(Revealed before Hijrah)
There is sufficient internal evidence to show that the Surah was revealed towards the end of the Holy Prophet’s stay at Mecca. Sayuti regards it as the last Surah to have been revealed at Mecca just before the Holy Prophet’s departure for Medina. Though it may not have been actually the last, it was certainly one of the last Surahs to be revealed at Mecca. In the closing verses of the previous Surah believers were told to turn to God and obey His commandments as in this lay the secret of their future progress and prosperity. They were also enjoined to wage war with the sword so that those who had drawn the sword against Islam should themselves perish by the sword. They were further enjoined to strive in the way of the Lord with the Qur’an and the promise was held out to them that if they did so, God would help them and vouchsafe to them success and prosperity. The promise was conditional. A sure guarantee, however, is given here that a community of believers will certainly be born who, because they will fulfil the above-mentioned conditions, will achieve success. Thus a thing, which was presumed in the preceding Surah to have existed, is claimed in this Surah to have come into being as an actual fact.
The Surah opens with the glad tidings to the true believers that the time of their success and prosperity has already arrived, and proceeds to give a brief description of their characteristics and special marks which is indicative of the process of their spiritual growth and development. This description is followed by a brief but beautiful account of the growth of the human foetus and defines the different stages through which the child passes—from the stage of a drop of sperm to that of a fully developed human being, and then explains that just as every physical birth is followed by death and Resurrection, similarly nations or communities among whom at one time a spiritual renaissance takes place, are at another time subject to decay and decadence and in due course are succeeded by another people. In fact, spiritual and physical developments bear close resemblance. Both of them have to pass through seven stages of development. Next, the Surah develops the theme that all things are sent down into the world according to a determined measure and each one of them continues to exist and is afforded protection till an appointed time. When, however, it has served its utility, it decays and dies. In the same way Divine Teachings, sent down before the Qur’an, became defunct when they had served their intended purpose. Thus, the mere fact that a Teaching is Divine does not entitle it to immunity from decay. It is only the Qur’an which has been granted continuity of life and which will, therefore, continue to provide spiritual sustenance to all of humanity for all times to come. The Surah then recounts some of the favours which God has bestowed upon man and which are necessary for his physical sustenance, and then draws the moral lesson that when God has taken so much care to provide for man’s physical needs, He must have taken equal, even greater, care to provide for his spiritual requirements. Next, it is stated that the most essential prerequisite to ensure spiritual progress is belief in the Unity of God that since the inception of the world the Prophets of God have taught and preached. Noah preached and propagated the Oneness of God. After him came a galaxy of Prophets, all of whom taught that God was One, and those Divine Teachers who came after them also emphasized and stressed this point. The devotees of darkness, however, always opposed and persecuted these Prophets. The result of the struggle between truth and falsehood invariably was that the believers were successful and those, who disbelieved and rejected the Divine Messengers, suffered defeat and came to grief. The righteous servants of God fear their Lord and believe in His Signs and have firm faith in His Unity and do good deeds to the best of their abilities, and yet consider that they have not fully discharged their duties and responsibilities. They strive to vie with one another in doing good deeds. After this, disbelievers are warned that they will be punished if they persisted in their rejection of the Divine Message. But they do not desist from their evil course and continue to indulge in iniquitous deeds till when the hour of punishment arrives, they beg and beseech that they might be granted one last opportunity to reform themselves. But then it is too late, and they are made to realize that pain and punishment even for a brief period after a whole life of ease and comfort are doubly mortifying. The Surah ends by stating the great spiritual truth that man is not created without purpose. His life has a noble aim. He should not, therefore, doubt or dispute the truth of Divine Law and of God’s Messengers and should realize that he will have to render account of his deeds before his Lord.