إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ سَوَآءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنذِرْهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Indeed, those who disbelieve - it is all the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them - they will not believe.
Introduction
This is āyah 6 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)
Surely it is the same for those who disbelieve whether thou warnest them or thou warnest them not; they will not have faith. From the beginning of the surah to this point is an allusion to the Lord's bounty and gentleness with familiars and friends. This verse alludes to His severity and justice toward the strangers and enemies. God has both bounty and justice. If He acts with justice, that is fitting, and if He is bounteous, that is suitable for Him. But not everything that is fitting in justice is suitable for bounty, whereas everything suitable for bounty is fitting for justice. He calls one to bounty, and the decree is His. He drives another to justice, and the will is His. What is good is that bounty rules over justice, and justice is caught in bounty's hand. Justice is silent before bounty, and the ring of union is in bounty's ear. Do you not see that justice travels along with Him, and happy is he whose refuge is bounty? The fruit of bounty is felicity and triumph, and the result of justice is wretchedness and estrangement. Both are deeds already done. “The Pen has dried on what will be until the Day of Resurrection.” It is a beginningless decree and a work discarded and finished. “When someone's lot has set him down, his eagerness will not stir him up.” The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O God, what will come of what You do not want? And when will he come whom you have not called? What does the unplanted get from water? What answer is given to the unworthy? What use to the bitter that sweet water is its neighbor? What gain to the thorn that the rose's fragrance is next to it? The apportioning has gone before, nothing to be added or taken away. What can be done? The Greatest Judge wants it this way. Satan lived in the highest horizon and performed thousands of acts of worship. What profit did it have, for he was not worthy. 'Since approval and wrath are beginningless attributes, there is no profit in shortened sleeves and determined steps.'” One day ʿUmar KhaṬṬāb came across Iblis. He seized him by the collar and said, “I have been seeking you for a long time.
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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