يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ ۖ لَا يَضُرُّكُم مَّن ضَلَّ إِذَا ٱهْتَدَيْتُمْ ۚ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعًۭا فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
O you who have believed, upon you is [responsibility for] yourselves. Those who have gone astray will not harm you when you have been guided. To Allah is you return all together; then He will inform you of what you used to do.
Introduction
This is āyah 105 of Sūrat Al-Maaida (The Table Spread), the 112th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Medinan period and sits within Juzʾ 7. 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
- 112 of 114
- Surah
- Al-Maaida (5)
O you who have faith! Against you are your own souls. Those who are misguided cannot hurt you if you are guided. The tongue of commentary is what I explained. The tongue of allusion in keeping with the tasting of the folk of desire is this: “O faithful, beware! Subjugate your own soul before it subjugates you. Busy it with obedience before it busies you with disobedience.” When Abū ʿUthmān was asked about this verse, he replied, “Against you is your own soul. If you occupy yourself with making its corruption wholesome and concealing its shameful parts, you will be too busy to gaze on the creatures and to occupy yourself with them.” Ḥusayn Manṣūr Ḥallāj gave advice to his disciple, saying, “Against you is your own soul-if you do not keep it busy, it will keep you busy.” MuḤammad ibn ʿAlī said, “Against you is your own soul-if you spare the creatures its evil, you will have taken care of most of its rightful due.” The nature of the soul is always to be at rest with this world and to hurry toward disobedience. It counts disobedience as a small thing and is lazy in obedience. It is conceited and acts with eye- service toward the creatures. Within it are found associationism, eye-service, and hypocrisy. It is said, “The soul is duplicitous in all its states, hypocritical in most of its states, and an associater in some of its states.” Abū Yazīd BasṬāmī said, “If in that world the Lord says to me, 'Make a wish,' I will ask per- mission to enter hell to punish this soul, for in this world it has always made me writhe and suffer.” MuṣṬafā said, “Your worst enemy is your soul between your two sides.” He said this because when you get along with an enemy, you become secure from his evil, but when you get along with your own soul, you will perish. If you act well toward someone, he will thank you at the resurrec- tion, and if you act badly, he will complain. The state of the soul is the opposite: If you act well toward it in this house, it will be your antagonist in that house, and if you act badly toward it in this house, it will thank you in that house.
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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