(Revealed before Hijrah)
The Surah was revealed very early at Mecca. This is the opinion of ‘Abdullah bin Mas‘ud, one of the earliest Companions of the Holy Prophet. The Surah continues to deal with Christian beliefs and doctrines which formed the primary theme of the preceding Chapter. One of the basic doctrines of Christianity is that the Law is a curse. The Surah opens with an emphatic repudiation of this Christian doctrine. The Law, it says, is not only not a curse but is positively a great Divine boon and mercy, and instead of being a burden and an encumbrance, its object is to afford solace and spiritual contentment to man. This is one of the principal objects of the Qur’an which it fulfils most adequately. The Holy Prophet is comforted with the message that God has revealed the Qur’an to lighten man’s burdens and not to add to his difficulties. It meets all human major needs and requirements.
The Surah proceeds to tell Christians that in order to understand and realize the truths embodied in the Qur’an, they should ponder over the circumstances and conditions through which Moses had to pass. It is stated that after his spiritual upbringing had become complete and he was found fit to be entrusted with the great responsibilities of a Prophet, Moses was commanded to go to Pharaoh and convey to him the Divine Message. Pharaoh refused to accept it, behaved arrogantly and sought to kill Moses. Thereupon Moses was commanded by God to take the Israelites out of Egypt to Canaan. Pharaoh pursued them with his mighty hosts but Divine punishment overtook him and he was drowned in the sea before the very eyes of the Israelites. Moses then went up to the "Mount" where the Law was revealed to him. The Surah then administers a subtle rebuke to Christians. They are told that when before the advent of Jesus the Israelites believed in the doctrine that God was One and later great stress had also been laid in the Qur’an upon Divine Unity and upon the importance and significance of the Law or the Shari‘ah, how could a teaching which regarded the Law as a curse and entertained and preached polytheistic doctrines intervene between these two strictly monotheistic creeds? Next, mention is made of Divine punishment that would overtake Christian nations for their sins and iniquities after they had enjoyed material prosperity for a thousand years. Of these the last three centuries would be marked by uniform progress and prosperity of a very high order. This would make them disdainfully ignore the Divine warning that a dreadful fate was in store for them. The Surah emphatically declares that this event will certainly come to pass and Christian nations of the West will be seized with a terrible visitation; lofty mountains shall crumble and become like scattered dust (vv. 106, 107). Then the subject with which the Surah has opened is rehearsed, viz. that the Qur’an easily yields to understanding and comprehension because it has been revealed in the national tongue of the people who are its first addressees. Like the Christian Scriptures it usually does not talk in parables and metaphors, thus leaving the subject confused and lacking in clarity, but explains its teaching in an easily comprehensible language. The importance of the Law is driven home by strong and forceful arguments and it is shown to be not an unmitigated curse but a great Divine blessing. Then mention is made of the expulsion of Adam from "the garden." This incident on which the whole fabric of the Christian doctrine of atonement stands is either misunderstood or deliberately misinterpreted and misrepresented by Christians. The truth is that the birth of Adam took place according to a fixed Divine plan, and Divine plans never miscarry or fail in their object. While according to the Bible, God created Adam in His own image (Gen. 1:27) and then, beguiled by Eve, Adam fell into sin, the Qur’an declares that having been created in God’s own image and likeness, Adam could not possibly have been guilty of any such fall. It describes him as only having slipped into an inadvertent lapse (v. 116). The Surah ends with a stern warning to disbelievers that Signs and miracles of their own devising will never be shown to them and that if, in spite of having seen many heavenly Signs, they still persisted in denying the Divine Message, they will be punished as were punished the disbelievers of the former Messengers of God.