رَّبُّ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا وَرَبُّ ٱلْمَشَٰرِقِ
Lord of the heavens and the earth and that between them and Lord of the sunrises.
Introduction
This is āyah 5 of Sūrat As-Saaffaat (Those who set the Ranks), the 56th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 23. 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
- 56 of 114
- Surah
- As-Saaffaat (37)
The Lord of the heavens and the earth and what is between the two, and the Lord of the easts. It is God who is the creator and keeper of the seven heavens and the seven earths. He is the form- giver to every form and the embellisher of every picture. He is without associate, without likeness, without equal, and without helper. He is loyal to the friends and lover of the faithful: God is the friend of those who have faith [2:257]. He is generous to the recognizers and gentle and beautiful doing toward the servants: God is gentle to His servants [42:19]. In terms of allusion He is saying, “The creator without cause am I, the enactor without tool am I, the all-subjugating without artifice am I, the all-forgiving without delay am I, the all-curtaining of every slip am I. I created so that you would see power, I show you hell so that you will see punishment, I keep you on the path so that you will see solicitude, I forgive your sins so that you will see bounty and mercy, I convey you to the Garden so that you will see generosity, I place you on the throne so that you will see exaltedness, I give you wine so that you will see pleasure, I greet you with 'Peace' so that you will see felicitations, I lift up the veil of majesty so that you will see encounter and vision.”
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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