Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Mecca, as the tone and context of the verses attest. → Introduction
Verse 3, the blessed night: The verse says the Book was sent down on a blessed night, the Night of Ordainment (laylat al-qadr) in Ramaḍān. Al-Mizan's view: this does not contradict the gradual revelation of the Qur'an on particular occasions over the twenty-three years of the Prophet's mission: it was sent down twice, once in summary form (bi al-ijmāl) on that night, and once fully elaborated and gradually. Al-Mizan rejects the view that the verse only means that the gradual revelation began on that night, since it contradicts the apparent meaning of the verses. → Commentary on verse 3
Verses 10–16, the smoke: Some commentators say the smoke was a famine that struck the people of Mecca after the Prophet invoked God against them; starving, they saw something like smoke between them and the sky, promised to believe if it was lifted, and broke their promise when it was. On this reading, the day We shall strike with the most terrible striking (verse 16) is the Battle of Badr. Others, with narrations from ʿAlī, Ibn ʿAbbās and others, say it is a sign of the Hour that has not yet come, and the strike is on the Day of Resurrection. Al-Mizan: perhaps the second reading is given more weight by God's describing His strike as the most terrible. → Commentary on verse 10 · Commentary on verse 16 · Narrations
Verses 43–46: Tafsīr al-Qummī says the verses on the tree of Zaqqūm were revealed about Abū Jahl b. Hishām. Al-Mizan: narrations from Sunni sources also affirm this. → 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.