Sūrat al-Insān is the seventy-sixth chapter in the Quran and it was mostly revealed in Medina. Its other names are al-Dahr, in allusion to verse 1, al-Abrār, in reference to verse 5, and Hal Atā, the surah’s first two words. Chronologically, it comes as the ninety-eighth surah after Sūrat al-Raḥmān and before Sūrat al-Ṭalāq. It consists of thirty-one verses in addition to the basmalah. It takes its most commonly used name from its first verse, which mentions the human being (al-insān).
Exegetes have differed in determining whether this surah is Meccan or Medinan. There are those who have said that all of it is Meccan. In contrast, there are some who have narrated that it is entirely Medinan from Mujāhid and Qatādah. Others have reported from Hasan al-Baṣrī, ʿIkramah, and Kalbī, that it is Medinan except for verse 24. And others, still, have said that it is Medinan until verse 22, after which it is Meccan.
There is abundant evidence that Sūrat al-Insān is Medinan for at least its first twenty-two verses, if not for its entirety. As for the first twenty-two verses, verse 8 makes reference to the prisoner, which could only have been a constituent of Muslim society after the commencement of the first defensive battles in the Medinan phase of the Prophet’s life. As for the remaining nine verses of the surah, a number of scholars have taken them to be Meccan, although some narrations state that they are Medinan. As will be shown in the analysis of verses 23-31, there is more evidence that this latter part of the surah is Meccan due to verses 25 and 26, which capture an earlier Meccan prescription of obligatory Muslim prayers.
The narrations that support the Medinan nature of this surah can be divided into two groups. One group of narrations speaks directly about the Medinan nature of the surah, based on the chronological order of revelation of surahs. The other group of narrations recounts the circumstances of the revelation of the first twenty-two verses, or at least of verses 5-22. The latter group relates that these verses came to eternalise the story of Imam Ali (a), Lady Fatimah (a), Imam al-Hasan (a), Imam Husayn (a), and Fiḍḍah, when they gave away all of their food while fulfilling their vow to fast for three consecutive days. These narrations provide further evidence to the Medinan characteristic of the surah, especially that Imam al-Hasan (a) and Imam al-Husayn (a) are known to be born in Medina.
As for the narrations that confirm that Sūrat al-Insān is Medinan from the point of view of the chronological order of revelation, some of the most important ones will be presented under Insights from Hadith for verses 1-4.
Some commentators found that the themes in Sūrat al-Insān are those of Meccan chapters. They take the detailed descriptions of heaven and hell as well as the enjoinments to be steadfast in the face of sinners and disbelievers as themes that belong exclusively to Meccan surahs.
A number of counter-examples can be given to invalidate restricting the above mentioned themes to Meccan surahs only. First, when we look at Sūrat al-Raḥmān and Sūrat al-Ḥajj, both include strong themes related to heaven and hell while being Medinan according to a number of reports (55:43-78, 22:19-24). Second, the Medinan chapter, Sūrat al-Kahf, explicitly enjoins the Messenger of God to be steadfast with the believers and to never yield to the sinners or the disbelievers (18:28). Hence, while verses 23-31 may be Meccan as mentioned earlier, reports that Sūrat al-Insān is entirely Medinan can be accepted without posing a thematic inconsistency. In fact, the Prophet in Medina had not only to face the disbelievers, but a multitude of hypocrites and sick-hearted individuals that campaigned in their own way to detract the Messenger from the principles of Islam.
As for the narrations that confirm that Sūrat al-Insān is Medinan because it was revealed in honour of Imam Ali (a), Lady Fatimah (a), and their family, these will be presented in the Review of Tafsīr Literature later in this work.
The opening verses of Sūrat al-Insān describe the creation of the foetus into a seeing and hearing human being equipped with the necessary guidance to choose between a course of gratitude or ingratitude (verses 1-3). As for the deniers of His grace, God has prepared numerous kinds of chastisement (verse 4). As for the righteous, He has rewarded them with an abundance of blessings. One of the main purposes of this surah is to detail the heavenly gifts awaiting the righteous, for which it allocates eighteen verses out of thirty-one (i.e. verses 5-22). Next, God addresses the Holy Prophet, calling on him to continue in fortitude by holding firm to the Quran by engaging in continued remembrance, glorification, and prayer, and by maintaining extended night worship (verses 23-26). The verses continue to explain that those who vehemently stand against his message are really trapped and blinded by their obsessive love for immediate gratification. They have not escaped God and they bring harm only to themselves (verses 27-28). Finally, the final choices are laid out for every human being to decide their fate through their God-given free will (verse 29-31).
[1] Mizan, 20/120. [2] Mizan, 20/119. [3] Tabrisi, 10/608. [4] Tabrisi.J, 4/407. [5] Qutb, 6/3777; Razi, 30/739. [6] Tabrisi.J, 4/407. [7] Tabrisi, 10/608. [8] Tabrisi.J, 4/407. [9] Mizan, 20/131-136. [10] Mizan, 20/127. [11] Tabrisi.J, 4/407; Daqaiq, 14/47; Alusi, 15/166. [12] Qutb, 6/3777; Alusi, 15/166. [13] Alusi, 9/105; Alusi, 14/96; Mizan, 20/135. [14] Qummi, 2/78; Mizan, 20/135. [15] Mizan, 20/135-136. [16] Mizan, 20/135-136.