خَتَمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَعَلَىٰ سَمْعِهِمْ ۖ وَعَلَىٰٓ أَبْصَٰرِهِمْ غِشَٰوَةٌۭ ۖ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌۭ
Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing, and over their vision is a veil. And for them is a great punishment.
Introduction
This is āyah 7 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)
God has sealed their hearts. The seal of estrangement was placed on someone's heart, and he remained in unbelief. The seal of perplexity was placed on another's heart, and he remained in lassitude. That one was a stranger, driven away, the road lost, and this one was helpless, stuck in the road, kept back from the Friend by other than the Friend. Any talk that keeps you back from the road-let it be unbelief or faith. Any picture that holds you back from the Friend-let it be ugly or beautiful. [DS 51] Not everyone who escapes from unbelief joins with the Real, unless he has escaped from himself. Someone who escapes from unbelief reaches familiarity, but someone who escapes from himself reaches friendship. A thousand way stations stand between familiarity and friendship, and a thou- sand valleys between love and the Friend. In love for You I have never arrived at a way station in which the mind was not bewildered at the arrival.
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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