إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يُنَادُونَكَ مِن وَرَآءِ ٱلْحُجُرَٰتِ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْقِلُونَ
Indeed, those who call you, [O Muhammad], from behind the chambers - most of them do not use reason.
Introduction
This is āyah 4 of Sūrat Al-Hujuraat (The Rooms), the 106th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Medinan period and sits within Juzʾ 26. Medinan verses often address community life, law, and the building of society.
This introduction is a starting point — the community and Bilal will enrich it over time.
Revelation & occasion
- Period
- Medinan
- Order revealed
- 106 of 114
- Surah
- Al-Hujuraat (49)
(Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense) [49:4]. Ahmad ibn 'Ubayd Allah al-Makhladi informed us> Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad al-Daqqaq> Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzaymah> Muhammad ibn Yahya al-'Ataki> al-Mu'tamir ibn Sulayman> Dawud al-Tafawi> Abu Muslim al-Bajali> Zayd ibn Arqam who said: �Some people went to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and found him in his private apartment, so they started calling him: 'O Muhammad! O Muhammad!' Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense)�. Muhammad ibn Ishaq and others said: �This verse was revealed about some uncouth people from Banu Tamim. A delegation of the Banu Tamim went to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. They entered the mosque and called the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, who was in his private apartment: 'O Muhammad, come out to meet us, for our praise is nice while our censure is nasty'. Their shouting annoyed the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and so he came out to see them. They said: 'O Muhammad, we have come to brag to you'. Allah, exalted is He, revealed about them (Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense). Among these people were al-Aqra' ibn Habis, 'Uyaynah ibn Hisn, al-Zibriqan ibn Badr and Qays ibn 'Asim�. This incident of bragging was related to us by Abu Ishaq Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Muqri'> al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Sadusi> al-Hasan ibn Salih ibn Hani'> al-Fadl ibn Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab> al-Qasim ibn Abi Shaybah> Mu'alla ibn 'Abd al-Rahman> 'Abd al-Hamid ibn Ja'far> 'Umar ibn al-Hakam> Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah who said: �A delegation from Banu Tamim came to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. They called him from outside his doorstep: 'O Muhammad, come out to meet us, for our praise is nice while our censure is nasty'. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, heard them and came out, saying: 'Indeed, it is only Allah whose praise is nice and censure nasty'. They said: 'We are people from Banu Tamim; we have brought our poet and our orator to show you our excellence over you in poetry and brag about our merits'.
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.
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