وَلَا تَجْعَلْ يَدَكَ مَغْلُولَةً إِلَىٰ عُنُقِكَ وَلَا تَبْسُطْهَا كُلَّ ٱلْبَسْطِ فَتَقْعُدَ مَلُومًۭا مَّحْسُورًا
And do not make your hand [as] chained to your neck or extend it completely and [thereby] become blamed and insolvent.
Introduction
This is āyah 29 of Sūrat Al-Israa (The Night Journey), the 50th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 15. 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
- 50 of 114
- Surah
- Al-Israa (17)
(And let not thy hand be chained to thy neck�) [17:29]. Abu�l-Hasan Muhammad ibn �Abd Allah ibn �Ali ibn �Imran informed us> Abu �Ali ibn Ahmad al-Faqih> Abu �Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Isma�il al-Mahamili> Zakariyya ibn Yahya al-Darir> Sulayman ibn Sulayman al-Juhani> Qays ibn al-Rabi�> Abu Ishaq> Abu�l-Ahwas> �Abd Allah who said: �A boy came to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: �My mother asks you to give her this and that�. He said to him: �We do not have anything today�. The boy said: �She is asking you to give her your gown�. He took off his gown, gave it to him and remained in his house denuded. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, then revealed (And let not thy hand be chained to thy neck nor open it with a complete opening�)�. Said Jabir ibn �Abd Allah: �As the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, was sitting with his Companions, a boy came to him and said: �O Messenger of Allah, my mother asks you for a gown�. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, did not have any gown except the one he was wearing, and so he said to the boy: �Things turn up from time to time, so come back to us another time�. He went to his mother and informed her but she said to him: �Tell him that my mother asks you for the gown you are wearing�. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, went inside his house, took off his gown and gave it to the boy and remained there naked. When Bilal called for the prayer, people waited for the Prophet, Allah bless him and give, to emerge and lead them in prayer but he did not come out. The Companions became worried. One of them entered in on him and found him naked. Allah, glorious and exalted is He, then revealed (And let not thy hand be chained to thy neck nor open it with a complete opening)�.
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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