وَإِنْ عَاقَبْتُمْ فَعَاقِبُوا۟ بِمِثْلِ مَا عُوقِبْتُم بِهِۦ ۖ وَلَئِن صَبَرْتُمْ لَهُوَ خَيْرٌۭ لِّلصَّٰبِرِينَ
And if you punish [an enemy, O believers], punish with an equivalent of that with which you were harmed. But if you are patient - it is better for those who are patient.
Introduction
This is āyah 126 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.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Meccan
- Order revealed
- 70 of 114
- Surah
- An-Nahl (16)
(Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation�) [16:125-127]. Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Mansuri informed us> 'Ali ibn 'Umar al-Hafiz> 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz> al-Hakam ibn Musa> Isma'il ibn 'Ayyash> 'Abd al-Malik ibn Abi Ghaniyyah> al-Hakam ibn 'Utaybah> Mujahid> Ibn 'Abbas who said: �When the idolaters retreated from those who were killed at the Battle of Uhud, The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, went there and saw a scene which he strongly disliked. And he also saw Hamzah with his stomach ripped open, nose burnt and ears cut off. He said: 'If it were not for the fear of causing more grief to the women or that it becomes a followed practice after me, I would leave him until Allah, exalted is He, resurrect him from the bellies of predatory animals and birds. I shall kill seventy men of them [of the disbelievers of Quraysh] in revenge', He then asked for a mantle to cover him with it. When he covered his face, his feet remained uncovered and so he covered them with some Bulrush. He then placed him forward and said 'Allah is the greatest' ten times. Then, all those Muslim dead were brought, one by one, while the body of Hamzah was unmoved from its place, and the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, prayed on them. And so He performed seventy prayers on Hamzah. There were seventy Muslims who died in this battle. When they were buried and finished with, Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation) up to His words (Endure thou patiently (O Muhammad). Thine endurance is only by (the help of) Allah�) [16:127]. And so, he was patient and did not mutilate any one�. Isma'il ibn Ibrahim al-Wa'iz informed us> Abu'l-'Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Isa al-Hafiz> 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz> Bishr ibn al-Walid al-Kindi> Salih al-Murri> Sulayman al-Taymi> Abu 'Uthman al-Nahdi> Abu Hurayrah who said: �When the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, got closer to Hamzah, he saw that he was dead. Nothing that he ever saw was more painful to his heart than that sight. He said: �By Allah, I will kill seventy of them in return!� This verse was then revealed (If ye punish, then punish with the like of that wherewith ye were afflicted.
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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