وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْـِٔدَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَٰرَهُمْ كَمَا لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِهِۦٓ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍۢ وَنَذَرُهُمْ فِى طُغْيَٰنِهِمْ يَعْمَهُونَ
And We will turn away their hearts and their eyes just as they refused to believe in it the first time. And We will leave them in their transgression, wandering blindly.
Introduction
This is āyah 110 of Sūrat Al-An'aam (The Cattle), the 55th sūrah in the traditional order of revelation. It was revealed in the Meccan period and sits within Juzʾ 7. 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
- 55 of 114
- Surah
- Al-An'aam (6)
(And they swear a solemn oath by Allah that if there come unto them a portent they will believe therein...) [6:109] up to (Howbeit, most of them are ignorant) [6:111]. Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al-Fadl informed us> Muhammad ibn Ya�qub al-Umawi> Ahmad �Abd al-Jabbar> Yunus ibn Bukayr> Abu Ma�shar> Muhammad ibn Ka�b who said: �The Quraysh spoke to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. They said: �You inform us that Moses, peace be upon him, had a staff with which he struck a stone and twelve springs gushed forth, and that Jesus, peace be upon him, revived the dead, and that Thamud had a camel; why do you not bring us some of those signs so that we believe in you?� The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, asked them: �What sign do you want me to bring you?� They said: �Turn [mount] al-Safa into gold�. He said: �Would you believe in me if I did as you ask?� They said: �Yes, by Allah, if you do, we will all follow you�. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, stood up and began supplicating. Then, Gabriel, peace be upon him, came to him and said: �If you wish, I can turn al-Safa into gold. However, never did I send a sign that people disbelieved in except that I sent chastisement after it. If you wish, I will leave them until some of them decide to repent�. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said: �Leave them until some of them decide to repent�. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (And they swear a solemn oath by Allah that if there come unto them a portent they will believe therein) up to His words (� they would not believe unless Allah so willed�) [6:111]�.
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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