornment at every place of prayer
- 7:43“Praise be to Allah, who guided us to this”
- 7:46–48The people of the Heights
- 7:54–56He rose over the Throne; call on Him humbly
- 7:96Had the people of the towns believed
- 7:143“My Lord, show me, that I may look upon You”
- 7:156–158Mercy, and the unlettered Prophet
- 7:172“Am I not your Lord?”
- 7:180The Most Beautiful Names
- 7:199Take to forgiveness
- 7:206The first ayah of prostration
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 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 Sunan of Abū Dāwūd and al-Nasāʾī
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.