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سُورَةُ الإِسۡرَاءِ · 17:85
MeccanRevelation order ٥٠Juzʾ ١٥Page ٢٩٠

وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلرُّوحِ ۖ قُلِ ٱلرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّى وَمَآ أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ ٱلْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭا

٨٥
Saheeh International · EN

And they ask you, [O Muhammad], about the soul. Say, "The soul is of the affair of my Lord. And mankind have not been given of knowledge except a little."

IntroductionRevelationTafsirTransmissionDebate
Bio

Introduction

This is āyah 85 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.

Bio

Revelation & occasion

Asbāb al-Nuzūl
Period
Meccan
Order revealed
50 of 114
Surah
Al-Israa (17)
Occasion of revelation · Al-Wahidi

They ask thee about the spirit. Man is body, heart, and spirit. The body is the place of the Trust, the heart is the threshold of be- ing addressed, and the spirit is the center point of contemplation. All blessings are largesse for the body; its nourishment is food and drink. All favors are gifts for the heart; its nutriment is remem- bering and mentioning the Friend. All vision and contemplation are the portion of the spirit; its nourishment is seeing the Friend. The body is under the severity of power, the heart in the grasp of the attributes, and the spirit in the embrace of exaltedness-the carpet of intimacy spread, the candle of compassion lit, the beginningless Friend having lifted the veil.

Commentary

Tafsir

4 works

Hafiz Ibn Kathir

And they ask you concerning the Ruh (the spirit). Say: "The Ruh (the spirit) is one of the things, the knowledge of which is only with my Lord. And of knowledge, you (mankind) have been given only a little. (85) The Ruh (spirit) Al-Bukhari recorded in his Tafsir of this Ayah that 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud said, "While I was walking with the Prophet ﷺ on a farm, and he was resting on a palm-leaf stalk, some Jews passed by. Some of them said to the others, 'Ask him about the Ruh.' Some of them said, 'What urges you to ask him about that?' Others said, 'Do not ask him, lest he gives you a reply which you do not like.' But they said, 'Ask him.' So they asked him about the Ruh. The Prophet ﷺ kept quiet and did not give them an answer, and I knew that he was receiving revelation, so I stayed where I was. When the revelation was complete, the Prophet ﷺ said: وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ ۖ قُلِ ا…
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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