وَلَقَدْ أَخَذْنَٰهُم بِٱلْعَذَابِ فَمَا ٱسْتَكَانُوا۟ لِرَبِّهِمْ وَمَا يَتَضَرَّعُونَ
And We had gripped them with suffering [as a warning], but they did not yield to their Lord, nor did they humbly supplicate, [and will continue thus]
Introduction
This is āyah 76 of Sūrat Al-Muminoon (The Believers), the 74th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 18. 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
- 74 of 114
- Surah
- Al-Muminoon (23)
(Already have We grasped them with punishment, but they humble not themselves unto their Lord) [23:76]. Abu�l-Qasim ibn �Abdan informed us> Muhammad ibn �Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Dabbi> Abu�l-�Abbas al-Sayyari> Muhammad ibn Musa ibn Hatim> �Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq> al-Husayn ibn Waqid> Yazid al-Nahwi> �Ikrimah> Ibn �Abbas who said: �Abu Sufyan went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: �O Muhammad, I beseech you by Allah and our ties of kinship, we have eaten hair mixed with blood�, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Already have We grasped them with punishment, but they humble not themselves unto their Lord, nor do they pray)�. Ibn �Abbas said: �When Thumamah ibn Athal al-Hanafi was brought to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, as a prisoner and the latter embraced Islam, he set him free. Thumamah returned to al-Yamamah and prevented the people of Mecca from getting any provisions from al-Yamamah. Allah, exalted is He, sent upon Quraysh years of scarcity until they were forced to eat animal hair mixed with blood. Abu Sufyan went to see the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: �I beseech you by Allah and our ties of kinship; do you not claim that you have been sent a mercy unto the worlds�. He said: �Indeed!� Abu Sufyan said: �But you have killed fathers with the sword and children with hunger�, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�.
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
No community resources for this verse yet.