This chapter is generally considered to be of Meccan provenance and consists of thirty verses. However, there is disagreement regarding its place in the historical chronology of Quranic surahs, regarding which there are three opinions: that it is the ninth, tenth, or eleventh Quranic surah to be revealed in Mecca. Nevertheless, despite these differences, they are not too widely divergent and all agree that this surah is an early surah revealed in Mecca.
Like other Meccan surahs it consists of short verses attended by warnings and admonitions. Its contents may be suggested to include the following themes:
The surah’s narrative begins with mystical oaths followed by a description of what befell of punishment on three tyrannical past communities, each of which worked mischief on earth. These communities were those of ʿĀd, Thamūd, and the people of Pharaoh. Hence, this surah presents these communities as warning examples for future generations and as a stern lesson for anyone who haughtily considers himself powerful, strong, and independent of God.
There then follows a section wherein the surah criticises the idea held by some among mankind that the bestowal of blessings by God on a segment of mankind indicates that God holds them in high esteem, while the straitening of circumstances on another segment of mankind means that God dislikes them and wishes to degrade and insult them. The surah strongly reproaches such an idea, and then proceeds to critically highlight several unfair practices prevalent in that period pertaining to the orphans and the poor, as well as human greed and worldliness.
Thereafter, the surah’s narrative moves on to mention the Day of Judgement and what awaits of bitter punishment for the disbelievers, the ingrates, and the wrongdoers, contrasting that with the eternal reward for those tranquil, faithful, and sincere souls that were content and at peace with their Lord, refusing to be shaken by the storms of tribulations and difficulties that overwhelmed them during life, and refusing to allow themselves to become corrupt when blessed with bounties, or being ungrateful when stricken with adversities.
A couple of exegetes have identified specific pivotal themes for this surah. Tabatabai suggests that the pivotal theme of this surah is the censure of the attachment to and love of the world, which manifests in the form of pursuing tyranny and disbelief, and the threat of severe worldly and next-worldly punishment for those who manifest such behaviour.
On the other hand, Mudarrisi identifies two important pivotal teachings for this surah around which its messages revolve and which he maintains the surah desires its readers to actualise. These are: a primary teaching encapsulated in verse 28, which reads: Return to your Lord, well-pleased [with Him] and well-pleasing [Him], and a secondary teaching encapsulated in verse 14, which reads: Indeed your Lord is always watchful. He suggests that the latter teaching helps aid the reader of this surah who is willing to actualise its teachings, to attain and achieve the former.
Subsequently, he clarifies and elaborates his idea and writes that the sincere reader can actualise the pivotal primary message of this surah, which is a return to the Lord, well-pleased with Him and well-pleasing Him, by:
- Realising that God is perpetually at watch over him till he becomes filled with attentiveness and God-wariness. This takes place by contemplating on the subjects of the oaths at the beginning of this surah, which draw attention to the natural phenomena, and which in turn serve as indicators of God’s existence, omnipotence, and omniscience. Such God-wariness is further augmented by considering carefully the bygone communities which were tyrannical, caused mischief on earth, and who forgot that their Lord was perpetually watching over them, and who were consequently overtaken by divine punishment.
- Purifying the heart of the excessive love of this world and its contents and not considering worldly benefits as being necessarily a sign of divine favour, for the effects of the love of the world are unfavourable. They have the potential to transform the human being, causing him to dishonour orphans and to abandon encouraging one another in favour of feeding the poor; this pushes him towards a rapacious consumption of legacies and a further increase in the love of the world.
- Bringing to mind the horrors of the Day of Judgement, when the justice and punishment of God shall become apparent, when mankind will realise its folly, but when there will be no room for manoeuvre, and no possibility for repentance or altering destiny, nor any use whatsoever in that realisation.
[1] Ṭūsī however records the divergent opinion of al-Ḍaḥḥāk who opined that this surah was Medinan: Tibyan, 10/340.
[2] Quranic Sciences, p. 280. Suyūṭī’s list of chronological ordering identifies this surah as the ninth surah (cited in Makkan and Medinan Revelations: A Comparative Study, p. 163 (unpublished doctoral dissertation)). See also The History of the Quran, p. 50, where Zanjānī cites the chronological order of the Quran attributed to Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) as found in Shahrastānī’s exegesis, Mafātīḥ al-Asrār wa Maṣābīḥ al-Abrār, which numbers this surah as the ninth in terms of chronology of revelation.
[3] See The History of the Quran, p. 38, where Ibn al-Nadīm is reported to have narrated in his al-Fihrist the chronological order transmitted by a certain Muhammad ibn Bashīr which makes this surah the tenth to be revealed chronologically. Maʿrifat’s list situates this surah as the tenth in terms of chronological order (see Talkhīṣ al-Tamhīd, 1/94) and he claims to have relied on reliable transmissions for this chronological order, transmissions he says are relied on by the majority of the scholars. He also writes that this chronology is supported by the transmission of Ibn Abbas. He also quotes Zarkashī’s statement that transmissions from reliable transmitters are established and settled with respect to this order (Talkhīṣ al-Tamhīd, 1/92).
[4] See The History of the Quran, p. 49, where the chronological order of surahs attributed to Ibn Abbas identifies this surah as the eleventh to be revealed, as reported in Shahrastānī’s exegesis, Mafātīḥ al-Asrār wa Maṣābīḥ al-Abrār.
[5] Amthal, 19/169.
[6] Amthal, 19/169.
[7] Amthal, 19/169.
[8] Mizan, 20/278.
[9] Mizan, 20/278.
[10] Mudarrisi, 18/78.
[11] Mudarrisi, 18/94
[12] Mudarrisi, 18/78-79.