(Revealed before Hijrah)
The Surah bears the title of Ha Mim As-Sajdah. It is also known as Fussilat. Being the second of the seven Chapters of Ha Mim group, it possesses a very close resemblance with the Surah that goes before it and those that follow it in style and subject-matter, and like them it was revealed at Mecca at a time when opposition to Islam had grown strong, determined and persistent. While towards the close of the preceding Surah the disbelievers were warned that when Divine punishment overtook them, belief and repentance would be of no avail, the present Surah opens with the statement that it is those people, who close the avenues of their hearts and persistently refuse to listen to the Qur’an, that render themselves deserving of punishment. It further declares that the Qur’an contains all that is necessary for the moral development of man and explains fully and completely all its tenets, teachings and principles in the most explicit, expressive and intelligible language and adduces as an argument the creation of the universe in six periods or stages to prove Divine Unity, and proceeds to say that all Prophets brought the self-same Message of Divine Unity. Even the Prophets of antiquity like Hud and Salih preached the same doctrine. Next, it is stated that whenever a new Prophet comes in the world, the leaders of disbelief try to stifle the voice of Truth by raising a loud hue and cry against it and seek to confuse the minds of the people by using all sorts of guiles and subterfuges; but falsehood has never succeeded in drowning the voice of Truth. Likewise, will the efforts of opponents of the Holy Prophet fail against him. The angels of God will descend upon those who believe in him and stand by him through thick and thin, consoling and comforting them, blessing their endeavours with success and telling them that they will inherit Divine blessings in this world and will be God’s guests in the next. The Surah proceeds to say that night of sin and iniquity will pass away and the sun of righteousness and God’s Unity will shine upon Arabia, and a people, who for centuries had groped in the darkness of ignorance, will receive a new life, and Islam, after having taken deep roots in Arabia, will spread and expand to the farthest ends of the earth. This marvellous change will come about through the noble teaching of this wonderful Book—the Qur’an. God alone knows how and when the seed of truth that the Holy Prophet has sown in the soil of Arabia will develop and grow into a mighty tree, but grow it must, and under its cool and comfortable shade great nations will take rest.