(Revealed before Hijrah)

Date of Revelation and Context
The first five verses of the Surah are universally admitted to be the first revelation which descended upon the Holy Prophet in Cave Hira' in a night in the month of Ramadan, 13 years before Hijrah. This date corresponds to 610 A.D. On that "Night of Destiny" when the Holy Prophet lay on the floor of the Cave, his mind locked in deep contemplation, these verses were revealed and the words became branded on his soul. These verses are the first act of mercy with which God blessed His servants (Kathir). The connection of this Surah, with the one preceding it, consists in the fact that in that Surah it was stated that from time immemorial God had been sending His Messengers and Prophets to whom He revealed His Will. First came Adam who was followed by Noah, and after a succession of Prophets appeared Moses, the greatest of the Israelite Prophets, and last of all came the Holy Prophet. In this Surah it is stated that just as the birth of man is the result of a gradual process of development, so is his spiritual evolution. The Prophets whose examples were cited in the preceding Surah attained to different stages of spiritual development, but the Holy Prophet represents in his person the best specimen of man's complete spiritual evolution.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
1. In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.

اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ
2. Proclaim[3386] thou in the name of thy Lord Who created,

خَلَقَ الإِنسَانَ مِنْ عَلَقٍ
3. Created man[3387] from a clot of blood.

اقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الأَكْرَمُ
4. Proclaim! And thy Lord is the Most Bounteous[3388];

الَّذِي عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ
5. Who taught by the pen[3389],

عَلَّمَ الإِنسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ
6. Taught man what he knew not.

كَلاَّ إِنَّ الإِنسَانَ لَيَطْغَى
7. Nay! man, indeed, transgresses,

أَنْ رَآهُ اسْتَغْنَى
8. Because he thinks himself to be independent.

إِنَّ إِلَى رَبِّكَ الرُّجْعَى
9. Surely, unto thy Lord is the return.

أَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي يَنْهَى
10. Hast thou seen him who forbids.

عَبْدًا إِذَا صَلَّى
11. A servant of Ours[3390] when he prays?

أَرَأَيْتَ إِنْ كَانَ عَلَى الْهُدَى
12. Tell me if Our servant follows the guidance,

أَوْ أَمَرَ بِالتَّقْوَى
13. Or enjoins righteousness.

أَرَأَيْتَ إِنْ كَذَّبَ وَتَوَلَّى
14. And tell me if the forbidder rejects the Truth and turns his back  on it, how shall he fare?

أَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَرَى
15. Does he not know that Allah sees all?

كَلاَّ لَئِنْ لَمْ يَنْتَهِ لَنَسْفَعَا بِالنَّاصِيَةِ
16. Nay, if he desist not, We will, assuredly, seize and drag him by the forelock [3391]

نَاصِيَةٍ كَاذِبَةٍ خَاطِئَةٍ
17. A forelock, lying, sinful.

فَلْيَدْعُ نَادِيَه
18. Then let him call his associates.

سَنَدْعُ الزَّبَانِيَةَ
19. We, too, will call Our angels of punishment.[3392]

كَلاَّ لاَ تُطِعْهُ وَاسْجُدْ وَاقْتَرِبْ
20. Nay, yield not thou to him, but  prostrate thyself and draw near to Allah.

3386. The word Iqra' meaning read, recite, convey, proclaim or collect, the verse signifies that the Qur'an was meant to be read and proclaimed, to be collected and put together and then conveyed to the whole world. The mention of the Divine attribute Rabb. (Nourisher, Sustainer and Developer, Who sustains man through all the stages of his development), shows that man's moral development was to be gradual till it was to find full consummation in the Holy Prophet.

3387. The verse signifies that love of God is ingrained in the nature of man, and that it was natural that there should have been someone in whom this instinctive impulse should have found its complete manifestation. He was the Holy Prophet who loved his Creator with all his mind, heart and soul, Insan in the verse besides the meaning given in the text signifies the perfect man-the Holy Prophet.

3388.  The more the Qur'an is read and proclaimed to the world, the more the Holiness of God and the dignity of man are recognized and appreciated.

3389.  This verse seems to embody a prophecy that "pen" would play a very important part in committing the Qur'an to writing and in preserving and protecting it from being lost or interfered with. It further refers to the great contribution which "pen" was to make towards the propagation and dissemination of the spiritual sciences and Divine secrets revealed by the Qur'an and of the physical sciences to which the study of the Qur'an was to impart a great stimulus. It is really very significant that frequent mention should have been made of "pen" in a Book which was revealed among a people who had no respect for, and had made rare use of, it and which was revealed to a person who himself did not know how to read and write.

3390.  The reference is to every Muslim, who prays, particularly to the Holy Prophet.

3391. The verses (10-18) though generally applying to every haughty and hardened disbeliever, have been taken by some Commentators to refer particularly to Abu Jahl, leader of the Quraish of Mecca. He was in the forefront to annoy, oppose and persecute the Holy Prophet and the Muslims. Some of the slaves, who had embraced Islam; at his instance were dragged by the forelock in the streets of Mecca. After the defeat at Badr, the dead bodies of some of the leaders of the Quraish, Abu Jahl among them, were dragged by their forelocks and thrown into a pit dug for that purpose. That was a fit punishment for the treatment they had meted out to the helpless Muslims years before at Mecca.

3392.  Zabaniyah means, armed officers or the prefect of police; angels or guards of Hell; angels of punishment (Lane).