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Surah 35 · Makkah · 45 āyāt
Phase 02 · Going public — and the persecution(c. 10–8 BH) — view in timelineFāṭirThe Originator [of Creation]
فاطر
A middle-to-late Makkan surah, also called al-Malāʾikah (The Angels) after its opening. It opens with Allah as Fāṭir — the One who split creation into being from nothing — served by angel-messengers, and moves through His signs in rain, mountains, and human origins, to a warning against Shayṭān as an open enemy, to the fate of the Book's inheritors — those who wrong themselves, those who are moderate, and those who race ahead in good — and closes by showing that the disbelievers' own arrogance, not divine haste, is what delays their reckoning.
Why it was revealed
No single narrated incident is authentically preserved as the occasion of revelation for Fāṭir as a whole. Classical exegetes classify it among the Makkan surahs on the strength of its style and subject matter — tawḥīd, resurrection, and the fate of past nations — rather than on a transmitted asbāb al-nuzūl report tied to a specific event.
Drawn fromAbsence noted against al-Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-Nuzūl, and Ibn Kathīr's introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir; al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir; al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ on 35:28; al-Qurṭubī, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir; al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān on 35:43–44; Ibn Kathīr on 35:44–45; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr on 35:28; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr on 35:36–37; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir
There is no ṣaḥīḥ hadith recording a particular occasion for Fāṭir's revelation. Ibn Kathīr and al-Qurṭubī open their commentaries by noting its Makkan classification (reported from Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn al-Zubayr) without attaching it to an incident; where this surah is discussed below, the timeline records what is documented about its themes and their historical background, not a fabricated occasion.
Cited toIbn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir; al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir
In the Prophet's ﷺ life
Counted among the Makkan surahs
Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn al-Zubayr are reported to have classed Fāṭir as Makkan; its address to 'mankind' in general (āyah 3, 5, 15) rather than to 'those who believe', and its focus on tawḥīd and resurrection, match the concerns of the middle Makkan surahs.
Recalled in āyah 1, 3
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ فَاطِرِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ جَاعِلِ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ رُسُلًا أُو۟لِىٓ أَجْنِحَةٍ مَّثْنَىٰ وَثُلَـٰثَ وَرُبَـٰعَ ۚ يَزِيدُ فِى ٱلْخَلْقِ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
[All] praise is [due] to Allāh, Creator of the heavens and the earth, [who] made the angels messengers having wings, two or three or four. He increases in creation what He wills. Indeed, Allāh is over all things competent.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱذْكُرُوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ هَلْ مِنْ خَـٰلِقٍ غَيْرُ ٱللَّهِ يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ فَأَنَّىٰ تُؤْفَكُونَ
O mankind, remember the favor of Allāh upon you. Is there any creator other than Allāh who provides for you from the heaven and earth? There is no deity except Him, so how are you deluded?
Cited toIbn Kathīr, Tafsīr, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir; al-Qurṭubī, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir
- Madd — 2 vowels
- Madd — 2, 4 or 6 vowels
- Madd — 6 vowels (lāzim)
- Madd — 4 or 5 vowels (wājib)
- Ghunnah — 2 vowels
- Qalqalah
- Ikhfāʾ
- Ikhfāʾ shafawī
- Idghām shafawī
- Idghām with ghunnah
- Idghām without ghunnah
- Idghām mutajānisayn
- Idghām mutaqāribayn
- Iqlāb
- Hamzat al-waṣl
- Lām shamsiyyah
- Silent letter
Tajwīd markup and colour convention: Quran.com API (v4) — text_uthmani_tajweed. Recitation audio: Quran.com / Quran Foundation Audio API (v4).
The Originator: angels, mercy, and a power with no limit
The surah opens by naming Allah Fāṭir — the One who brought the heavens and earth into being with no prior pattern — who makes the angels His messengers, with wings in pairs, threes, and fours, increasing in creation as He wills. Whatever mercy He opens for people, none can withhold; whatever He withholds, none can release after Him.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ فَاطِرِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ جَاعِلِ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ رُسُلًا أُو۟لِىٓ أَجْنِحَةٍ مَّثْنَىٰ وَثُلَـٰثَ وَرُبَـٰعَ ۚ يَزِيدُ فِى ٱلْخَلْقِ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَدِيرٌ
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[All] praise is [due] to Allāh, Creator of the heavens and the earth, [who] made the angels messengers having wings, two or three or four. He increases in creation what He wills. Indeed, Allāh is over all things competent.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ٱذْكُرُوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ ۚ هَلْ مِنْ خَـٰلِقٍ غَيْرُ ٱللَّهِ يَرْزُقُكُم مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ فَأَنَّىٰ تُؤْفَكُونَ
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O mankind, remember the favor of Allāh upon you. Is there any creator other than Allāh who provides for you from the heaven and earth? There is no deity except Him, so how are you deluded?
From the tafsīr
Fāṭir al-samāwāti wal-arḍ means the Originator who brought them into existence without any prior example to follow — a meaning Ibn ʿAbbās said he only grasped when he heard two men disputing over who 'faṭara' (started digging) a well first.
Cited toIbn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
The angels' wings — mathnā wa-thulātha wa-rubāʿ — are stated as a real created attribute of the angels, some with more, as in the report that Jibrīl was seen with six hundred wings; the surah moves directly from this to the universal statement that no one can withhold what Allah opens of mercy.
Cited toAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
Key takeaways
- Naming Allah 'the Originator' before anything else establishes that nothing preceded Him as a model — creation is not adaptation, it is origination.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- The angels are described as rusul (messengers) here, showing the same Arabic term links their role to that of human prophets, each carrying out a divinely assigned task.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- Āyah 2's principle — none can withhold what He opens, none can release what He withholds — is presented as a settled fact about mercy, not a hope.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Reflect
What have you been treating as though it depended on people, when āyah 2 says it depends only on Him?
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Question 1 of 2
What principle does āyah 2 establish about what Allah releases of mercy?
Question 2 of 2
According to Ibn ʿAbbās's account, what helped him understand the meaning of Fāṭir?
Shayṭān is an enemy — treat him as one
Allah's promise of the Hereafter is true, so the life of this world must not deceive anyone, nor should the deceiver (al-gharūr, Shayṭān) deceive them about Allah. Shayṭān is named explicitly as an enemy to be taken as an enemy, calling his party only to be among the companions of the Blaze. Whoever seeks honour should know it belongs entirely to Allah — good words and righteous deeds rise to Him, while evil scheming collapses on its schemer.
Drawn fromAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ٱلْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ ٱلْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِلَيْهِ يَصْعَدُ ٱلْكَلِمُ ٱلطَّيِّبُ وَٱلْعَمَلُ ٱلصَّـٰلِحُ يَرْفَعُهُۥ ۚ وَٱلَّذِينَ يَمْكُرُونَ ٱلسَّيِّـَٔاتِ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ ۖ وَمَكْرُ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُوَ يَبُورُ
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Whoever desires honor [through power] - then to Allāh belongs all honor. To Him ascends good speech, and righteous work raises it. But they who plot evil deeds will have a severe punishment, and the plotting of those - it will perish.
From the tafsīr
'So take him as an enemy' — this is a direct, standing instruction, not a one-time warning: treat Shayṭān's suggestions with the same wariness one gives a declared enemy, never as a neutral party.
Cited toIbn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Al-kalim al-ṭayyib (the good word) is tawḥīd and remembrance of Allah, and al-ʿamal al-ṣāliḥ (righteous deed) is what carries the good word up and gives it weight — the word without the deed does not rise on its own.
Cited toAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
Key takeaways
- The Qur'an does not merely warn against Shayṭān's ideas; it commands taking him as an enemy — an active, ongoing stance.
Drawn fromAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- Real honour ('izzah) belongs entirely to Allah; seeking it elsewhere is chasing something that was never available there.
Drawn fromAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- Good speech needs righteous action to 'rise' — sincerity is completed by practice, not by words alone.
Drawn fromAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Reflect
In what area of your life have you been treating Shayṭān's suggestions as neutral rather than hostile?
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Question 1 of 2
What does the surah command regarding Shayṭān?
Question 2 of 2
What role does righteous deed play alongside the good word in āyah 10?
Signs of His power: rain, mountains, and those who truly fear Him
Allah created humanity from dust, then a drop, then paired them; no one's life is extended or shortened except as recorded. He merges night into day and day into night, subjecting sun and moon to a set course, while the false gods people call on cannot own even the membrane of a date-stone. Rain brings out fruit of different colours, mountains show streaks of white, red, and jet-black, and living creatures likewise vary — and it is only those with true knowledge among His servants who fear Him, because they see this variety as evidence, not decoration.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
يُولِجُ ٱلَّيْلَ فِى ٱلنَّهَارِ وَيُولِجُ ٱلنَّهَارَ فِى ٱلَّيْلِ وَسَخَّرَ ٱلشَّمْسَ وَٱلْقَمَرَ كُلٌّ يَجْرِى لِأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ۚ ذَٰلِكُمُ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ لَهُ ٱلْمُلْكُ ۚ وَٱلَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِۦ مَا يَمْلِكُونَ مِن قِطْمِيرٍ
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He causes the night to enter the day, and He causes the day to enter the night and has subjected the sun and the moon - each running [its course] for a specified term. That is Allāh, your Lord; to Him belongs sovereignty. And those whom you invoke other than Him do not possess [as much as] the membrane of a date seed.
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ أَنزَلَ مِنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ مَآءً فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِۦ ثَمَرَٰتٍ مُّخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَٰنُهَا ۚ وَمِنَ ٱلْجِبَالِ جُدَدٌۢ بِيضٌ وَحُمْرٌ مُّخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهَا وَغَرَابِيبُ سُودٌ
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Do you not see that Allāh sends down rain from the sky, and We produce thereby fruits of varying colors? And in the mountains are tracts, white and red of varying shades and [some] extremely black.
وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ وَٱلدَّوَآبِّ وَٱلْأَنْعَـٰمِ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَٰنُهُۥ كَذَٰلِكَ ۗ إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى ٱللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ ٱلْعُلَمَـٰٓؤُا۟ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ
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And among people and moving creatures and grazing livestock are various colors similarly. Only those fear Allāh, from among His servants, who have knowledge. Indeed, Allāh is Exalted in Might and Forgiving.
From the tafsīr
'It is only those among His servants who have knowledge that fear Allah' — the more one truly knows Allah, His names, and His acts, the greater one's fear and awe of Him; the ignorant do not fear Him as He deserves to be feared, however outwardly pious they appear.
Cited toIbn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Ibn Masʿūd is reported to have said that knowledge (ʿilm) is not through abundant narration, but rather reverent fear (khashyah) of Allah. Similarly, Imām Mālik described ʿilm not as narrating much, but as a light that Allah places in the heart.
Cited toAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
Key takeaways
- Human origin from dust and a drop, and the fixed span of every life 'in a Book', are presented as evidence against arrogance, not just biology.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- The idols people call on 'do not possess so much as the skin of a date-stone' (qiṭmīr) — a deliberately small image to show total powerlessness.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- Āyah 28 defines the scholar not by how much they narrate but by whether knowledge produces khashyah — reverent fear of Allah.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- Variation in colour across fruit, mountains, and creatures is presented as a sign requiring reflection, matching the pattern of the whole surah: creation as argument, not backdrop.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Reflect
Does what you know about Allah increase your khashyah, or has it stayed information without effect?
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Question 1 of 2
Whom does āyah 28 single out as the ones who fear Allah?
Question 2 of 2
What image does qiṭmīr give in 35:13, and why is it used?
The inheritors of the Book: three kinds of believer
Those who recite Allah's Book, establish prayer, and give in secret and openly hope for a trade that will never fail. Allah then gave the Book as an inheritance to those He chose from among His servants — dividing into three: one who wrongs himself, one who is moderate, and one who races ahead in good deeds by Allah's leave, and that is the greatest bounty. All three enter Gardens of Eden, adorned with gold and pearls, clothed in silk, saying: praise be to Allah who removed all grief from us, and lodged us in the Home of Permanence by His bounty, where no toil or weariness touches us.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَتْلُونَ كِتَـٰبَ ٱللَّهِ وَأَقَامُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَأَنفَقُوا۟ مِمَّا رَزَقْنَـٰهُمْ سِرًّا وَعَلَانِيَةً يَرْجُونَ تِجَـٰرَةً لَّن تَبُورَ
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Indeed, those who recite the Book of Allāh and establish prayer and spend [in His cause] out of what We have provided them, secretly and publicly, [can] expect a transaction [i.e., profit] that will never perish -
ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا ۖ فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِّنَفْسِهِۦ وَمِنْهُم مُّقْتَصِدٌ وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌۢ بِٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلْفَضْلُ ٱلْكَبِيرُ
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Then We caused to inherit the Book those We have chosen of Our servants; and among them is he who wrongs himself [i.e., sins], and among them is he who is moderate, and among them is he who is foremost in good deeds by permission of Allāh. That [inheritance] is what is the great bounty.
وَقَالُوا۟ ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَذْهَبَ عَنَّا ٱلْحَزَنَ ۖ إِنَّ رَبَّنَا لَغَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ
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And they will say, "Praise to Allāh, who has removed from us [all] sorrow. Indeed, our Lord is Forgiving and Appreciative -
From the tafsīr
The three groups are ẓālim li-nafsih (the one who falls short and commits some wrong), muqtaṣid (the moderate one who does the obligations and avoids the forbidden), and sābiq bil-khayrāt (the one who goes further, doing the obligatory and recommended and avoiding the forbidden and doubtful) — and Ibn Kathīr notes that despite their differences, the āyāt after them (33–35) describe all three entering Paradise together, which is a mercy earned through this Book's inheritance.
Cited toIbn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Ūrithnā al-kitāb (We caused the Book to be inherited) means this ummah was given the Qur'an as those before were given their scriptures, and it is 'inherited' by every generation that receives and acts upon it after the one before.
Cited toAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
Key takeaways
- Being 'chosen' (al-muṣṭafayn) to inherit the Book does not guarantee equal effort — the three categories show a real range within the believing community.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- The wrongdoer against himself (ẓālim li-nafsih) is still described as among those chosen and, per the majority reading, still enters Paradise — a sobering but hope-giving classification, not a condemnation.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- Racing ahead in good (sābiq bil-khayrāt) is explicitly 'by Allah's permission' — effort is real but success is still His grant.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- The residents of Paradise in āyah 34 do not thank Allah for pleasure first, but for removing grief — showing what they valued most about their new state.
Drawn fromAl-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Reflect
Honestly, which of the three categories describes your relationship with the Qur'an this year?
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Question 1 of 2
What three types are named among those chosen to receive the Qur'an?
Question 2 of 2
According to āyah 34, what does their gratitude to Allah begin with?
No changing His way: why the reckoning is delayed, not denied
For the disbelievers there is the Fire of Jahannam — never finished off by death, never lightened. They will cry out to be sent back to act righteously, and be told: did We not give you long enough life for anyone who would reflect to reflect, and did the warner not come to you? Their false partners created nothing, own no share of the heavens, and were given no scripture to stand on — the wrongdoers only promise each other delusion. Allah holds the heavens and earth from ceasing to exist; His way (sunnah) never changes or shifts, and if He seized people for what they have earned, He would not leave a single creature on earth — but He grants respite to a set term.
Drawn fromAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
ٱسْتِكْبَارًا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَمَكْرَ ٱلسَّيِّئِ ۚ وَلَا يَحِيقُ ٱلْمَكْرُ ٱلسَّيِّئُ إِلَّا بِأَهْلِهِۦ ۚ فَهَلْ يَنظُرُونَ إِلَّا سُنَّتَ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ ۚ فَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّتِ ٱللَّهِ تَبْدِيلًا ۖ وَلَن تَجِدَ لِسُنَّتِ ٱللَّهِ تَحْوِيلًا
Tajwīd markup unavailable for this āyah — text shown uncoloured
[Due to] arrogance in the land and plotting of evil; but the evil plot does not encompass except its own people. Then do they await except the way [i.e., fate] of the former peoples? But you will never find in the way [i.e., established method] of Allāh any change, and you will never find in the way of Allāh any alteration.
وَلَوْ يُؤَاخِذُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلنَّاسَ بِمَا كَسَبُوا۟ مَا تَرَكَ عَلَىٰ ظَهْرِهَا مِن دَآبَّةٍ وَلَـٰكِن يُؤَخِّرُهُمْ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ۖ فَإِذَا جَآءَ أَجَلُهُمْ فَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِعِبَادِهِۦ بَصِيرًۢا
Tajwīd markup unavailable for this āyah — text shown uncoloured
And if Allāh were to impose blame on the people for what they have earned, He would not leave upon it [i.e., the earth] any creature. But He defers them for a specified term. And when their time comes, then indeed Allāh has ever been, of His servants, Seeing.
From the tafsīr
Their plea 'send us back so we may act righteously' is rejected because they had already been given ʿumr (a lifespan) long enough for reflection, and the warner (nadhīr) — understood by most commentators as old age, and by others as the Prophet ﷺ himself — had already reached them.
Cited toIbn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
'You will never find any change in Allah's sunnah, nor any alteration' refers to His fixed pattern of destroying arrogant deniers after giving them a warner — the same pattern that befell nations before Quraysh, whose ruins they themselves passed on their travels.
Cited toAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
Key takeaways
- Āyah 37 shows regret alone, after time runs out, is not enough — the warner and the time to act had already been given.
Drawn fromAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- The false partners' complete inability to create anything, share in the heavens, or offer scriptural proof leaves the wrongdoers with nothing but mutual delusion (ghurūr).
Drawn fromAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- Allah's sunnah — His pattern of eventually seizing arrogant deniers after warning them — is described as fixed, never changing or shifting.
Drawn fromAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- Delay in punishment (āyah 45) is mercy and respite, not evidence that wrongdoing goes unnoticed or unaccounted.
Drawn fromAl-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
Reflect
What warner — a hardship, an āyah, someone's advice — have you already been given that you are treating as though it never came?
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Question 1 of 2
What reason is given for refusing their request to return and do good?
Question 2 of 2
What does āyah 45 say would happen if Allah seized people immediately for what they earn?
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Roots from this surah
Learn the three-letter root and you unlock every word built from it — across the whole Qur'an, not just this surah.
ف ط ر
āyāt 1to split, to originate something with no prior example
- فَاطِرOriginator
- فِطْرَةinnate nature
- فُطُورa splitting, a crack
م ل ك
āyāt 1, 13, 14, 40to own, to have full authority and dominion
- مَلَكangel
- مُلْكsovereignty, kingdom
- يَمْلِكُونَthey possess
خ ش ي
āyāt 28reverent fear, awe born of knowledge
- يَخْشَىٰhe fears (reverently)
- خَشْيَةreverent fear, awe
- خَاشِعhumbly submissive (related sense)
و ر ث
āyāt 32to inherit, to receive what was left by another
- أَوْرَثَhe caused to inherit
- وَارِثheir
- مِيرَاثinheritance
ظ ل م
āyāt 8, 32, 37, 40, 43to place something out of its rightful place; wrongdoing
- ظَالِمwrongdoer
- ظُلْمinjustice
- ظُلُمَاتdarknesses (related sense)
س ب ق
āyāt 32to go before, to race ahead of others
- سَابِقforemost, one who races ahead
- سِبَاقa race
- مُسَابَقَةcompeting, racing
ن ذ ر
āyāt 18, 23, 24, 37to warn, to give advance notice of a coming danger
- نَذِيرwarner
- إِنْذَارwarning
- نَذْرa vow (related sense)
ع ز ز
āyāt 10, 28might, honour, an invincible strength
- عِزَّةhonour, might
- عَزِيزExalted in Might
- أَعَزَّhe honoured, strengthened
Carry this with you
- Allah is the Originator of all things — nothing preceded Him as a pattern to copy.
- No one can withhold what He opens of mercy, and no one can release what He withholds.
- Shayṭān is to be taken as a standing enemy, not treated as a neutral voice.
- Real honour belongs entirely to Allah; good words rise only when carried by righteous deeds.
- Variety in creation — fruit, mountains, people — is evidence for those with real knowledge, whose knowledge produces khashyah, not just information.
- Believers who inherit the Book differ in effort — wrongdoer, moderate, foremost — yet Allah's mercy in Paradise reaches all three.
- Regret after the appointed time is not accepted; the lifespan and the warner given beforehand were the real opportunity.
- Allah's sunnah with the arrogant and the deniers never changes — delay in punishment is respite and mercy, not oversight.
Where this surah connects
Cross-surah threads
Parts of the Qurʾān explain other parts. Each thread below opens the same subject as it is argued across every other surah you have studied, in revelation order.
Sources behind Sūrah Fāṭir
Every line of context, tafsīr and takeaway on this page traces back to one of these references. Ḥadīth numbers open on sunnah.com and āyah references open on quran.com, so you can check the claim rather than take it on trust. The Arabic text itself is fetched live from a verified public corpus.
Tafsīr22
- Absence noted against al-Wāḥidī, Asbāb al-Nuzūl, and Ibn Kathīr's introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir
- Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān
- al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ li-Aḥkām al-Qurʾān, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir
- Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ on 35:13
- Al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ on 35:2
- al-Qurṭubī, al-Jāmiʿ on 35:28
- al-Qurṭubī, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir
- Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān
- Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān on 35:10
- al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān on 35:43–44
- Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān on 35:45
- Ibn Kathīr on 35:44–45
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr on 35:1
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr on 35:28
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr on 35:32
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr on 35:34
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr on 35:36–37
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr on 35:37
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr on 35:6
- Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr, introduction to Sūrat Fāṭir
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Fāṭir — full exam
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Fāṭir · The inheritors of the Book: three kinds of believer
How does āyah 32 divide the inheritors of the Book into three groups?
Arabic (Uthmānī script) and the Ṣaḥīḥ International translation are fetched live from the Quran.com API (v4), sourced from the King Fahd Complex muṣḥaf — api.quran.com API docs · Translation: Ṣaḥīḥ International · Integrity & testing protocol