Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Medina, like the sūrah before it, on the evidence of the narrations on the occasion of its revelation; the narrations indicate that the two sūrahs were revealed together. → Introduction
The occasion: A narration says that a Jewish man cast a spell on the Prophet which made him ill, and Gabriel came and revealed Sūrahs 113 and 114 (al-muʿawwidhatān), telling him where the knot of the spell was hidden; ʿAlī untied its knots while reciting them, until the Prophet rose as if freed from a bond. Al-Mizan: the same is found in many Sunni narrations, with slight differences. To the objection that the Prophet was protected from magic (), the ʿAllāmah answers that bewitched there means possessed, a magic that causes insanity; there is no evidence that he was immune from harm by magic to his bodily health. → Narrations on Sūrah 113 · 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.