(Revealed before Hijrah)
After the first two or three Chapters had been revealed, Revelation ceased to come to the Holy Prophet for some time. The present Surah is among those Chapters which were revealed soon after Revelation had started coming again. Thus it should be deemed to have been revealed very early at Mecca. Noldeke places it after Surah Al-Balad, and Muir puts it near Surah Al-Inshirah in chronological order. The Surah embodies a great prophecy that every morrow of the Holy Prophet will be better than his yesterday and this process will continue till his cause will meet with complete success. The prophecy was remarkably fulfilled by the mounting triumphs of the Holy Prophet. In subject-matter the Surah much resembles some of the previous ones. Like them it lays stress on the evils to which the Meccans were specially addicted, with this difference that whereas in this Surah the Holy Prophet and his followers have been enjoined to make proper use of their money, in the preceding Surah a contrast was instituted between the believers’ and the disbelievers’ treatment of the orphans and the needy. Moreover, in the preceding Surah it was briefly stated that the righteous believer spends his wealth in the way of God; in this Surah mention is made of the blessings which God bestows upon His chosen servants with particular reference to the Holy Prophet. Thus the Surah serves as a sequel to the one preceding it.