(Revealed before Hijrah)
Preponderance of scholarly opinion is in favour of the view that this Surah was revealed at Mecca. Its subject-matter also confirms this view. Some verses, however, were revealed at Medina. These verses are 44th (according to ‘Ata’), 32nd (according to Qatadah), and 13-15th (according to certain other authorities). In Chapter 10 (Surah Yunus) it was stated that whenever a Prophet appears in the world, people are made to accept the Divine Messenger either by being visited with Heavenly punishment or God showers his mercy upon them if they deserve it. Stress was laid in Chapter 11 (Surah Hud) on Divine punishment and in Chapter 12 (Surah Yusuf) on God’s mercy. The present Surah, however, explains how the promises and prophecies about the rise and prosperity of the Holy Prophet, made in the three preceding Chapters, will be fulfilled and how Islam eventually will prevail over other religions.
The Surah opens with the theme that God works in inscrutable ways. The means by which His Messengers and Prophets rise to power remain hidden from human eyes till the results, towards the accomplishment of which they work, become apparent. It proceeds to draw attention to a well-known law of nature that different kinds of fruits and vegetation grow from a soil which is watered by the same water. Similarly, the Holy Prophet, born and brought up in the same environment with the pagan Meccans, rose to be God’s great Messenger. The disbelievers are further told that they should not judge the Holy Prophet by his present weak state and by the paucity of his means and resources, nor should they wonder at the promises of his ultimate success. It is not his promised success that is to be wondered at; rather it would have been strange if he had not appeared at the time of humanity’s crying need. The Holy Prophet is bound to succeed and his enemies must fail. The cause of Islam shall triumph and the children of the leaders of disbelief themselves shall join its fold. God will withdraw His help from disbelievers and their power and glory will depart. All the laws and elements of nature being under God’s control, He will make them subservient to the Holy Prophet’s cause. The false gods of the idolaters will be quite powerless to impede or arrest the progress of the new Faith. The Surah goes on to develop the theme that so great are the spiritual powers of the Holy Prophet that he could overcome his enemies single-handed, even as a man having eyes could overcome a host of blind men. Polytheism cannot stand against the doctrine of the Unity of God, nor can the votaries of false gods against the devotees of the True God. The enemies of truth shall melt away and vanish like foam or froth. Men of weak understanding see only the rising foam and froth and do not care or have the intelligence to see the pure water underneath. The foam and froth disappear but pure water and gold remain. Similarly, the superficial and trifling beliefs of the polytheists are bound to perish and the great and noble ideals preached by the Qur’an will endure and its teachings, being in harmony with human nature, will find their way into the hearts of men, who will gradually come to realize on which side lies the truth when they compare the moral stature of believers with that of disbelievers. Mighty Signs will be shown and great miracles wrought by means of the Qur’an and human hearts, the strongest of all earthly citadels shall fall. One of these Signs will be that his people will drive out the Holy Prophet from Mecca and will draw the sword against him. But Islam shall continue to make headway till Mecca, the centre of disbelief and opposition will fall to the victorious arms of the Holy Prophet. Idolatry shall disappear from Arabia for all time and Islam shall be firmly established there. The world shall witness all these Signs wrought not by human agency but by the hand of the Almighty God Himself. The Surah contains many prophecies about the discomfiture and destruction of the leaders of disbelief and foretells a bright future for Islam.
The Title
The above constitutes the main theme of the Surah and it is in conformity with this theme that it has been named Ra‘d or Thunder. Rain brings with it lightning and thunder and it is in the fitness of things that heavenly rain—the Qur’anic revelation—should also be accompanied by thunder and lightning. Islam has brought with it, thunderbolts. Those who draw the sword against Islam shall perish by the sword and those who owe allegiance to it shall sit on the thrones of power and glory.