بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ سَبَّحَ لِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ
Whatever is in the heavens and earth exalts Allah, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
Introduction
This is āyah 1 of Sūrat Al-Hadid (The Iron), the 94th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Medinan period and sits within Juzʾ 27. Medinan verses often address community life, law, and the building of society.
This introduction is a starting point — the community and Bilal will enrich it over time.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Medinan
- Order revealed
- 94 of 114
- Surah
- Al-Hadid (57)
Whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth glorifies God. The maker of the world and the world's folk, the nurturer of mankind and jinn, the creator of earth and heaven, the wonder-worker of the emplaced and place, reports that everything in heaven and earth, whether wind, fire, water, mountains, seas, sun, moon, stars, trees, and all animate and in- animate things, praise Him for purity, mention His name with honor, and testify to His oneness. This glorification and tawḤīd throw tumult into the Adamic heart and are rejected by intellect, but the religion of the submission accepts them and the Creator of the creatures testifies to their cor- rectness. Whenever success-giving is someone's companion and felicity his helper, he will accept them, unperceived, with spirit and heart and will come forth with reverence, surrender, and attesta- tion. Then tomorrow, he will find his place in the gathering place of the sincerely truthful and the assemblies of the friends on the seat of everlasting exaltedness. Beware, O chevalier! Take care not to give one iota of innovation access to your heart. When you hear something that your intellect does not perceive, suspect only your intellect. Do not take the road of interpretation, because going after interpretation is a tested poison. It is to remove a thorn from the foot with a thorn. A knowing man will not test poison, for that would be to hurry to his own destruction. He will not pull a thorn from his foot with a thorn, for he knows it would only increase the pain. That chevalier said it beautifully: “Seek not the road of tawḤīd with intellect, scratch not the spirit's eye with a thorn. By God, can anyone ever take benefit from God without God? As trainer and leader on the path of the religion- consider none better than the Qur'an and the reports. Only the hand of MuḤammad's heart can undo the locks on the treasury of secrets.” [DS 201-2]
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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