(Revealed before Hijrah)
This Surah is among those Chapters which were revealed very early at Mecca. In the preceding Surah the Quraish were told that God had granted them peace and security from danger and had provided them with all necessities of life, purely out of His special grace and mercy and not due to any effort on their part or because they deserved these favours. They were told, therefore, that as an act of gratitude they should have rendered sincere and devoted service to their Gracious Creator. Instead, they became engrossed in the pursuit of worldly affairs and took to idol-worship. In this Surah it is stated that love of the world caused nations to lose faith in the Hereafter and to consign God to oblivion. It also deals with the two basic principles of Islam whose neglect constitutes denial of Religion itself—worship of God and service of fellow human beings.