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سُورَةُ النَّحۡلِ · 16:2
MeccanRevelation order ٧٠Juzʾ ١٤Page ٢٦٧

يُنَزِّلُ ٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةَ بِٱلرُّوحِ مِنْ أَمْرِهِۦ عَلَىٰ مَن يَشَآءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِۦٓ أَنْ أَنذِرُوٓا۟ أَنَّهُۥ لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنَا۠ فَٱتَّقُونِ

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Saheeh International · EN

He sends down the angels, with the inspiration of His command, upon whom He wills of His servants, [telling them], "Warn that there is no deity except Me; so fear Me."

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Introduction

This is āyah 2 of Sūrat An-Nahl (The Bee), the 70th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 14. 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.

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Revelation & occasion

Asbāb al-Nuzūl
Period
Meccan
Order revealed
70 of 114
Surah
An-Nahl (16)
Occasion of revelation · Al-Wahidi

He sends down the angels with the spirit from His command upon whomsoever He will of His servants: “Give warning that there is no god but I, so be wary of Me.” The reality of the spirit is that within which is the life of the heart and the life of the religion. It is the beauty of the Qur'an's exaltedness, which reached MuṣṬafā from the Divine Presence with the attribute of the message by the emissary Gabriel. Give warning that there is no god but I, so be wary of Me: “Report to My servants that I am the One Lord, I am without peer in attributes, I am separate from anything's resemblance to Me, and I am loyal to My assurances. Whenever someone says these words bearing witness and places the seal of tawḤīd on his heart, he has entered into the pavilion of the submission's exaltedness.” But you should know that this pavilion of the submission is set up only on the plain of god- wariness, for He says, “There is no god but I, so be wary of Me.” The reality of godwariness is the heart's purity of everything other than the Real. Just as submission is obligatory for the world's creatures, so also godwariness is obligatory. When the foundation of the religion was put down, it was put down on godwariness, for everyone who be- came a possessor of friendship became so through godwariness. “Surely His friends are only the godwary” [8:34]. Tomorrow the friendship of the next world will be assigned to those who are called godwary: “The outcome belongs to the godwary” [7:128]. The first condition of godwariness is that you be the guardian of your own heart and do three things: You do not give yourself over to wishing, you avoid everything that is not approved, and you not be heedless of the Real for one moment. On the day when Abū Bakr was buying Bilāl, Bilāl said, “O chief of the sincerely truthful! If you are buying Bilāl for the sake of the business of this world, do not buy him. He can perform no service that you will approve, for Bilāl has dedicated himself to the business of the afterworld.” God's mercy be upon those chevaliers who do not turn away from serving the Real to serving the creatures! Every single part of each of them is busy with service, and all their moments are im- mersed in observing the rightful dues of the Real. None of their parts is free to serve the creatures, none of their moments is wasted in antagonism toward the creatures. A great man was asked, “Do you love God?” He said, “I do.” He was asked, “Do you hate his enemy Iblis?” He said, “I am too busy with love for the Real to occupy myself with enmity toward someone else.”

Commentary

Tafsir

4 works

Hafiz Ibn Kathir

He sends down the angels with the Ruh (revelation) of His command to those servants of His whom He wills (saying): "Warn mankind that none has the right to be worshipped but I, so have Taqwa of Me. (2) Allah sends Whomever He wills with the Message of Tawhid يُنَزِّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةَ بِالرُّوحِ (He sends down the angels with the Ruh) refers to the revelation. This is like the Ayat: وَكَذَٰلِكَ أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ رُوحًا مِّنْ أَمْرِنَا ۚ مَا كُنتَ تَدْرِي مَا الْكِتَابُ وَلَا الْإِيمَانُ وَلَٰكِن جَعَلْنَاهُ نُورًا نَّهْدِي بِهِ مَن نَّشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِنَا (And thus We have sent to you a Ruh (revelation) by Our command. You knew not what is the Book, nor what is the faith. But We have made it a light by which We guide whomever We will among Our servants.)[42:52] عَلَىٰ مَن يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ (to those servants of His whom He wills) meaning the Prophets, as Allah says: اللَّه…
Provenance

Chains of transmission

Oral — isnād

  1. ~610–632 CERevelation & memorisation

    Received by the Prophet ﷺ and preserved by the ḥuffāẓ (memorisers) among the Companions.

  2. 1st century AHMutawātir transmissionawaiting curation

    Carried by mass-transmission through the generations of qurrāʾ.

  3. 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

  1. ~650 CEʿUthmānic codicesawaiting curation

    The standardised muṣḥaf sent to the great cities (e.g. the Topkapı and Samarqand codices).

  2. 8th–10th c.Early Ḥijāzī & Kūfic foliosawaiting curation

    Surviving leaves in Birmingham, Sanaa, Paris (BnF) and beyond.

  3. 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.

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Provenance

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