وَقَالَ إِنِّى ذَاهِبٌ إِلَىٰ رَبِّى سَيَهْدِينِ
And [then] he said, "Indeed, I will go to [where I am ordered by] my Lord; He will guide me.
Introduction
This is āyah 99 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)
He said, “Surely I am going to my Lord; He will guide me.” That fact that he was going in God necessitated his going to God. He went forth well in God's work so he went straight in God's road. About Abraham the Real says, “Surely I am going to my Lord,” reporting his words. Con- cerning Moses He says, “Moses came to Our appointed time” [7:143], reporting his attribute. About MuṣṬafā He says, “Who took His servant by night” [17:1], reporting His attribute for his sake. Abraham was in the station of dispersion, Moses in togetherness itself, and MuṣṬafā in the togetherness of togetherness. The mark of Abraham's dispersion is Surely I have turned my face toward Him who originated the heavens and the earth [6:79]. The mark of Moses' togetherness is We brought him near as a confidant [19:52]. The mark of MuṣṬafā's togetherness of togetherness is Then He drew close, and He came down [53:8]. In the tasting of the folk of recognition, Surely I am going to my Lord alludes to the disen- tanglement of the servant. The meaning of disentanglement is to be cut off from all along with the Real, in the beginning through effort and in the end totally. In the beginning, the body is striving, the tongue is in remembrance, and one's lifespan is in effort. At the end, one is on loan to the people, estranged from oneself, and at ease from attachment. For one hundred years the sun will rise in the east and set in the west before a disentangled man is given the eyes to discern the station of creation from the station of the Real and know the difference between the beginning and the end. WāsiṬī said, “Abraham was going from creation to the Real, and MuḤammad was coming from the Real to creation. Someone who goes from creation to the Real recognizes the Real through evidence, and someone who goes from the Real to creation recognizes the evidence through the Real. Do you not see that Abraham came by way of the evidence? When he arrived at a bit of evidence, he would say, 'This is my Lord' [6:76]. This was the beginning of his state. When he reached the end, he saw the beauty of tawḤīd with the eyes of face-to-face vision and said, 'I am going to my Lord; He will guide me.
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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