(Revealed before Hijrah)
All authorities including Ibn ‘Abbas and Ibn Zubair agree that the Surah belongs to the Middle Meccan period. Noldeke assigns its revelation to the sixth or seventh year of the Call. In its closing verses, the preceding Surah had made a pathetic reference to the agonized outpourings of the Holy Prophet’s lacerated heart that, in spite of his best efforts his Message had failed to evoke adequate response in his people. In answer to his cries of agony, the Holy Prophet was told to overlook their faults and invoke God’s mercy on them, for, thus his prayer would draw Divine grace and would make them realize their mistake and listen to him. The present Surah opens with the declaration that the Qur’an which fully explains the truths and realities of life has been revealed in a period of spiritual darkness to reclaim mankind from sin. The Surah is the fifth of the Ha Mim group. Like the preceding Chapter it opens with the subject of revelation of the Qur’an, though in a different form and context. It commences with the theme that whenever darkness enshrouds the face of the earth and humanity is stuck fast in the quagmire of moral turpitude, God raises a Messenger and gives him a new Message to reclaim and regenerate the world. Prophets of God had been appearing at such times of decadence, and now that the moral need of humanity was greatest and spiritual darkness was most intense and overwhelming, God has raised the greatest of His Messengers and has given him the last and most perfect Law—the Qur’an. The advent of the Holy Prophet is not a novel phenomenon. Divine Messengers had appeared before him in the fulness of time, most prominent among them being Moses. The Surah then gives a pathetic description of the dreadful fate that overtook Pharaoh and his people. They went to their doom in disgrace and ignominy, and God chose the Israelites for the bestowal of His special favours. This is how God brings about transformation in the life of a people. It further says that human life has a great mission. It is for the fulfilment of this great mission that God raises His Messengers in the world. The Surah ends on the note that the principles and ideals of Islam have been taught in a most clear and convincing manner.