Essence of the Holy Qur’an — Page 53
53 Chapter 24 An-N u r 6 "$ (Revealed after Hijrah) Date of Revelation and Context The consensus of scholarly opinion assigns this Chapter to the Medinite period. The regrettable incident relating to ‘ A ’ishah, the Holy Prophet’s noble wife, to which special reference has been made in it, took place in 5 A. H. after the Holy Prophet’s return from the expedition against Ban i Mu st aliq in the month of Rama da n of that year. Its connection with the preceding Chapter, S u rah Al-Mu’min u n, consists in the fact that in that S u rah it was stated that Islam would continue to produce men who would, by their righteousness and godly conduct, win God’s pleasure and succour. The present S u rah deals with the means and methods which help to draw Divine grace and succour and lays down as a principle that the adoption of the ways of virtue and righteousness and the protection and preservation of national morals, and the maintenance of discipline of a high order in the family and the community, are very essential for this purpose. This is why the S u rah at the very outset lays great stress on the preservation of national morals with an added emphasis on the regulation and reformation of relations between the sexes. The preceding S u rah had stated that one of the essential characteristics of believers who were decreed to meet with Divine succour was that they guarded their chastity. This S u rah is an extension and amplification of the subject-matter of the preceding one. The achievement and maintenance of success, it says, demands that the intellect, ideals and morals of a people should be chaste and that there should exist perfect harmony and appreciative understanding between the relations of the individual and those of the community, and that great emphasis ought to be laid on national discipline and organisation, and precedence should be accorded to national requirements over the needs of the individual. Subject-Matter The S u rah deals with certain special subjects and has laid particular stress on the problems which constitute the foundation on which the whole social and moral structure of society stands and which cannot be defied without doing mortal injury to the moral well-being of a people. As sexual immorality is calculated to break the discipline and organization of a community and as the evils associated with it are likely to affect severely its morals, great emphasis has been laid in the S u rah on the avoidance of suspicion in matters of sex; and believers are told not to become panicky on account of a few individuals having strayed away from the path of moral rectitude, as such cases of moral lapse may cause the whole community to become alert and careful; and thus eventually