(Revealed before Hijrah)
This Surah, like the preceding one, was revealed at Mecca about the same time; but according to Noldeke a little later. Ibn ‘Abbas, as reported by Mardawaih and Ibn Zubair, holds the view that it was revealed at Mecca when opposition to Islam was extremely severe and Muslims were in a tight corner. The preceding Surah had ended on the note that anyone who opposes and rejects Heavenly Teaching injures only his own soul and himself suffers the consequences of rejection. The present Surah opens with the declaration that the Qur’an has been revealed by the High, Wise and Mighty God; if the Prophet’s people rejected its Message they would be so doing at their own cost.
The Surah opens with the important subject of the Qur’anic revelation and proceeds to say that man’s sins are many and great but God’s forgiveness is greater and His grace unbounded. His mercy demanded that the Qur’an should have been revealed to deliver man from the bondage of sin but he is so constituted that instead of benefiting from God’s mercy he worships gods of his own creation. The Prophet, therefore, is told not to grieve over what the disbelievers do, as he is not appointed a guardian over them. His duty only is to convey the Divine Message, the rest is God’s own affair. The Surah then refers to the invariable Divine practice that whenever differences arise among the followers of various Faiths on the basic principles of religion, God raises a Prophet to remove those differences and to lead them to the right path. But the basic principles of all religions being the same, all Divine Messengers followed the same religion—total submission to God. This "religion" found its best and completest exposition in the revelation of the Qur’an and, therefore, it received a specific name—Al-Islam. The Holy Prophet is enjoined to invite the whole of mankind to this most perfect and last Divine Teaching, and to let no persecution or persuasion stand in his way. Compliance with the Qur’anic commandments or their defiance, the Surah continues, constitutes good or bad action. It is their deeds which determine the destiny of nations and individuals and make or mar their future. In their lives there comes a day when their actions are weighed in the balance. If their good actions outweigh their bad actions, a life of bliss and happiness awaits them. If, on the other hand, their evil deeds exceed their good deeds, then they have a life of regrets and sighs. Next, the Surah says that the Holy Prophet has worked very hard and suffered much in the cause of truth, and this from no personal motives. Being full of the milk of human kindness his only concern and desire is that men should establish true and real relationship with God. Could such a sincere and honest well-wisher of mankind be capable of forging lies against God? Yet his people accuse him of this most heinous of sins. Why cannot they understand this simple fact that the forging of lies against God is a deadly poison which brings about the complete ruin of the forger? Instead of being ruined, however, the noble efforts of the Holy Prophet are producing excellent results and his cause is making uniform and rapid progress. The Surah then draws attention to the physical phenomenon that whenever dry earth needs water God sends down rain from the clouds. Similarly, when the spiritual earth had become dry, God had sent down heavenly rain in the form of the Qur’an. Then after briefly referring to the fundamental principle that the affairs of the Islamic State and other matters of national importance should be transacted by mutual consultation, the Surah lays down the basis of the penal laws of Islam. According to it the real object underlying punishment is the moral reformation of the guilty person. There is no place in Islam for the monastic Christian teaching of turning the other cheek under all conditions, nor the Jewish doctrine of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Towards its close the Surah tells disbelievers that the Holy Prophet has done his duty. He is but a Warner and he has warned them. He has not been made a guardian over them. He is the Life and the Light and his is the way that leads to the realization of the object of man’s creation. At the end, the Surah mentions three forms of Divine revelation.