وَمَا كُنتُمْ تَسْتَتِرُونَ أَن يَشْهَدَ عَلَيْكُمْ سَمْعُكُمْ وَلَآ أَبْصَٰرُكُمْ وَلَا جُلُودُكُمْ وَلَٰكِن ظَنَنتُمْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَعْلَمُ كَثِيرًۭا مِّمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ
And you were not covering yourselves, lest your hearing testify against you or your sight or your skins, but you assumed that Allah does not know much of what you do.
Introduction
This is āyah 22 of Sūrat Fussilat (Explained in Detail), the 61st sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 24. 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
- 61 of 114
- Surah
- Fussilat (41)
(Ye did not hide yourselves lest your ears and your eyes�) [41:22]. Master Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi informed us> Isma�il ibn Nujayd> Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Sa�id> Umayyah ibn Bistam> Yazid ibn Zuray�> Rawh> al-Qasim> Mansur> Mujahid> Abu Ma�mar> Ibn Mas�ud who said regarding this verse: �Two men from Thaqif were one day sitting with their sons-in-law from Quraysh (or it was two men from the Quraysh who were sitting with their sons-in-law from Thaqif) in a house, when they said to each other: �Do you think that Allah hears our intimate talk and conversation?� Some of them said: �He can hear only part of it�. Some said: �If He can hear part of it, He can hear all of it!� This verse was revealed about this (Ye did not hide yourselves lest your ears and your eyes�)�. This was narrated by Bukhari from al-Humaydi and by Muslim from Ibn Abi �Amr; and both related it from Sufyan who related it from Mansur. Muhammad ibn �Abd al-Rahman al-Faqih informed us> Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn �Ali al-Hiri> Ahmad ibn �Ali al-Muthanna> Abu Khaythamah> Muhammad ibn Hazim> al-A�mash> �Abd al-Rahman ibn Yazid> �Abd Allah who said: �I was hiding behind the cloth of the Ka�bah when three men came along; their bellies were fat and their understanding very limited. It was one man from Quraysh and his two sons-in-law, or it was one man from Thaqif and his two sons-in-law from Quraysh. They said something I did not understand. One of them said: �Do you reckon Allah can hear what we say now?� Another said: �He will hear us if we raise our voices, but if we lower them, He will not hear us�. One of them said: �If He can hear part of it, He can hear all of it�. I mentioned this to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and this verse was then revealed (Ye did not hide yourselves lest your ears and your eyes and your skins�) up to His words (and ye find yourselves (this day) among the lost) [41:23]�.
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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