Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Medina. Based on the tone of the verses, it can reliably be said to be Medinan. → Introduction
A verse about us: ʿAlī is reported to have said that Sūrah Muḥammad contains a verse about the Prophet's Household and a verse about the Banū Umayyah; Tafsīr al-Qummī has a similar narration from Imam al-Ṣādiq. → Narrations
Verse 4 (As for those who were slain in the way of God, He will not let their works go astray): Ibn Jurayj reports that it was revealed about the Companions killed at the Battle of Uḥud. Al-Mizan: nothing in the verses restricts it to them; the verse is general, as the future tense of He will guide them in the next verse shows. He also rejects the reported abrogations involving this verse and () and (). → Commentary on verse 4 · Narrations
Verse 13: Your town which expelled you is Mecca; the verse strengthens the Prophet's heart and threatens the people of Mecca. → Commentary on verse 13
Verse 26 (We shall obey you in some matters): Commentators differ over who said this: the Jews of Medina to the hypocrites, the Jews of Medina, or the Jews and the hypocrites, to the idolaters, or the hypocrites to the Jews of Medina (). Al-Mizan: the verse speaks of apostates after belief, which excludes the Jews; the speakers were a group of hypocrites, perhaps a group other than those of (). → Commentary on verse 26
Verse 30 (Yet you will recognize them in their tone of speech): Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, Jābir and Ibn Masʿūd report that in the Prophet's time the hypocrites were known by their hatred of ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭālib, and in a narration from ʿAlī, the verse was sent down to confirm his saying that a man is hidden beneath his tongue and appears when he talks. → 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.