(Revealed before Hijrah)

Date of Revelation and Context
The Surah was revealed very early at Mecca. This is the view of Ibn 'Abbas and Ibn Zubair. Noldeke places it after Chapter 85. In the preceding Surah arguments based on reason and commonsense were given in support of the claim that the Holy Prophet will have a glorious future as he possesses all those qualities which are necessary for making a success of one's mission. In the present Surah examples of some Divine Messengers have been cited to show that as the Holy Prophet's own circumstances resembled their circumstances, so, like them, he, too, will achieve success. In Chapters 89 94 the Holy Prophet's Emigration to Medina and his subsequent success were hinted at in one form or another-in some by implication, in others by oblique reference and in yet others in clear words. In the Surah under comment, it is implied that like the Holy Prophet the former Prophets also had to leave their homes for the sake of their missions.

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

وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُونِ
2. By[3383]the Fig and the Olive,

وَطُورِ سِينِينَ
3. And Mount Sinai[3383A],

وَهَذَا الْبَلَدِ الأَمِينِ
4. And this Town of Security,

لَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا الإِنسَانَ فِي أَحْسَنِ تَقْوِيمٍ
5. Surely, We have created man in the best make;

ثُمَّ رَدَدْنَاهُ أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِينَ
6. Then, if he does evil deeds, We degrade him as the lowest of the low[3384]

إِلاَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ غَيْرُ مَمْنُونٍ
7. Save those who believe and do good works; so for them is an unfailing reward.

فَمَا يُكَذِّبُكَ بَعْدُ بِالدِّينِ
8. Then what is there to give the lie to thee after this, with regard to the judgment?[3385]

أَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَحْكَمِ الْحَاكِمِينَ
9. Is not Allah the Most Just of judges?

3383.  "The Fig,'' "the Olive," "Mount Sinai" and "this Town of Security" have been invoked as witnesses to support and substantiate the claim made in the Surah that the Holy Prophet shall succeed in his mission. "The Fig" and "the Olive" are symbolic of Jesus; "Mount Sinai" of Moses; and "this Town of Security" of the Holy Prophet. These three verses together point to the well-known biblical reference. 'The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir with them; and He shined forth from Mount Paran’ (Deut. 33:2). According to some Commentators, however, "the Fig" stands for Buddhism, "the Olive" for Christianity, "Mount Sinai" for Judaism and "the City of Security" for the Holy Prophet of Islam. But perhaps the best explanation of the symbolism used in these verses is the one according to which the four words represent four periods in the history of human moral evolution, "the Fig" representing the era of Adam. "the Olive" that of Noah, "Mount Sinai" that of Moses and "this Town of Security" symbolizing the Islamic epoch. This explanation finds ample support from the Bible and the Qur'an. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and found themselves naked, they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons (Gen. 3:7). About Noah we read: 'And the dove came unto him in the evening; and lo! in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off; so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth' (Gen. 8:11). And it is an accepted fact that Moses received the Divine Law on Mount Sinai and that Mecca, the birthplace of Islam was, from time immemorial, regarded as, and proved to be, "the Town of Security." These four periods represent the four cycles through which man has passed to reach the stage of his complete development. In the cycle of Adam the foundations of human civilization were laid. Noah was the founder of the Shari'ah. In the cycle of Moses the details of the Shari'ah were revealed, while with the advent of the Holy Prophet the Divine Law became complete and perfect in all its manifold aspects. and man attained his complete intellectual, social, moral and spiritual development. "The Fig" may also be symbolic of Mosaic Dispensation and "the Olive" of the Islamic Dispensation. This simile has been further expressed in a more concrete form by the words "Mount Sinai" and "This City of Security."

3383A. The word slnln being in the plural shows that there are several mountains of this name in that region. On one of them God manifested Himself to Moses.

3384. Man is born with a pure and unsullied nature, with a natural tendency to do good, but he has also been given a large measure of freedom of will and action to mould himself as he chooses. He has been endowed with great natural powers and creative qualities to make unlimited moral progress and to rise spiritually so high as to become the mirror in which Divine attributes are reflected. But if he misuses God-given powers and attributes, he sinks lower than even beasts and brutes and becomes Devil incarnate as the next verse shows. Briefly, he is blessed with great potentialities for doing good and evil.

3385. When man has been created to achieve a very high spiritual destiny and God had sent His Messengers such as Adam, Noah, Moses and the Holy Prophet, to help him achieve his great goal, and if he does not make proper use of his natural faculties and rejects the Divine Message and opposes God's Messengers, he is punished, then, who can, with reason, deny that there is a Day of Judgment in this life and also in the Hereafter and that the commandments of God Who is the Best Judge cannot be defied with impunity and man's actions will not go unrequited?