قُلْ هَلْ مِن شُرَكَآئِكُم مَّن يَهْدِىٓ إِلَى ٱلْحَقِّ ۚ قُلِ ٱللَّهُ يَهْدِى لِلْحَقِّ ۗ أَفَمَن يَهْدِىٓ إِلَى ٱلْحَقِّ أَحَقُّ أَن يُتَّبَعَ أَمَّن لَّا يَهِدِّىٓ إِلَّآ أَن يُهْدَىٰ ۖ فَمَا لَكُمْ كَيْفَ تَحْكُمُونَ
Say, "Are there of your 'partners' any who guides to the truth?" Say, "Allah guides to the truth. So is He who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed or he who guides not unless he is guided? Then what is [wrong] with you - how do you judge?"
Introduction
This is āyah 35 of Sūrat Yunus (Jonah), the 51st sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 11. Meccan verses tend to address faith, the oneness of God, and the hereafter.
This introduction is a starting point — the community and Bilal will enrich it over time.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Meccan
- Order revealed
- 51 of 114
- Surah
- Yunus (10)
Say: Is there any of those whom you associate who guides to the Real? Real is one of the names of the Lord. The commentary is that in truth He is God; He is worthy of Godhood, and His measure is in place. What was, is, and will be must go, but He subsists. He is found in the hearts of the friends and known to the spirits of the recognizers. He does not accept alteration or change of state, and He is everlasting in worthiness for Godhood. The name Real often comes forth from the tongue of the Folk of the Tariqah. This is because upon witnessing the acts, this group began to witness the attributes, and then, upon witnessing the attributes, they fell to witnessing the Essence. First they gazed on the artisanry, then they passed beyond the artisanry and gazed on the attributes, then again they passed from gazing on the attri- butes to gazing on the Essence. About gazing on the artisanry He says, " Have they not gazed upon the dominion of the heav- ens and the earth? " [7:185]. About gazing on the attributes He says, " Thou art not upon any task, neither dost thou recite any of the Qur'an, nor do you do any deed, unless We are witnesses over you when you go forth into it " [10:61]. About gazing on the Essence He says, " Say 'God,' then leave them " [6:91]. About gazing on the acts MuṣṬafā said, " I seek refuge in Thy pardon from Thy punishment. " About gazing on the attributes he said, " I seek refuge in Thy approval from Thy anger. " About gazing on the Essence he said, " I seek refuge in Thee from Thee. " Then he passed beyond his own seeing and became disengaged from his own attributes, and he spoke from the station of annihila- tion: " I do not number Thy laudations. " Again, he stepped higher to the station of subsistence and gave a mark of the reality of solitariness. He said, " Thou art as Thou hast lauded Thyself. " First is the station of inference, second the station of poverty, third the station of contempla- tion, fourth the station of life, and fifth the station of subsistence. The Pir of the Tariqah alluded to the intimations of these meaning when he said, " O resurrec- tion of the marks bearing witness and destruction of the traces! The recognizer is alive through his own nonbeing. O Splendorous and Self-Standing, everyone hopes for vision, and I am lost in vision. When the flood reaches the ocean, what then is known of the flood? The world is full of day, and the poor blind man is deprived. " The antagonists say, " These are not suitable words. " The sun does not sin if someone is blind.
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.
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