Recitation by Mishary Al-Alfasy
It is derived from the sentence idh andhara qauma-hu bil Ahqaf-i of verse 21.
Period of Revelation
It is determined by an historical
event that has been mentioned in vv. 29-32. This incident of the visit of the
jinn and their going back after listening to the Qur'an had occurred, according
to agreed traditions of the Hadith and biographical literature, at the time when
the Holy Prophet had halted at Makkah during his return journey from Ta'if to
Makkah. And according to all authentic historical traditions he had gone to
Ta'if three years before the Hijrah; therefore it is determined that this Surah
was sent down towards the end of the 10th year or in the early part of the 11th
year of the Prophethood.
Historical Background
The
10th year of the Prophethood was a year of extreme persecution and distress in
the Holy prophet's life. The Quraish and the other tribes had continued their
boycott of the Bani Hashim and the Muslims for three years and the Holy Prophet
and the people of his family and Companions lay besieged in Shi'b Abi Talib. The
Quraish had blocked up this locality from every side so that no supplies of any
kind could reach the besieged people. Only during the Hajj season they were
allowed to come out and buy some articles of necessity. But even at that time
whenever Abu Lahab noticed any of them approaching the market place or a trading
caravan he would call out to the merchants exhorting them to announce forbidding
rates of their articles for them, and would pledge that he himself would buy
those articles so that they did not suffer any loss. This boycott which
continued uninterrupted for three years had broken the back of the Muslims and
the Bani Hashim; so much so that at times they were even forced to eat grass and
the leaves of trees.
At last, when the siege was lifted this year, Abu
Talib, the Holy Prophet's uncle, who had been shielding him for ten long years,
died, and hardly a month later his wife, Hadrat Khadijah, who had been a source
of peace and consolation for him ever since the beginning of the call, also
passed away. Because of these tragic incidents, which closely followed each
other, the Holy Prophet used to refer to this year as the year of sorrow and
grief.
After the death of Hadart Khadijah and Abu Talib the disbelievers
of Makkah became even bolder against the Holy Prophet. They started treating him
even more harshly. So much so that it became difficult for him to step out of
his house. Of these days Ibn Hisham has related the incident that a Quraish
scoundrel one day threw dust at him openly in the street.
At last, the
Holy Prophet left for Ta'if with the intention that he should invite the Bani
Thaqif to Islam, for even if they did not accept Islam, they might at least be
persuaded to allow him to work for his mission peacefully. He did not have the
facility of any conveyance at that time, and traveled all the way to Ta'if on
foot. According to some traditions, he had gone there alone, but according to
others, he was accompanied by Zaid bin Harithah. He stayed at Ta'if for a few
days, and approached each of the chiefs and nobles of the Bani Thaqif and talked
to him about his mission. But not only they refused to listen to him, but
plainly gave him the notice that he should leave their city, for they feared
that his preaching might "spoil" their younger generation. Thus, he was
compelled to leave Ta'if. When he was leaving the city, the chiefs of Thaqif set
their slaves and scoundrels behind him, who went on crying at him, abusing him
and petting him with stones for a long way from either side of the road till he
became broken down with wounds and his shoes were filled with blood. Wearied and
exhausted he took shelter in the shade of the wall of a garden outside Ta'if,
and prayed:
"O God, to Thee I complain of my weakness, little resource,
and lowliness before men. O Most Merciful, Thou art the Lord of the weak, and
Thou art my Lord. To whom wilt Thou confide me? To one afar who will misuse me?
Or to an enemy to whom Thou hast given power over me?If Thou art not angry with
me I care not. Thy favor is more wide for me. I take refuge in the light of Thy
countenance by which the darkness is illumined, and the things of this world and
the next are rightly ordered, lest Thy anger descend upon me or Thy wrath light
upon me. It is for Thee to be satisfied until Thou art well pleased. There is no
power and no might save in Thee." (Ibn Hisham:A. Guillaume's Translation, p.
193).
Grieved and heart broken when he returned and reached near Qarn al-Manazil,
he felt as though the sky was overcast by clouds. He looked up and saw Gabriel
in front of him, who called out:" Allah has heard the way your people have
responded. He has, therefore, sent this angel in charge of the mountains. You
may command him as you please." Then the angel of the mountains greeted him and
submitted :"If you like I would overturn the mountains from either side upon
these people." The Holy Prophet replied : "No, but I expect that Allah will
create from their seed those who will worship none but Allah, the One." (Bukhari,
Dhikr al Mala'ikah; Muslim: Kitab al-Maghazi; Nasa'i :Al-Bauth).
After
this he went to stay for a few days at Makkah, perplexed as to how he would face
the people of Makkah, who, he thought, would be still further emboldened against
him after hearing what had happened at Ta'if. It was here that one night when he
was reciting the Qur'an in the Prayer, a group of the jinn happened to pass by
and listened to the Qur'an, believed in it, and returned to their people to
preach Islam. Thus, Allah gave His Prophet the good news that if the men were
running away from his invitation, there were many of the jinn, who had become
its believers, and they were spreading his message among their own kind.
Subject Matter and Topics
Such were the conditions when this Surah was sent
down. Anyone who keeps this background in view, on the one hand, and studies
this Surah, on the other, will have no doubt left in his mind that this is not
at all the composition of Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace), but "a
Revelation from the All Mighty, All Wise Allah." For nowhere in this Surah, from
the beginning to the end, does one find even a tinge of the human feelings and
reactions, which are naturally produced in a man who is passing through such
hard conditions. Had it been the word of Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace)
whom the occurrence of personal griefs one after the other and the countless and
the recent bitter experience at Ta'if had caused extreme anguish and distress,
it would have reflected in some degree the state of the mind of the man who was
the subject of these afflictions and griefs. Consider the prayer that we have
cited above: it contains his own language its every word is saturated with the
feelings that he had at the time. But this Surah which was sent down precisely
in the same period and was recited even by him under the same conditions, is
absolutely free from every sign or trace of the time.
The subject matter
of the Surah is to warn the disbelievers of the errors in which they were
involved, and also resisted arrogantly, and were condemning the man who was
trying to redeem them. They regarded the world as a useless and purposeless
place where they were not answerable to anyone. They thought that invitation to
Tauhid was false and stuck to the belief that their own deities were actually
the associates of Allah. They were not inclined to believe that the Qur'an was
the Word of the Lord of the worlds. They had a strange erroneous concept of
apostleship on the basis of which they were proposing strange criteria of
judging the Holy Prophet's claim to it. In their estimation one great proof of
Islam's not being based on the truth was that their elders and important chiefs
of the tribes and so called leaders of their nation were not accepting it and
only a few young men, and some poor folks and some slaves had affirmed faith in
it. They thought that Resurrection and life after death and the rewards and
punishments of the Hereafter were fabrications whose occurrence was absolutely
out of the question.
In this Surah each of these misconceptions has been
refuted in a brief but rational way, and the disbelievers have been warned that
if they would reject the invitation of the Qur'an and the Prophethood of the
Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace) by prejudice and stubbornness
instead of trying to understand its truth rationally, they would only be
preparing for their own doom.