Sūrat al-Jinn is the seventy-second chapter in the current sequence of the Quran, and the fortieth in the chronology of revelation. It was revealed after Sūrat al-Aʿrāf (7) and before Sūrat Yā Sīn (36) and has twenty-eight verses.
This chapter was revealed in Mecca in around the tenth or eleventh year of the prophetic mission as maintained by most exegetes. The whole surah was revealed at once to the Holy Prophet. As this surah talks about the jinn, it has thus been named this way. It appears that the chapter was so named by the Prophet himself. This surah is also known as Sūrat Qul Ūḥiya Ilayya.
The surah commences with the story of a group of jinn who happened to listen to some verses of the Quran and were attracted to it such that they ultimately professed belief in it. According to the occasion of revelation reported for this surah, this group of jinn heard the recitation of the Quran by the Holy Prophet as he stood for the morning prayer at a place called Baṭn Nakhlah upon his return from the city of Taif. Most exegetes consider the event surrounding this surah to be the one also mentioned in 46:29-32.
This surah can be divided into two parts; the first part which consists of fifteen verses exclusively talks about issues related to the jinn. These verses in fact provide an account of a conversation that took place between this group of jinn who embraced Islam and their fellow community members. This conversation discloses erroneous beliefs held by the community of jinn at the time of the advent of Islam concerning God and prophethood (verses 2-7). It also points to the practice of eavesdropping on the heavenly news that was common among them before Islam (verses 7-10). Finally, it alludes to different factions that existed amidst the jinn before Islam and the new line-up after some of them accepted Islam (verses 11-15). The second part of the surah is a conclusion drawn from preceding verses that addresses such issues as monotheism, divine prophecy, eschatology, knowledge of the unseen (ghayb), and the inerrancy of the divine messengers.
This surah was revealed in an atmosphere that was hostile towards the Prophet, and the Muslims in general. Since the Arabs were the immediate addressees of Prophet Muhammad (s) and because the Quran was revealed in their language, it was naturally expected of them to be among the foremost to acknowledge the literal beauty and eloquence of the Quran and consequently react positively to the divine message before anyone else. However, on the contrary, the Prophet faced opposition from them, and the Muslims were subjected to immense hostility during this period. As such, this surah was revealed with the aim of consoling the Prophet by informing him that the jinn have responded positively to the divine message even though his immediate addressees have lagged behind in doing so. On a different note, the revelation of this chapter contains an indirect reproach to the polytheists in Mecca considering that the jinn took precedence over them in accepting the Quran, even though it was not revealed in their language.
[1] Ahsan al-Hadith, 11/368-369.
[2] Ibn Ashur, 29/201.
[3] Ahsan al-Hadith, 11/369.
[4] Alusi, 15/106.