(Revealed before Hijrah)
Consensus of Muslim scholarly opinion assigns the Surah to the early period of the Holy Prophet’s ministry. Noldeke and Muir among European scholars agree with this view. It is the last of the series of Chapters which started with Surah Al-Infitar. In all these Chapters the opening verse, in one form or another, furnishes an argument in support of the claim of the Reformer of the Latter Days. The intervening Surah At-Tatfif, which has a different opening is, in fact, a part of Surah Al-Infitar. The present Surah continues and completes the topics which were dealt with in Surah Al-Infitar, and in the following Chapters, and serves as a sort of barzakh between the Chapters that precede and those that follow it. From this Surah, however, begins a new subject.