Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Mecca, as the context of its verses indicates. Some narrations from Ibn ʿAbbās say that four of its verses are Medinan: the first three, and In Joseph and his brothers there are certainly signs for the seekers (). Al-Mizan: this is contradicted by the fact that all these verses form part of a single, continuous context. → Introduction
The occasion: Al-Mizan's view: the words for the seekers (literally "those who ask") in verse 7 indicate that a group of people had asked the Prophet about the story, and that this led to the revelation of the sūrah. This supports the account that a group of Jews told the idolaters of Mecca to ask the Prophet why the Children of Israel moved to Egypt when Jacob had lived in the Levant, and the sūrah was revealed. → Introduction · Commentary on verse 7
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.