Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Mostly Mecca, with some Medinan verses. Al-Mizan's view: the opening forty verses seem to have been revealed in the last days of the Prophet's stay in Mecca, on the eve of the Emigration. Weighing all aspects, the passages that are Medinan by their context are verse 41 (Those who migrate for the sake of Allah after they have been wronged) and the verses after it, verse 106 (Whoever renounces faith in Allah after affirming his faith…) with a few verses after it, and verses 126–128; the rest seem more likely Meccan. This may not conform to some narrations, but the context is more deserving to be followed. → Introduction
The reports on place: Majmaʿ al-bayān reports from al-Ḥasan and Qatādah that verses 1–40 are Meccan and the rest Medinan; others, from Ibn ʿAbbās, ʿAṭāʾ and al-Shaʿbī, that all is Meccan except the last three verses, revealed between Mecca and Medina when the Prophet returned from Uḥud; and one report from Ibn ʿAbbās makes only verses 95–96 Medinan. Al-Mizan: the context and style of the verses contradict all of these narrations. → Narrations
Verse 1: Ibn ʿAbbās reports that when Allah's edict is coming! was revealed the Companions were alarmed, until so do not seek to hasten it came down; Al-Mizan: this report is not free of problems, since do not seek to hasten it is addressed to the idolaters, not the believers, so it would not make sense for the Companions to be calmed by it. Ibn Jurayj reports that some hypocrites then mocked the delay of the punishment; Al-Mizan: this suggests there were hypocrites among the Muslims even in Mecca before the Emigration. → Narrations
Verse 41: The believers made two migrations from Mecca, to Abyssinia and then to Medina; Al-Mizan: in its context this verse fits the migration to Medina more closely. → Commentary on verse 41
Verse 90: ʿUthmān b. Abī al-ʿĀṣ reports that the Prophet said Gabriel told him to place this verse at this point in the sūrah. ʿUthmān b. Maẓʿūn reports that while he was sitting with the Prophet, the Prophet told him that he had just seen Gabriel, who brought him this verse, and that it was then that Islam settled in his heart. → Narrations
Verse 103 (It is only a human that instructs him): Narrations name the man the Quraysh accused of teaching the Prophet as Abū Fakīhah, ʿAbdah b. al-Ḥaḍramī, Muqīṣ, Abū Bashīr or Balʿām. Al-Mizan: what is certain from them is that he was a Roman, a servant of the Banū al-Ḥaḍramī living in Mecca, a Christian versed in the scriptures. A report from al-Ḍaḥḥāk naming Salmān the Persian is inconsistent with the verse being Meccan. → Narrations
Verse 106: Many narrations say it was revealed about ʿAmmār b. Yāsir, whom the polytheists of Mecca tortured until he disavowed the Prophet and praised their gods while his heart remained firm in faith; his parents Yāsir and Sumayyah were killed, and the Prophet told him, "If they return to you, do the same." Ibn ʿAbbās reports that verse 110 (to those who migrated after they were persecuted) was revealed about the Companions who were persecuted. → Narrations
Verse 126: Imam al-Ṣādiq and Ibn ʿAbbās report that when the Prophet saw how Ḥamzah b. ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib had been mutilated, he vowed to mutilate seventy men of Quraysh if he overcame them; then And if you retaliate, retaliate with the like of what you have been made to suffer was revealed, and he said, "I will be patient," and forbade mutilation. → 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.