Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Mecca, as the context of its verses shows. It has been suggested that one or two verses, beginning with verse 38, could be Medinan, but there is no textual indication of this. → Introduction
Verse 2: Tafsīr al-Qummī says So the faithless say, "This is an odd thing…" was revealed about Ubayy b. Khalaf, who crushed a bone before Abū Jahl and asked the Prophet whether he claimed it would live again. → Narrations
Verse 38: Abū Mujliz reports that the Jews claimed God created the heavens and the earth in six days and then rested on the Sabbath, and that any fatigue did not touch Us was revealed in reply; the same is narrated from al-Ḍaḥḥāk and Qatādah. Al-Mizan: some say on this basis that the verse is Medinan, but refuting a belief of the Jews does not make a verse Medinan, since many Meccan verses, as in Sūrah al-Aʿrāf, speak about the Jews. → 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.