أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًۭى مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ
Those are upon [right] guidance from their Lord, and it is those who are the successful.
Introduction
This is āyah 5 of Sūrat Al-Baqara (The Cow), the 87th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Medinan period and sits within Juzʾ 1. Medinan verses often address community life, law, and the building of society.
This introduction is a starting point — the community and Bilal will enrich it over time.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Medinan
- Order revealed
- 87 of 114
- Surah
- Al-Baqara (2)
Those are upon a guidance from their Lord. Here you have the great triumph and the worthy praise. Here you have good fortune without end and generous bounty without limit. He has opened up the door of perspicacity for them and put into effect the gaze of solicitude inside their hearts. He has lit up the lamp of guidance in their hearts so that what is unseen for others is apparent to them. What for others is a report is for them face-to-face vision. Anas ibn Mālik said that he went before ʿUthmān ʿAffān, having seen in the road a woman and considered her beautiful traits. ʿUthmān said, “One of you who has entered in upon me has the traces of adultery appearing in his eyes.” Anas said, “Is there revelation after God's Messenger?” He said, “No, but there is insight, proof, and truthful perspicacity. The Prophet said, 'Be wary of the perspicacity of the man of faith, for he gazes with the light of God.'” A pir was asked what perspicacity is. He answered, “Spirits that move about in the Dominion gazing on the meanings of the unseen things. Then they speak about the secrets of the Real with the speech of contemplation, not the speech of opinion and reckoning.” In this meaning someone sang, May I be a ransom for the men dwelling in the Unseen, their secret cores roaming in all that is there! In the Unseen their secret cores crave from the Real a locus of witnessing to which the people have no access. They encounter the holy spirit in their secret cores and in meaning they remain dwelling with it. They are men who have proximity and presence in the Unseen, while their souls have been slain by their finding. Sarī SaqaṬī was Junayd's master. One day he said to Junayd, “Speak to the people and give them advice, for it is time for you to speak.” Junayd said, “I did not see myself like that and saw no worthiness in myself. Then one night I saw MuṣṬafā in a dream, and it was the night before Friday. He said to me, 'Speak to the people!' That same night I got up and before morning went to the door of Sarī. I knocked at the door, and Sarī said, 'You will not assent to me before they tell you to do so?'” The next day Junayd sat in the congregational mosque and news spread in the city that he was going to speak.
Tafsir
Hafiz Ibn Kathir
Chains of transmission
Oral — isnād
- ~610–632 CERevelation & memorisation
Received by the Prophet ﷺ and preserved by the ḥuffāẓ (memorisers) among the Companions.
- 1st century AHMutawātir transmissionawaiting curation
Carried by mass-transmission through the generations of qurrāʾ.
- TodayLiving chainsawaiting curation
Continuous ijāzah chains link reciters today back to the Prophet ﷺ.
Verified isnād chains for this āyah will be added by curators.
Written — the manuscript record
- ~650 CEʿUthmānic codicesawaiting curation
The standardised muṣḥaf sent to the great cities (e.g. the Topkapı and Samarqand codices).
- 8th–10th c.Early Ḥijāzī & Kūfic foliosawaiting curation
Surviving leaves in Birmingham, Sanaa, Paris (BnF) and beyond.
- Modern printModern printawaiting curation
The 1924 Cairo edition → today: the standard printed muṣḥaf used worldwide.
A curated chain of manuscript images for this exact āyah — roughly one per century — is coming. Help us source and verify them.
And now — what do you think?
The text, its history and the classical commentary are laid out above. Share your own understanding, ask a question, or reason with others.
Community resources
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