Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Al-Mizan does not name the place in so many words. The introduction places the sūrah at a time when Islam had begun to spread in Arabia but had not yet established a firm foothold outside Medina: it mentions the Battle of Uḥud and the imprecation with the Christians of Najrān, warns against the Jews, and exhorts the believers against the polytheists. → Introduction
Time: After the Battle of Badr, or even after Uḥud. Al-Mizan's view: in all likelihood the whole sūrah was revealed together, since its 200 verses are well connected and follow one plan. → Introduction · Commentary on verse 13
Verses 1–80 or so, the delegation of Najrān: Al-Kalbī, Muḥammad b. Isḥāq and al-Rabīʿ b. Anas report that some eighty verses from the beginning of the sūrah were revealed about the delegation of Christians from Najrān who came to the Prophet in Medina and disputed with him about Jesus. Al-Mizan: that only the first eighty-odd verses concern them appears to be the narrators' own opinion; the context shows that the whole sūrah was revealed together. → Narrations
When the delegation came: Historians date the Najrān delegation to the ninth or tenth year after the Hijrah. Al-Mizan's view: verse 64 was quoted in the Prophet's letters to Heraclius and other rulers, written in the sixth year; since the verses of the sūrah form one context, they were revealed long before the ninth year, and the delegation must have come in the sixth year or earlier. He doubts a report in al-Bayhaqī that the Prophet wrote to Najrān before Sūrah al-Naml was revealed, since that sūrah is Meccan. → Narrations
Verses 12–13: Ibn Isḥāq reports that they were revealed when the Prophet, back from Badr, warned the Jews in the market of Qaynuqāʿ and they boasted that they would not be beaten like Quraysh. Al-Mizan: this does not quite fit the context; the verses were more likely revealed after Uḥud. → Narrations
Verse 28: Ibn ʿAbbās reports that it was revealed when some of the Anṣār kept company with Jews trying to turn them from their religion. Al-Mizan: the report applies the verse to that story; the verse speaks of unbelievers in general. → Narrations
Verses 59–61, the imprecation (mubāhalah): Narrations say verse 59 was revealed when the bishops of Najrān asked the Prophet how Jesus could have no father, and that he then called them to the imprecation and came out with ʿAlī, Fāṭimah, al-Ḥasan and al-Ḥusayn; the Christians declined and agreed to pay a yearly tribute. Al-Mizan: the Shia narrations unanimously say he brought these four only, and the event is narrated in countless Sunni sources too, among them Muslim and al-Tirmidhī; he rejects an exegete's claim that the reports were spread by the Shia. → Commentary · Narrations · Narrations on verse 59
Verse 72: Al-Mizan's view: the verse supports the narrations from the Ahl al-Bayt that the Jews said this when the qiblah was changed: the Prophet had prayed the dawn prayer towards Jerusalem and turned to the Kaʿbah at the noon prayer. → Commentary on verse 72 · Narrations
Verses 77 and 79–80: Sunni reports connect verse 77 with land disputes involving Imraʾ al-Qays (or al-Ashʿath b. Qays) and others, and Ibn ʿAbbās connects verses 79–80 with a question from Abū Rāfiʿ al-Quraẓī, whether the Prophet wanted to be worshipped as Jesus was. Al-Mizan: the reports on verse 77 conflict and are at most an application of the verse; the reported occasions of verses 79–80 are all based on inference, though several causes may combine for one verse. → Narrations · Narrations
Verses 121–175, the Battle of Uḥud: These verses were revealed after Uḥud, which narrations date to Saturday, 15 Shawwāl, in the third year after the Hijrah. Al-Mizan: traditions on the occasions of most of these verses contradict one another so much, colored by sectarian leanings, that it is difficult to trust all of them. He rejects the claim that verse 121 concerns Badr or the Confederates; reads the reports that verse 161 (it is not for a prophet to defraud) came down over a red velvet said to have been taken from the booty at Badr as pointing to that event, since the context shows it was revealed after Uḥud; and takes the names in reports on verse 155, ʿUthmān and others who fled, as examples of all who fled. → Commentary on verse 121 · Narrations · Narrations
Verses 172–175: Reports connect them with the march to Ḥamrāʾ al-Asad after Uḥud, or with the expedition of the Lesser Badr. Al-Mizan: the wording of verse 173 supports the report that they concern the pursuit after Uḥud, not the Lesser Badr. More generally, what scholars write on occasions of revelation is all or mostly personal opinion: they describe an event, set beside it a verse that matches it, and call it the cause, often splitting up a single passage. → Commentary on verse 173 · Narrations
Verses 195–199: Sunni reports connect verse 195 with Umm Salamah's question about women's emigration, and with the Emigrants; Shia reports connect it with ʿAlī's emigration with the Fāṭimahs; others connect verse 199 with the Negus. Al-Mizan: these reports fit the verses to events; they do not give the actual reason of revelation. → 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.