Sūrah Al-Muʾminūn The Believers
المؤمنون
118 verses, Makkī. Opens with the declaration: "Certainly the believers have succeeded" then immediately describes who they are. Ibn Kathīr covers the seven qualities of the successful believers, the stages of human creation, the stories of Nūḥ, Mūsā, and ʿĪsā ﷺ, and the closing supplication.
Surah Overview
Key Themes from Ibn Kathīr
The seven qualities of success (23:1–9): (1) Khushūʿ in prayer, (2) avoiding idle speech (laghw), (3) performing zakāh, (4) guarding chastity, (5) honouring trusts and covenants, (6) and consistently guarding the prayers. Ibn Kathīr: these are not aspirational they are the actual marks of a muʾmin already. "Certainly the believers have succeeded" past tense, indicating certainty.
The stages of creation (23:12–14): "We created man from an extract of clay then We placed him as a drop (nuṭfah) in a firm lodging then We created from the drop a clinging substance (ʿalaqah) then We created from the clinging substance a lump (muḍghah) then We created from the lump bones then We clothed the bones with flesh then We produced him as another creation." Blessed is Allah, the best of creators. Ibn Kathīr: the phrase "then We produced him as another creation" is where the soul is breathed in.
- Khushūʿ is the soul of prayer: Ibn Kathīr records the Companion saying: the first thing to be lifted from this ummah is khushūʿ until you will not see a single person with khushūʿ in prayer. The outer form remains but the presence of heart departs.
- "Blessed is Allah, the best of creators" (23:14): The companion who was present when this verse was being dictated spontaneously exclaimed "Tabāraka llāhu aḥsanu l-khāliqīn!" and the Prophet ﷺ said: "It has been revealed exactly as you said."
- The return (23:99–100): When death comes to a person and he says "My Lord, send me back perhaps I may do righteousness in what I left behind." It is only a word he is saying behind them is a barrier (barzakh) until the Day they are resurrected. Ibn Kathīr: the Barzakh the intermediate realm between death and resurrection.
- The scale of deeds (23:101–103): "When the Horn is blown, there will be no kinship among them that Day nor will they ask about one another." Whoever's scales are heavy success; whoever's are light they have lost their souls in Hell forever.
- "And We are not unjust to them but they were the wrongdoers" (23:76): The pattern in prophetic stories: every nation was given signs, refused to believe, and was destroyed not by Allah's injustice but by their own persistent rejection.