Circumstances of Revelation
Place and time: Al-Mizan does not name the place as such. The historians are unanimously agreed that the opening verses were revealed in the year 9 AH; Imam al-Ṣādiq said they came after the Prophet returned from the expedition to Tabūk, in the ninth year. Of verse 80, Al-Mizan says it was revealed towards the end of the Prophet's mission, preceded by all the Meccan and most of the Medinan chapters and verses. → Commentary on verse 2 · Narrations · Narrations on verse 80
Is it a separate sūrah? The Companions, the Successors and the exegetes differed over whether it begins a new sūrah or continues Sūrah al-Anfāl; Al-Mizan: the wording of the Imams' sayings suggests they held it to be a continuation of al-Anfāl. Its verses do not share a single purpose; most concern fighting the disbelievers and dealing with the hypocrites. → Introduction
Verses 1–10, the repudiation: Shia and Sunni narrations agree that the Prophet first sent Abū Bakr to proclaim these verses to the pilgrims, then Gabriel told him, "No one can deliver it on your behalf except you or a man from yourself," and he sent ʿAlī, who took them from Abū Bakr and proclaimed them to the pilgrims (on the Day of Sacrifice, in Imam al-Bāqir's account), together with the bans on circumambulating naked and on idolaters performing the pilgrimage after that year, and the terms for existing treaties. Al-Mizan's view: the command is general, covering any divine message, not only the cancelling of a treaty; the ʿAllāmah rejects the claim (Ibn Kathīr and others) that the Prophet was only following an Arab custom that a treaty could be revoked only by the one who made it or a man of his own household. → Narrations · Key Debate
Verses 13–16: A report from Marwān b. al-Ḥakam and al-Masrūr b. Makhramah describes the Quraysh's breach of the Treaty of Ḥudaybiyyah, when they supported the Banū Bakr against the Prophet's allies the Khuzāʿah, and accounts from Mujāhid and ʿIkrimah make this the occasion of these verses, which would place them before the conquest of Mecca. Al-Mizan: al-Masrūr's report does not say the verses were revealed about this, Mujāhid's and ʿIkrimah's account has an incomplete chain, and the context does not support a date before the conquest: the verses are clearly connected to the opening of the sūrah. → Narrations
Verse 19: Narrations say it was revealed when ʿAbbās boasted of giving water to the pilgrims and Shaybah of maintaining the Holy Mosque, and ʿAlī answered that he had believed and striven in God's way. Al-Mizan: the verse compares deeds done without faith with faith and striving, which supports these reports; the report of al-Nuʿmān b. Bashīr (a dispute among Muslims at the Prophet's pulpit), preferred in Tafsīr al-Manār, is the furthest from the verse. → Commentary on verse 19 · Narrations · Key Debate
Verses 25–27: They refer to the Battle of Ḥunayn against the Hawāzin and Thaqīf, which followed the conquest of Mecca. → Introduction · Narrations
Verses 38–49, the expedition to Tabūk: Al-Mizan: the rebuke of those who hung back fits Tabūk, the only campaign the Prophet led in person over a great distance in which the hypocrites stayed behind. Mujāhid reports that verse 29 also came when the Muslims were ordered to march to Tabūk. Tafsīr al-Qummī reports that verse 49 (Give me leave, and do not put me to temptation) was revealed about al-Jadd b. Qays. Verse 40 recalls the cave of the Emigration, on Mount Thawr; Al-Mizan: the composure was sent down upon the Prophet, and the report that the verse praises Abū Bakr and censures everyone else raises serious misgivings. → Commentary on verse 42 · Narrations · Narrations on verse 29 · Key Debate
Verses 64–74: Reports connect them with twelve hypocrites who plotted to ambush the Prophet at ʿAqabah on his return from Tabūk, and with men who mocked God and His Messenger on that journey, among them Makhshī b. Ḥamīr. Al-Mizan: the verses are general, and even if the story of Makhshī is authentic, it does not show that they were revealed as described. → Narrations
Verses 75–78: Narrations say they were revealed about Thaʿlabah b. Ḥāṭib of the Anṣār, who promised to give charity if God made him rich and broke his promise when He did; Al-Mizan: the different versions support one another. → Narrations
Verses 80 and 84, ʿAbd Allāh b. Ubayy: Sunni reports, and some Shia reports with incomplete chains, say the Prophet prayed over Ibn Ubayy and sought forgiveness for him, saying he had been given the choice, until never pray over any of them when he dies was revealed. Al-Mizan's view: these narrations are probably fabrications and should be set aside. They contradict one another and the verses, which declare such pleading futile; it does not befit the Prophet to misunderstand them so; the verses belong to the Tabūk expedition and its aftermath, while Ibn Ubayy died a year later; and Sūrah al-Munāfiqūn (), which some of the reports tie to his death, was revealed in his lifetime. → Narrations on verse 80 · Narrations on verse 84
Verses 100–106: Ibn ʿAbbās reports that the early vanguard (verse 100) was revealed about ʿAlī. Imam al-Bāqir said verse 102 was revealed about Abū Lubābah alone, in connection with the Banū Qurayẓah. Reports from ʿIkrimah, Mujāhid and Qatādah identify others awaiting God's edict (verse 106) as the three who stayed behind from Tabūk; Al-Mizan: their story does not match the verse. → Narrations · Key Debate
Verses 107–110, the mosque of harm (ḍirār): Hypocrites of the Banū Ghanim b. ʿAwf built a mosque beside the mosque of Qubāʾ and asked the Prophet, as he prepared for Tabūk, to pray in it; on his way back from Tabūk the verses came down, and he sent men to burn and demolish it. Al-Mizan: the story is narrated through numerous Sunni chains that agree closely, differing only in the names of the men sent. → Narrations
Verse 113: Sunni reports say it was revealed after the Prophet, at Abū Ṭālib's deathbed, said he would plead for his forgiveness. Al-Mizan: the traditions from the Imams of the Ahl al-Bayt state unequivocally that Abū Ṭālib was a Muslim who hid his faith to protect the Prophet, and his poems show his belief in God's oneness and in his nephew's prophethood. → Narrations
Verses 117–118: Al-Mizan: the Emigrants and Helpers followed the Prophet in the hour of difficulty during the campaign to Tabūk. Majmaʿ al-bayān reports that verse 118 was revealed about the three who were left behind, Kaʿb b. Mālik, Murārah b. al-Rabīʿ and Hilāl b. Umayyah, whose repentance was accepted after fifty days of being shunned. → Commentary · Narrations
Verses 128–129: Ubayy b. Kaʿb said these were the last verses of the Qur'an to come down. Al-Mizan: this conflicts with other narrations, including those that make the last verse revealed, and the wording of the two verses does not lend much support to it. → 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.