(Revealed before Hijrah)
This Surah was revealed at Mecca in the late Meccan period, i.e. in the last four or five years of the Prophet’s stay there. Some Commentators have ascribed some of its verses to the Medinite period, but their opinion is not based on historical data. They seem to have drawn the inference merely from the subject-matter of those verses. The Surah derives its name from v. 99.
On pondering over the contents of the Qur’an we notice that not only its verses are interrelated but also that every Surah possesses a subtle connection with the one preceding it and the one following it. Moreover, certain groups of Qur’anic Chapters are linked with other groups. Thus a perfect order runs throughout the whole of the Qur’an. Its different Chapters are related to one another in more ways than one; and when their order and arrangement are considered, no doubt is left that the Qur’an is indeed a great miracle of diction. The present Surah possesses a threefold connection with the preceding Chapter. First, it constitutes a continuation of the preceding Chapter. Two subjects were mentioned in its concluding portions: (a) The revelation of the Book and its denial (9:127); (b) the coming of a Messenger of God and the benefits derived from following his teaching (9:128). The same subject is continued in the present Surah. It mentions the importance of the Book (10:2) and it refers to the Divine Messenger (10:3). Secondly, the Surah completes the subject-matter of the preceding one. In that Chapter (which is not really a separate Chapter but is a part of Chapter 8) reference was made to the fact that the time of the prosperity and predominance of Islam had come and that God’s promises were going to be fulfilled in all their glory and grandeur. So the believers were exhorted to attend to the purification of their hearts in order that their repentance might be accepted. As doubts might have arisen in the hearts of some people that on account of the enormity of their sins their repentance will not be accepted, the present Chapter removes that doubt and stresses the fact that God’s mercy encompasses and transcends all things, though it requires the highest form of repentance to attract it. Thirdly, all the Chapters of the Qur’an from Chapter 2 to Chapter 9 (which are really seven in number; for, as stated above, Chapter 9 is not a separate Chapter but forms part of Chapter 8 and was written separately only on account of the special importance of its subject-matter) deal with one group of subjects, while with this Chapter begins a new group of Surahs, ending with Chapter 18. This second group deals with a distinct and separate theme, yet its subject-matter is closely connected with that of the first group. In the first group the truth of Islam is established by reference to the Holy Prophet and his work, and an appeal is made for the acceptance of Islam in view of the superiority of its principles, the excellence of its teachings, the vastness of the spiritual knowledge which it holds out to seekers after truth, the wisdom underlying its teachings and its extraordinary influence. In the second group, comprising Chapters 10-18, emphasis is laid on the need of Prophethood, the importance of religion and on the object of the Holy Prophet’s advent, by referring particularly to the criteria and characteristics of Prophethood, the claims and history of previous Prophets and to the arguments based on, and supported by, human reason and common sense.
Thus the subject-matter of the two groups is very closely linked and related to each other, the only difference being that whereas in the first group reference is made to the prophecies which were made at the advent of the Holy Prophet or which had been made by previous Prophets and were fulfilled in due time, thus bearing witness to the truth of the Holy Prophet; in the second group the truth of Islam has been explained on its own merits and on the basis of the canons of Prophethood.