حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغَ مَطْلِعَ ٱلشَّمْسِ وَجَدَهَا تَطْلُعُ عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍۢ لَّمْ نَجْعَل لَّهُم مِّن دُونِهَا سِتْرًۭا
Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had not made against it any shield.
Introduction
This is āyah 90 of Sūrat Al-Kahf (The Cave), the 69th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 16. 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
- 69 of 114
- Surah
- Al-Kahf (18)
(And they say: We will not put faith in thee till thou cause a spring to gush forth from the earth for us) [18:90]. �Ikrimah reported that Ibn �Abbas related that �Utbah, Shaybah, Abu Sufyan, al-Nadr ibn al-Harith, Abu�l-Bukhturi, al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah, Abu Jahl, �Abd Allah ibn Ubayy ibn Umayyah, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and the chiefs of Quraysh gathered in front of the Ka�bah and said to each other: �Send for Muhammad, speak to him, and argue with him so that others do not blame you about him�. They sent to him with a message that the nobles of your people have gathered and want to speak with you. He came promptly, thinking that they had changed their mind about him, for he was keen to see them guided and was pained for their stubbornness. When he sat with them, they said: �O Muhammad, by Allah we do not know of any man among the Arabs who has introduced to his people what you have introduced. You have insulted our forefathers, censored our religion, accused us of ignorance, slandered our idols, divided the community and you have not left anything revolting except that you have placed it between us and you. Now, if you have brought all this to seek wealth, we will collect from our wealth so that you become the richest among us; if you seek status, we will make you our chief; if you seek kingship, we will make you our king; and if the jinn that appears to you has completely overwhelmed you, we will spend our money to get you the right medicine to cure you or discharge our duty toward you�. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said to them: �I do not have what you accuse me of. I did not bring you what I brought to seek wealth, status or kingship. Rather, it is Allah, glorious and majestic is He, Who has sent me to you as a Messenger. He has revealed to me a Scripture and commanded me to be a carrier of good tiding as well as a warner. I have conveyed to you the message of my Lord and advised you well. If you accept that which I have brought you, it is your share in this world and in the next.
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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