Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Mecca. Al-Mizan notes that the sūrah could have been revealed in either Mecca or Medina, but some accounts of its occasion suggest Mecca. → Introduction
The occasion: A narration says the Jews asked the Prophet, "Tell us the nisbah (lineage) of your Lord"; he waited three days without answering, and then this sūrah was revealed. Al-Mizan: the narrations differ over who asked: ʿAbd-Allāh b. Ṣūriyā the Jew; ʿAbd-Allāh b. Salām, who asked in Mecca and became a Muslim but hid his faith; some Jews; or the polytheists of Mecca. In any case, God's nisbah means a description of His qualities. → Narrations
A summary prepared from Tafsīr al-Mīzān: where and when the sūrah was revealed, and the occasions reported for its verses, with the ʿAllāmah's view of them. Each point links to the full discussion.