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Learn › Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr The Complete Qurʾān Commentary › Lesson 6

Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr The Complete Qurʾān Commentary · As-Sabʿ al-Ṭiwāl The Seven Long Surahs
Lesson 6

Sūrah Al-Anʿām The Cattle

الأنعام

165 verses, Makkī. Revealed in its entirety in one night, accompanied by seventy thousand angels. Ibn Kathīr calls it a comprehensive refutation of Arab polytheism. It contains Ibrāhīm's ﷺ rational journey to tawḥīd, the ten commandments of Islam (6:151–153), and the prohibition of slaughtering animals for idols.

Surah Overview

DetailInformationClassificationSignificance
SurahالأنعامAl-Anʿām The CattleMakkī tawḥīd surah revealed all at once
TypeMakkī165 versesJuzʾ 7–8
ContextArabian polytheismPre-Hijra MakkahRefutation of shirk through reason
Key PassageTen Commandments of Islam (6:151–153)Ibrāhīm's search for God (6:74–83)Core moral law of Islam

Key Themes from Ibn Kathīr

Ibrāhīm's ﷺ rational search (6:74–83): Ibrāhīm looked at the star and said "This is my Lord" then it set. Then the moon it set. Then the sun it set. "I have turned my face toward He who created the heavens and earth, a true believer (ḥanīf), and I am not among the polytheists." Ibn Kathīr explains this was Ibrāhīm ﷺ demonstrating to his people the absurdity of worshipping created things not genuinely considering them divine.

The Ten Commandments (6:151–153): Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited: do not associate with Him anything; honour your parents; do not kill your children from poverty; do not approach immorality; do not kill a soul except in right; do not approach the orphan's property; give full measure; be just in testimony; and fulfil the covenant of Allah. This is My straight path.

فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ اللَّيْلُ رَأَىٰ كَوْكَبًا ۖ قَالَ هَٰذَا رَبِّي ۖ فَلَمَّا أَفَلَ قَالَ لَا أُحِبُّ الْآفِلِينَ Fa-lammā janna ʿalayhi l-laylu raʾā kawkaban · qāla hādhā rabbī · fa-lammā afala qāla lā uḥibbu l-āfilīn When the night covered him, he saw a star. He said "This is my Lord." But when it set, he said "I do not love those that set." (6:76) Ibrāhīm's ﷺ demonstration of the irrationality of worshipping created things.
وَعِندَهُ مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ لَا يَعْلَمُهَا إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ Wa ʿindahu mafātiḥu l-ghaybi lā yaʿlamuhā illā huwa · wa yaʿlamu mā fi l-barri wa l-baḥr And with Him are the keys of the unseen none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea... (6:59) The five matters of the unseen known only to Allah.
  • Revealed with seventy thousand angels: Ibn Kathīr records from Jābir ؓ that Al-Anʿām descended with seventy thousand angels filling the horizon reflecting the gravity of this comprehensive tawḥīd surah.
  • The Keys of the Unseen (6:59): The Prophet ﷺ said the five things of the unseen (al-ghayb) are: when the Hour will come, when it will rain, what is in the wombs, what a person will earn tomorrow, and in what land a person will die (Bukhārī).
  • Cattle prohibited by custom (6:136–140): The Arabs had invented rulings making certain animals forbidden for women but not men, or dedicating some for idols. The Qurʾān abolished all such innovations no one has the right to make lawful or unlawful except Allah.
  • "My straight path follow it" (6:153): After the Ten Commandments, this single straight path is contrasted with many other paths each of which is a path of deviation. Clarity of direction against the fragmentation of opinion.
  • Do not eat what Allah's name was not mentioned over (6:121): A key dietary ruling establishing that tasmiyah (saying Bismillāh) is a condition for the lawfulness of slaughtered meat with scholarly discussion on whether it is wājib or sunnah.

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