تَنزِيلَ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
[This is] a revelation of the Exalted in Might, the Merciful,
Introduction
This is āyah 5 of Sūrat Yaseen (Ya Sin), the 41st sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 22. 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
- 41 of 114
- Surah
- Yaseen (36)
The sending down of the Exalted, the Ever-Merciful. This Qur'an has been sent down by a Lord whose name is the Exalted and the Ever-Merciful. The Exalted is He whom it is difficult to perceive. God is exalted in the sense that there is no perceiving Him; understandings and imaginations do not reach the core of His majesty. The Pir of the Tariqah said, “O found without being perceived and O face-to-face without be- ing seen! O apparent in hiddenness and hidden in apparentness! Finding You is a day that comes forth suddenly by itself. He who finds You busies himself with neither happiness nor grief. Com- plete for us the work that cannot be expressed!” The sending down of the Exalted, the Ever-Merciful. He is both exalted and ever-merciful- exalted for the estranged and ever-merciful toward the faithful. Were He exalted and not ever- merciful, no one would ever find Him, and were He ever-merciful and not exalted, everyone would find Him. He is the exalted so that the unbelievers will not know Him in this world and the ever- merciful so that the faithful will see Him in the afterworld.
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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