وَضَرَبَ لَنَا مَثَلًۭا وَنَسِىَ خَلْقَهُۥ ۖ قَالَ مَن يُحْىِ ٱلْعِظَٰمَ وَهِىَ رَمِيمٌۭ
And he presents for Us an example and forgets his [own] creation. He says, "Who will give life to bones while they are disintegrated?"
Introduction
This is āyah 78 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 23. 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)
(Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away?) [36:78]. The commentators of the Qur�an said: �Ubayy ibn Khalaf went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, with a decayed bone and said to him: �O Muhammad, do you think that Allah will bring back to life this decayed bone?� He said: �Yes, He will, and He will also resurrect you and cast you in hellfire�. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed these verses (And he hath coined for Us a similitude, and hath forgotten the fact of his creation, saying: Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away?...) [36:78-79]�. Sa�id ibn Muhammad ibn Ja�far informed us> Abu �Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Faqih> Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Junayd> Ziyad ibn Ayyub> Hushaym> Husayn> Abu Malik who said: �Ubayy ibn Khalaf al-Jumahi went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, with a decayed bone which he crushed in his hand and then said: �O Muhammad, will Allah resurrect this now that it has become dust?� He said: �Yes, Allah will resurrect it; he will also make you die, bring you back to life and then cast you in the fire of Gehenna�. This verse was then revealed�.
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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