Period of Revelation
According to authentic Traditions
it was sent down after the affirmation of the Faith by Hadrat Hamzah and before the affirmation of the Faith by Hadrat Umar. Muhammad bin Ishaq
the earliest biographer of the Holy Prophet
has related on the authority of Muhammad bin Ka'b al-Qurzi
the famous follower of the Companions
that one day some of the Quraishchiefs were sitting in their assembly in the Masjid al-Haram
while in another corner of the Mosque there was the Holy Prophet sitting by himself. This was the time when Hadrat Hamzah had already embraced Islam and the people of the Quraishwere feeling upset at the growing numbers of the Muslims. On this occasion
Utbah bin Rabi'ah (the father-in-law of Abu Sufyan) said to the Quraishchiefs: "Gentlemen
if you like I would go and speak to Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings) and put before him some proposals; maybe that he accepts one of them
to which we may also agree
and so he stops opposing us." They all agreed to this
and Utbah went and sat by the Holy Prophet. When the Holy Prophet turned to him
he said: "Nephew
you know the high status that you enjoy in the community by virtue of your ancestry and family relations
but you have put your people to great trouble: you have created divisions among them and you consider them to be fools: you talk ill of their religion and gods
and say things as though all our forefathers were pagans. Now listen to me and I shall make some suggestions. Consider them well: maybe that you accept one of them." The Holy Prophet said: "Abul Walid
say what you want to say and I shall listen to you." He said
Nephew
if by what you are doing
you want wealth
we will give you enough of it so that you will be the richest man among us; if you want to became an important man
we will make you our chief and will never decide a matter without you; if you want to be a king
we will accept you as our king; and if you are visited by a jinn
whom you cannot get rid of by your own power
we will arrange the best physicians and have you treated at our own expense.
'Utbah went on speaking in this strain and the Holy Prophet went on listening to him quietly. Then he said
Have you said
O Abul Walid
what you had to say?
He replied that he had. The Holy Prophet said: "Well
now listen to me."Then pronouncing Bismilah ir Rehman-ir-Raihm he began to recite this very Sura
and Utbah kept on listening to it
putting his hands behind his back and leaning on them as he listened. Coming to the verse of prostration (v. 38) the Holy Prophet prostrated himself; then raising his head
said
This was my reply
O Abul Walid
now you may act as you please.
then Utbah arose and walked back towards the chiefs
the people saw him from afar
and said: "By God! Utbab's face is changed. He does not look the same man that he was when he went from here." Then
when he came back and sat down
the people asked
What have you heard?
He replied
By God! I have heard something the like of which I had never heard before. By God
it's neither poetry
nor sorcery
nor magic. O chiefs of the Quraish
listen to what I say and leave this man to himself. I think what he recites is going to have its effect. If the other Arabs overcome him
you will be saved from raising your band against your brother
and the others will deal with him. But if he overcame Arabia
his sovereignty would be your sovereignty and his honour your honour.
Hear- ing this the chiefs spoke out:"You too
O father of Walid
have been bewitched by his tongue."Utbah replied
I have given you my opinion; now you may act as you please.
(Ibn Hisham
vol. I
pp. 313-314). This story has been narrated by several other tradi- tionists also on the authority of Hadrat Jabir bin Abdullah in different ways
with a little variation in wording. In some traditions it has also been related that when during the recitation the Holy Prophet had come to verse 13
viz."If they turn away
say to them: I warn you of
Theme and Subjet Matter
In the discourse that Allah sent down in response to what Utbah said
no attention whatever was paid to the absurd proposals that he had made to the Holy Prophet. For what he had said was
in fact
an attack on the Holy Prophet's intention and his intellect. His assumption was that as there was no possibility of his being a Prophet and the Quran being Allah's Revelation
inevitably the motive of his invitation must either be the desire to obtain wealth and political power
or
God forbid
he had lodt his reason. In the first case
he wanted to make a bargain with the Holy Prophet; in the seconcd
he was insulting him when he said that the Quraishchiefs would have been cured of his madness at their own expense. Obviously
when the opponents come down to such absurd things
no gentleman would like to answer them
but would ignore them and say what he himself had to say. Therefore
ignoring what Utbah said
this Sura makes antagonism its subject of discussion
which the unbelieving Quraishwere showing stubbornly and wickedly in order to defeat the message of the Qur'an. They would say to tho Holy Prophet
You may try however hard you try: we would not listen to you. We have put coverings on our hearts and we have closed our ears. There is a wall between you and us
which would never let us meet together.
They had given a clear notice to the Holy Prophet to the effect: "You may continue your mission of inviting the people to yourself
but we would go on opposing you as hard as we can to frustrate your mission." For this object they had devised the following plan: Whenever the Holy Prophet or a follower of his would try to recite the Qur'an before the people
they would at once raise such a hue and cry that no one could bear anything. They were desperately trying to misconstrue the verses of the Qur'an and spread every kind of misunderstanding among the people. They misconstrued everything and found fault even with the straightforward things. They would isolate words and sentences from their right context
from here and there
and would add their own words in order to put new meanings on them so as to mislead the people about the Quran and the Messenger who presented it. They would raise strange objections a specimen of which has been presented in this Sura. They said
If an Arab presents a discourse in Arabic
what could be the miracle in it?Arabic is his mother tongue. Anyone could compose anything that he pleased in his mother tongue and then make the claim that he had received it from God. It would be a miracle if the person would suddenly arise and make an eloquent speech in a foreign tongue which he did not know. Then only could one say that the discourse was not of his own composition but a revelation from God.
Here is a resume of what has been said in answer to this deaf and blind opposition: (1)The Qur'an is most certainly the Word of God
which He has sent down in Arabic. The ignorant people do not find any light of knowledge in the truths that have been presented in it plainly and clearly
but the people of understanding are seeing this light as well as benefiting by it. It is surely Allah's mercy that He has sent down this Word for the guidance of man. If a person regarded it as an afliction
it would be his own misfortune. Good news is for those who benefit by it and warning for those who turn away from it. (2) If you have put coverings on your hearts and have made yourselves deaf
it is none of the Prophet's job to make the one hear who does not want to hear
and the one who does not want to understand understand forcibly. He is a man like you; he can make only those to hear and understand
who are inclined to hear and understand. (3) Whether you close down your eyes and ears and put coverings on your hearts
the fact
however
is that your God is only One God
and you are not the servant of any one else. Your stubbornness cannot change this reality in any way. If you accept this truth and correct your behaviour