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سُورَةُ الأَنفَالِ · 8:51
MedinanRevelation order ٨٨Juzʾ ١٠Page ١٨٣

ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَأَنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَيْسَ بِظَلَّٰمٍۢ لِّلْعَبِيدِ

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Saheeh International · EN

That is for what your hands have put forth [of evil] and because Allah is not ever unjust to His servants."

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Introduction

This is āyah 51 of Sūrat Al-Anfaal (The Spoils of War), the 88th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Medinan period and sits within Juzʾ 10. 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.

Bio

Revelation & occasion

Asbāb al-Nuzūl
Period
Medinan
Order revealed
88 of 114
Surah
Al-Anfaal (8)

No specific occasion of revelation (Asbāb al-Nuzūl) is recorded for this āyah in al-Wāḥidī's collection. Many verses were revealed without a single triggering event.

Commentary

Tafsir

4 works

Hafiz Ibn Kathir

And if you could see when the angels take away the souls of those who disbelieve (at death); they smite their faces and their backs, (saying): "Taste the punishment of the blazing Fire. (50)"This is because of that which your hands forwarded. And verily, Allah is not unjust to His servants. (51) The Angels smite the Disbelievers upon capturing Their Souls Allah says, if you witnessed the angels capturing the souls of the disbelievers, you would witness a tremendous, terrible, momentous and awful matter, يَضْرِبُونَ وُجُوهَهُمْ وَأَدْبَارَهُمْ (they smite their faces and their backs), saying to them, وَذُوقُوا عَذَابَ الْحَرِيقِ ("Taste the punishment of the blazing Fire.") Ibn Jurayj said that Mujahid said that, وَأَدْبَارَهُمْ (and their backs), refers to their back sides, as happened on the day of Badr. Ibn Jurayj also reported from Ibn 'Abbas, "When the idolators faced the Mu…
Provenance

Chains of transmission

Oral — isnād

  1. ~610–632 CERevelation & memorisation

    Received by the Prophet ﷺ and preserved by the ḥuffāẓ (memorisers) among the Companions.

  2. 1st century AHMutawātir transmissionawaiting curation

    Carried by mass-transmission through the generations of qurrāʾ.

  3. 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

  1. ~650 CEʿUthmānic codicesawaiting curation

    The standardised muṣḥaf sent to the great cities (e.g. the Topkapı and Samarqand codices).

  2. 8th–10th c.Early Ḥijāzī & Kūfic foliosawaiting curation

    Surviving leaves in Birmingham, Sanaa, Paris (BnF) and beyond.

  3. 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.

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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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Provenance

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