Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Medina, that is, after the Hijrah.
Time: The sūrah concerns the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah and the events around it: the Bedouins who held back, the idolaters' barring of the pilgrimage, and the pledge of allegiance beneath the tree. The most common opinion is that it was revealed in its entirety while the Prophet was returning from Ḥudaybiyyah, still on the way to Medina; some suggest parts came after the capture of Khaybar. → Introduction · Commentary on verse 20
The "clear victory" (verse 1): By the context, the treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah itself, not the later conquest of Mecca or of Khaybar. It opened the way for many to accept Islam in the two years before the conquest of Mecca. → Commentary on verse 1
How it was received: On the way back from Ḥudaybiyyah a Companion said, "This is no victory: we were barred from the House." When the sūrah came down, the Prophet sent for ʿUmar and recited it to him. The narrations give a long account of the journey and the terms of the treaty. → Narrations · Narrations
Verse 2, "your earlier and later sins": Al-Mizan reads dhanb as the "charge" the idolaters held against the Prophet for his call; its forgiveness is the removal of its consequences through the victory. → Commentary on verse 2 · Key Debate
Verses 11–17: About the Bedouin tribes around Medina (Juhaynah, Muzaynah, Ghifār, Ashjaʿ, Aslam and Diʾl, by one report) who did not answer the Prophet's call to go with him to Ḥudaybiyyah. Verse 15 foretells the expedition to Khaybar, reserved for those who had been at Ḥudaybiyyah. → Commentary
Verse 18, the pledge beneath the tree: The narrations put the faithful at fourteen hundred (others say thirteen or eighteen hundred), and differ over whether the pledge was not to flee or to fight to the death. → Narrations
Verses 19–21: The victory near at hand and abundant spoils are those of Khaybar, which the Prophet attacked some twenty nights after returning from Ḥudaybiyyah. → Commentary on verse 19
Verse 27, the Prophet's vision: The Companions understood his vision of entering the Sacred Mosque to mean that year; the verse affirms the vision was true but was deferred a year, the treaty making a peaceful entry possible. → Commentary on verse 27
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.