وَقَالُوا۟ لَن تَمَسَّنَا ٱلنَّارُ إِلَّآ أَيَّامًۭا مَّعْدُودَةًۭ ۚ قُلْ أَتَّخَذْتُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ عَهْدًۭا فَلَن يُخْلِفَ ٱللَّهُ عَهْدَهُۥٓ ۖ أَمْ تَقُولُونَ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
And they say, "Never will the Fire touch us, except for a few days." Say, "Have you taken a covenant with Allah? For Allah will never break His covenant. Or do you say about Allah that which you do not know?"
Introduction
This is āyah 80 of Sūrat Al-Baqara (The Cow), the 87th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Medinan period and sits within Juzʾ 1. 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
- 87 of 114
- Surah
- Al-Baqara (2)
(And they say: The Fire (of punishment) will not touch us save for a certain number of days�) [2:80]. Isma'il ibn Abi al-Qasim al-Sufi informed us> Abu'l-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hamid al-'Attar> Ahmad ibn al-Hasan ibn 'Abd al-Jabbar> Abu'l-Qasim 'Abd Allah ibn Sa'd al-Zuhri> his father and paternal uncle> their father> Ibn Ishaq> Muhammad ibn Abi Muhammad> 'Ikrima> Ibn 'Abbas who said: �Allah's Messenger, Allah bless him and give him peace, came to Medina and found the Jews saying: 'This worldly life will last seven thousand years. And for every one thousand years of the days of this worldly life people will be tormented in hell fire for one day of the days of the Afterlife. Thus, the torment will last for only seven days'. Allah, exalted is He, revealed concerning this saying: (And they say: The Fire (of punishment) will not touch us save for a certain number of days)�. Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tamimi informed us> 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Hayyan> Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Razi> Sahl ibn 'Uthman> Marwan ibn Mu'awiyah> Juwaybir> al-Dahhak> Ibn 'Abbas said concerning the verse (And they say: The Fire (of punishment) will not touch us save for a certain number of days): �The people of the Book found out that from one end of hell fire to the other a journey of forty years was needed, and, therefore, they said: 'We shall not be tormented in hell fire except for the period of time specified in the Torah'. And so they proceeded in their torment until they reached Saqar wherein is the tree of Zaqqum until the certain number of days which they mentioned came to an end. The denizens of hell fire then said to them: 'you claimed you will not be tormented in hell fire except for a certain number of days. Well, those certain number of days has elapsed, but eternity remains' �.
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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