Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Commonly held to be Meccan; it is said that the exegetes agree it was revealed in Mecca, and its theme resembles the Meccan sūrahs. Al-Mizan's view: there is clear evidence against this, and a consensus does not stand against clear evidence. If a known right (verse 24) is the zakāt, legislated in Medina, then by their unity of context verses 19–35, and verses 36–44 which follow from them, are Medinan too; and the closing verses fit the hypocrites around the Prophet in Medina. Nor can one rely on the narration from Ibn ʿAbbās that it was revealed after Sūrah al-Ḥāqqah. (Imam al-Ṣādiq is reported to explain a known right as a fixed share one sets for oneself, not the obligatory zakāt.) → Introduction
Verse 1 (A demander asked for a punishment inevitable): Exegetes report that the sūrah was revealed in response to the words O Allah! If this be the truth… rain down upon us stones from the sky (), whose context, the ʿAllāmah notes, is clearly Medinan. A narration from Imam al-Ṣādiq says that after the Prophet declared, "For whomever I am a master, ʿAlī is his master," Nuʿmān b. Ḥārith al-Fahrī asked whether this was from God, and on hearing that it was, said these words; a stone struck his head and killed him, and the verse was revealed. Ibn ʿAbbās and al-Suddī name al-Naḍr b. al-Ḥārith, al-Suddī saying it was revealed in Mecca and his punishment came at Badr; other reports name al-Ḥārith b. ʿAlqamah of ʿAbd al-Dār, or Abū Jahl on the day of Badr.
Al-Mizan: the first hadith comes through more than one chain in Shia sources; some rejected it as fabricated because the sūrah is Meccan, but that premise has been shown to be problematic. The accounts naming Abū Jahl on the day of Badr mean the sūrah must have been revealed in Medina. What is certain is that it was revealed after . → Commentary on verse 1 · Narrations
Verses 36–38: Some exegetes say these verses were revealed when polytheists gathered in groups around the Prophet as he prayed by the Kaʿbah, mocking that they would enter paradise before the believers. Al-Mizan: this does not fit the theme and tone of the verses, since people who did not believe in the hereafter would not hope for paradise; those meant are hypocrites in Medina who believed outwardly and then disbelieved. → Commentary on verse 38
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.