Circumstances of Revelation
Place: Mecca, beyond doubt.
Verses 1–10: Sunni traditions, and some Shia narrations, say these verses were revealed when the Prophet frowned and turned away from the blind ʿAbd-Allāh b. Umm Maktūm, who interrupted his conversation with leaders of Quraysh. Other narrations, from Imam al-Ṣādiq, say it was a man of the Umayyads, sitting with the Prophet, who frowned at Ibn Umm Maktūm and turned away, and God rebuked him.
Al-Mizan's view: nothing in the verses says they are about the Prophet, and there are signs that they are about someone else. Frowning at a believer who came seeking guidance, and favoring the wealthy over him, does not fit the Prophet's character, which God praised as great () in a sūrah revealed before this one; nor does it fit the early command to lower your wing to the believers (; ). → Introduction · Narrations · Key Debate
Verse 17: ʿIkrimah reports that Perish man! How ungrateful is he! was revealed about ʿUtbah b. Abī Lahab, who rejected the Lord of the star when it sets. → Narrations
Verses 17–42: These continue the theme and context of the opening verses, although some exegetes hold that they were revealed on another occasion. → Commentary
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.