Period of Revelation
The subject matter and the style show that this Sura too was revealed in the earliest period at Makkah at a stage when opposition to the Holy Prophet (upon whom be Allah's peace) had grown very strong and intense.
Theme and Subject Matter
Its theme is to distinguish the good from the evil and to warn the people
who were refusing to understand this distinction and insisting on following the evil way
of the evil end. In view of the subject matter this Sura consists of two parts. The first part conists of vv. 1-10
and the second of vv. 11-15. The first part deals with three things: (1) That just as the sun and the moon
the day and the night
the earth and the sky
are different from each other and contradictory in their effects and results
so are the good and the evil different front each other and contradictory in their effects and results; they are neither alike in their outward appearance nor can they be alike in their results.(2) That Allah after giving the human self powers of the body
sense and mind has not left it uninformed in the world
but has instilled into his unconscious by means of a natural inspiration the distinction between good and evil
right and wrong
and the sense of the good to be good and of the evil to be evil.(3) That the future of man depends on how by using the powers of discrimination
will and judgement that Allah has endowed him with
he develops the good and suppresses the evil tendencies of the self. If he develops the good inclination and frees his self of the evil inclinations
he will attain to eternal success
and if
on the contrary
he suppresses the good and promotes the evil
he will meet with disappointment and failure. In the second part citing the historical precedent of the people of Thamud the significance of Apostleship has been brought out. A Messenger is raised in the world
because the inspirational knowledge of good and evil that Allah has placed in human nature
is by itself not enough for the guidance of man
but on account of his failure to understand it fully man has been proposing wrong criteria and theories of good and evil and thus going astray. That is why Allah sent down clear and definite Revelation to the Prophets (peace be upon them) to augment man's natural inspiration so that they may expound to the people as to what is good and what is evil. Likewise
the Prophet Salih (peace be upon him) was sent to the people of Thamud
but the people overwhelmed by the evil of their self
had become so rebellious that they rejected him. And when he presented before them the miracle of the she camel
as demanded by themselves
the most wretched one of them
in spite of his warning
hamstrung it
in accordance with the will and desire of the people. Consequently
the entire tribe was overtaken by a disaster. While narrating this story of the Thamud nowhere in the Sura has it been said "O people of Quraish
if you rejected your Prophet
Muhammad (upon whom be Allah's peace and blessings)
as the Thamud had rejected theirs
you too would meet with the same fate as they met."The conditions at that time in Makkah were similar to those that had been created by the wicked among the people of Thamud against the Prophet Salih (peace be upon him). Therefore
the narration of this story in those conditions was by itself enough to suggest to the people of Makkah how precisely this historical precedent applied to them.