(Revealed before Hijrah)

Date of Revelation and Context
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 AI-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.

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيم
[1] In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful.

لاَ أُقْسِمُ بِهَذَا الْبَلَدِ
[2] Nay, but I do swear by this city[3343] —

وَأَنْتَ حِلٌّ بِهَذَا الْبَلَدِ
[3] And thou art dwelling[3344] in this city —

وَوَالِدٍ وَمَا وَلَدَ
[4] And I swear by the begetter and whom he begot,[3345]

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنسَانَ فِي كَبَدٍ
[5] We have surely created man to face hardships.[3346]

أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَنْ يَقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ أَحَدٌ
[6] Does he think that no one has power over him?[3347]

يَقُولُ أَهْلَكْتُ مَالاً لُبَدًا
[7] He says, ‘I have spent enormous wealth.’[3348]

أَيَحْسَبُ أَنْ لَمْ يَرَهُ أَحَدٌ
[8] Does he think that no one sees him?

أَلَمْ نَجْعَلْ لَهُ عَيْنَيْنِ
[9] Have We not given him two eyes,

وَلِسَانًا وَشَفَتَيْنِ
[10] And a tongue and two lips?

وَهَدَيْنَاهُ النَّجْدَيْنِ
[11] And We have pointed out to him the two highways[3349] of good and evil.

فَلاَ اقْتَحَمَ الْعَقَبَةَ
[12] But he attempted not the ascent courageously.[3350]

وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْعَقَبَةُ
[13] And what should make thee know what the ascent is?

فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ
[14] It is the freeing of a slave.

أَوْ إِطْعَامٌ فِي يَوْمٍ ذِي مَسْغَبَةٍ
[15] Or feeding in a day of hunger

يَتِيمًا ذَا مَقْرَبَةٍ
[16] An orphan near of kin,

أَوْ مِسْكِينًا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍ
[17] Or a poor man lying in the dust[3351].

ثُمَّ كَانَ مِنْ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالصَّبْرِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْمَرْحَمَةِ
[18] Again, he should have been of those who believe and exhort one another to perseverance and exhort one another to mercy.[3352]

أُوْلَئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْمَيْمَنَةِ
[19] These are the people of the right hand.

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِآيَاتِنَا هُمْ أَصْحَابُ الْمَشْأَمَةِ
[20] But those who disbelieve Our Signs, they are the people of the left hand.

عَلَيْهِمْ نَارٌ مُوصَدَةٌ
[21] Around them will be a fire closed over.[3353]

3343.  The particle 16 is used here to draw pointed attention to the subject which is about to be introduced and to signify that it is so clear and obvious that it needs no swearing to support it. Or, it may be intended to refute an understood objection. In that case the meaning would be: 'Not that thou art not a forger, as the disbelievers think, thou art a true Prophet of God and this City is called to bear witness to this fact.' But more appropriately the verse means something like this: 'You harbour evil designs about Islam. 0 disbelievers, I know what is in your minds, but I tell you that it would never happen as you desire, and I cite this City as a witness to this fact.'

3344. Hill means: (1) A thing the doing of which is lawful; (2) target; (3) one free from obligation; (4) one alighting or dwelling in a place (Lane). The root-word Halls possessing all these meanings, the verse signifies: (I) It is considered lawful by your enemies to do you any harm, even to kill you, in this City of Mecca which is so sacred that what to say of killing a living creature, it is strictly forbidden to do it the slightest harm in its precincts. (2) Thou alone art the target of every conceivable abuse, harm, injury, cruelty or violence against life, property or honour in this sacred City. (3) Thou wilt alight as a conqueror in this City from where thou art now being driven out as a fugitive. (4) For a short while thou wilt be freed from the obligation to observe the sacredness of this City when thou wilt enter it as a victor and
those wicked people, who had placed themselves outside the pale of law by perpetrating unutterable cruelties on innocent Muslims, will be at your mercy.

3345.  While raising the foundations of the Ka'bah, the Patriarch Abraham and his son Ishmael had prayed to God to raise among the Meccans a Messenger (2:129, 130). Thus 'the father and the son' bear witness to the truth of the Holy Prophet.

3346.  The prophecy, that the Holy Prophet will be expelled from Mecca and will come back to it as a conqueror and Mecca will submit to him and its inhabitants will enter the fold of Islam, will be fulfilled only after he and his followers will have gone through great hardships, that is to say, great toil and incessant struggle will be demanded of them to achieve their great goal.

3347. God is aware of the evil designs of disbeliever and He has the power to, and will bring them to naught.

3348.  Let the opponents of Islam use all their means (the verse purports to say) and spend heaps of wealth to prevent Islam from spreading, they will not succeed in their evil designs and Islam will continue to make both spiritual and political conquests.

3349. Al-Najdain means the two highways of good and evil, of truth and falsehood, of spiritual and material progress. God has provided man with all those means by which he can find out the right path, can sift right from wrong and truth from falsehood. He has been endowed with both spiritual and physical eyes by which he can distinguish good from evil and has been given a tongue and two lips that he might ask for guidance, and above all God has placed before him a supreme object that he may devote all his faculties and energies to achieve it.

3350. Through the Holy Prophet God had opened up all the ways and means by using which man could make unlimited spiritual and material progress, but he refused to make the necessary sacrifices to achieve this object.

3351. Verses 14-17 speak of the two methods which can raise the moral stature of a people: (a) Freeing of the slaves, i.e., raising the suppressed, oppressed and depressed sections of the community to an equal partnership in life. (b) Helping the orphans and the poor to stand on their own legs and to become useful members of the community.

3352. Good actions mentioned in the foregoing verses are not enough to raise the all round stature of a community. Good ideals and right principles, combined with continuous and sustained adherence to the path of moral rectitude and the teaching of virtues to others, are equally essential for the attainment of the above-mentioned high aim.

3353. Fire when closed on all sides becomes most destructive.