(Revealed before Hijrah)
The Surah was revealed early at Mecca, very probably in the 6th year of the Call or even earlier. The preceding Chapters had dealt with the subject of Resurrection and the great and marvellous revolution which was brought about by the Holy Prophet among his people and which has also been called "resurrection" in the Qur’an. This "resurrection" was to take place twice, first by the advent of the Holy Prophet himself and then by his Second Advent in the person of a great Deputy of his—the Promised Messiah and Mahdi—to which a clear reference is made in 62:4. It is this second renaissance of Islam at the hands of the Promised Messiah and the great changes which were to take place in his time which this Surah speaks of. It opens with a description of those changes and follows it up with a fleeting reference to the moral degeneration of Muslims at that time and to the causes thereof, and ends by striking a note of optimism and cheerfulness to them, holding out to them the promise that eventually the night of the degradation of Muslims will give place to the dawn of their success, because Islam, being God’s last Message for the whole of mankind, has come to stay.