Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Mecca, the whole sūrah, except for two verses over which commentators disagree: verse 8 (Do they say, "He has fabricated it…?") and verse 10 (Say, "Tell me, if it is from God…"). → Introduction
Verse 8: A narration from Imam al-Riḍā, through his forefathers from al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī, says that when the Anṣār and the Emigrants offered the Prophet their wealth, Say: "I do not ask you any reward for it except love of relatives" () was revealed; the hypocrites said he had made this up, and verse 8 was revealed in answer, followed by () when they repented. → Narrations
Verse 9 (nor do I know what will be done with me, or with you): Ibn ʿAbbās is reported to have said it was abrogated by the verse in Sūrah al-Fatḥ, after which a believer asked what would be done with them, and () and () were revealed. Al-Mizan's view: the narration has several problems: verse 9 does not deny the knowledge the Prophet receives by revelation, so it needs no abrogation; the sin in al-Fatḥ is not disobedience; and Sūrah al-Aḥzāb was revealed some time before Sūrah al-Fatḥ, so the order the narration gives does not hold. → Narrations
Verse 10 (a witness from the Children of Israel has testified to its like and believed): Some accounts say the witness was ʿAbd Allāh b. Salām, a Jewish scholar of Medina, which would make the verse Medinan; ʿAwf b. Mālik al-Ashjaʿī reports it was revealed after Ibn Salām testified to the Prophet before the Jews in their temple and they called him a liar. Other narrations name Ibn Yāmīn. Al-Mizan's view: there is no evidence that the verse is Meccan, and the account of Ibn Salām suggests it was revealed in Medina; he rejects the reading that the witness was Moses. But he finds problems in these narrations: the verse argues with the idolaters, so it makes no sense that it is also addressed to the Israelites, and ʿAwf's report counts the Evangel among the Jews' books. → Commentary on verse 10 · Narrations
Verse 15: Narrations apply the thirty months of gestation and weaning to al-Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī, who was born after six months of pregnancy. Al-Mizan: this is an application (jarī). → Narrations
Verse 17 (As for him who says to his parents, "Fie on you!…"): A narration says that Marwān, when ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī Bakr opposed the appointment of Yazīd as successor, said the verse was about him; ʿĀʾishah answered that Marwān lied and that it was revealed about someone else. Ibn ʿAbbās is reported to have said it was one of Abū Bakr's sons. Al-Mizan notes that this is also narrated from Qatādah and al-Sudayy, and that the story of Marwān and ʿĀʾishah's rebuke is famous. → Narrations
Verses 29–32, the jinn: Tafsīr al-Qummī says the occasion was the Prophet's return to Mecca from the market of ʿUkāẓ with Zayd b. Ḥārithah, where no one had answered his call; reciting the Qur'an at night in the Valley of the Jinn, he was heard by a party of jinn, who then came to him and believed, and Sūrah al-Jinn was revealed. Al-Mizan: the many narrations of this story differ greatly in detail, and there is no way to tell which is most accurate from the Qur'an or from reliable indicators. → 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.