فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًۭا ۚ فِطْرَتَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلَّتِى فَطَرَ ٱلنَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا ۚ لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ٱلدِّينُ ٱلْقَيِّمُ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah. That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.
Introduction
This is āyah 30 of Sūrat Ar-Room (The Romans), the 84th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 21. 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
- 84 of 114
- Surah
- Ar-Room (30)
So set thy face to the religion, unswerving. Purify your intention for God, guard your covenant with God, act solely for God in your stillnesses and movements and in all your self-determining. Unswerving: going straight in His religion, in- clining toward Him, and turning away from other than Him.” “O paragon of the world! O master of Adam's children! Entrust yourself entirely to Me! Keep your intention and aspiration on Me! Turn your heart away from the creatures toward Me! Cease your requesting and forget about the two worlds as is worthy of Me!” By virtue of this exalted declaration to that paragon of the world, he stepped forth on the night of the miʿrāj from the Lote Tree of the Final End into the desert of all-compellingness and turned his face toward his own specific kaabah, wearing as his beautiful cloak all the capital goods of the first and the last folk and putting them into His road. He passed on and showed no favor to any- thing. Finally, from the side of all-compellingness came the call, “His eyesight did not swerve” [53:17]. He kept his eyes in courtesy and did not gaze upon anything other than the Real. Nor did it trespass [53:17]. He did not covet anything beyond that limit. Moses stepped on the mountain and went several paces beyond the limit of the Children of Israel. His mind was boiling in the hope of show me, that I may gaze upon Thee! [7:143], so he had to be taught courtesy with the whip of thou shalt not see Me! The paragon of the world, however, was taken to a station where the dust under his feet became the ointment for Gabriel's eyes. His at- tribute was this: his eyesight did not swerve. This is because Moses was traveling, but the paragon of the world was snatched away: who took His servant by night [17:1]. The one who comes can never be like the one who is brought. Blessed is he who travels as the Real's companion, for in one breath he covers a thousand- year journey! “On the night when We take you, you will go farther than you could in a thousand months of going by yourself.” To this He alludes with His words, “The night of power is better than a thousand months” [97:3]. “When you go by yourself, you will fall farther behind with every step you take. When you go with Us, your every step will make you more passionate. When you go by yourself, the highway- men will ambush you on the road. When We take you, the bandits will carry your banner.” What does the Throne do that it does not carry my saddlecloth? In my heart I carry the saddlecloth of Your decree and approval. [DS 933]
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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