(Revealed before Hijrah)
This Surah is among the earliest Chapters to have been revealed at Mecca. According to Christian writers it was revealed in the first year of the Call. If not as early as that, it certainly was revealed towards the end of the third or the beginning of the fourth year. In Surah Al-Fajr it was stated that jibes, mockery and taunts, to which the Holy Prophet had been subjected in the first three years of his mission, were about to give place to determined, persistent and organized opposition and persecution, and that this persecution would continue for ten long years which allegorically were mentioned as "Ten Nights." In the Surah under comment, however, the Holy Prophet is told that it is in Mecca, his beloved native town, and by his own kith and kin, that he and his followers will be persecuted. It is further implied that centuries ago, in pursuance of Divine command, the Patriarch Abraham and his righteous son, Ishmael, had laid the foundations of this sacred town of Mecca and had prayed to God that it should become the Centre from where should emanate the light which should illumine the whole world. Both the father and the son made great sacrifices in carrying out the commands of God. Abraham’s prayer was heard and the Holy Prophet appeared in the fullness of time and gave to the world the perfect Teaching in the form of the Qur’an. The Surah further says that man chooses the easy path and refuses to attempt "the ascent" that leads to the achievement of his great goal. It ends on the note that only those, who place before them high ideals and live up to them, achieve their goal, while those, who possess no noble ideals and make no sacrifice for good causes, are condemned to a life of failure and frustration.