Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Medina. It is the first sūrah revealed in Medina, before the Battle of Badr. → Commentary on verse 6
Order: The sūrah was revealed piecemeal, so it has no single theme. Its opening verses came down in the first year of the Hijrah, the verses on the qiblah in the second year, and the verse on al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah (verse 158) in the year the Muslims performed the pilgrimage; the verses were revealed in various contexts, not in one. Verse 6 (alike is it to them whether you warn them or do not warn them) probably refers to the Meccan disbelievers of Quraysh, whom God destroyed at Badr and in other battles. → Introduction · Commentary on verse 6 · Narrations on verse 158
Verses 142–150, the change of qiblah: Imam al-Ṣādiq is reported to have said that the Prophet prayed toward Bayt al-Maqdis for thirteen years in Mecca and seven months in Medina; the Jews taunted him that he followed their qiblah, and he waited for God's command. During the noon prayer in the mosque of Banū Sālim, after two rakʿahs, Gabriel turned him toward the Kaʿbah and brought verse 144. Another report says nineteen months in Medina. Al-Mizan: the reports differ on the date; most put it in Rajab of the second year of the Hijrah, the seventeenth month after the emigration, and this looks more correct. The verses form one connected passage, so the claims that they are out of sequence or abrogate one another are to be disregarded. → Introduction · Narrations
Verse 158: Imam al-Ṣādiq says it came down at the ʿumrah of Qaḍāʾ, when the idols had been put back on al-Ṣafā and al-Marwah before one of the Companions had made his round; in another narration from him, the Muslims thought the walk between them was an invention of the polytheists. Al-Shaʿbī names the idols Asāf and Nāʾilah. Al-Mizan: the two narrations from the Imam do not contradict each other; reports from both sects place the verse in the year the Muslims performed the pilgrimage, so it is unconnected with the qiblah verses before it. → Narrations
Verse 187: A narration from Imam al-Ṣādiq, with an explanatory note by its narrator, says that eating after sleeping on a night of Ramaḍān, and intercourse throughout Ramaḍān, were forbidden. Khawwāt b. Jubayr al-Anṣārī fell asleep before breaking his fast and fainted the next day at the Trench, and some young men had secretly gone in to their wives at night; so the verse was revealed. Sunni reports name Qays b. Ṣarmah, and many name ʿUmar among those who broke the rule. Al-Mizan: the context of the verse supports the first narration, that intercourse had been forbidden by night and day. → Narrations
Verses 190–195: Al-Mizan's view: their context shows they were revealed together, giving permission, for the first time, to fight the polytheists of Mecca who were fighting the believers; it is wrong to say that some abrogate others or that they came down on separate occasions. Ibn ʿAbbās reports that verse 190 was revealed when the Muslims, preparing for the ʿumrah agreed at Ḥudaybiyah, feared that Quraysh would break the agreement and fight them in the sacred month. → Introduction · Narrations
Verses 204–207: Al-Suddī reports that verses 204–206 were revealed about al-Akhnas b. Sharīq al-Thaqafī; Ibn ʿAbbās says they concern the hypocrites (Al-Mizan: this does not fit the apparent meaning of the verse), and some narrations from the Imams say their enemies. Verse 207 (among men is he who sells his soul): Al-Mizan: there are innumerable Shia and Sunni traditions that it was revealed about ʿAlī, who slept in the Prophet's bed on the night of the Hijrah. Reports that it was about Ṣuhayb and Abū Dharr, who bought their freedom with their wealth, do not agree with the verse, which says sells, not "buys". → Narrations
Verses 217–218: Numerous Sunni reports say that verse 217 was revealed when a party under ʿAbd-Allāh b. Jaḥsh, sent to Nakhlah, killed ʿAmr al-Ḥaḍramī and took captives and booty in a sacred month, and the polytheists accused the Prophet of desecrating it. Other traditions say verse 218 was revealed about the same party. Al-Mizan: the traditions show that they ask you refers to the Muslims, not the polytheists. → Narrations
Verse 256: Ibn ʿAbbās reports that women of the Anṣār whose infants died would vow to make a surviving child a Jew, and when Banū al-Naḍīr were banished, children of the Anṣār were among them; Mujāhid reports that foster sons of Banū al-Naḍīr from the Aws were compelled into Islam; another report names a man of the Anṣār, al-Ḥuṣayn, who wanted to compel his two Christian sons. Al-Mizan: the first two reports do not conflict; both may be correct. → Narrations
Verse 274: Ibn ʿAbbās and many exegetes report that those who spend their wealth by night and by day, secretly and openly was revealed about ʿAlī, who had four dirhams and gave one by night, one by day, one secretly and one openly. Al-Mizan quotes al-Ālūsī and al-Suyūṭī against the claim that it was revealed about Abū Bakr, and judges that the reports about those who spent on horses for jihād, and about ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAwf and ʿUthmān, do not fit the wording of the verse. → Narrations
Verses 275–281, interest: Al-Mizan's view: these verses do not first forbid interest; they reinforce a prohibition already condemned in Mecca () and most probably laid down in , so they were revealed after the verse of Sūrah Āl ʿImrān. Shia and Sunni traditions show verse 278 was revealed about interest that Banū al-Mughīrah claimed from Thaqīf; reports name al-ʿAbbās and Khālid b. al-Walīd. Reports that the law of interest came down in the Prophet's last days, before he could explain it, are not worthy of attention. Several chains say verse 281 was the last verse revealed. → Introduction · Narrations
Verses 284–286: Abū Hurayrah reports that the Companions were troubled when verse 284 was revealed, that verse 285 came down when they submitted, and that verse 286 then abrogated it. Al-Mizan: the traditions of abrogation have several defects; God does not impose a duty beyond one's ability, and verse 286 cannot abrogate any rule. → 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.