The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 168
CHAPTER 4 AN-NISA' (Revealed after Hijrah) Date and Place of Revelation This Surah consists of 177 verses including Bismillah. ‘Ā'ishah is reported by Bukhārī to have said that this chapter was revealed when, after her marriage to the Holy Prophet, she had come into his house; and as 'Ã'ishah came into the Holy Prophet's house sometime after the Hijrah, the chapter proves to be wholly of Medinite origin. Qurtubi says that the verse, Verily Allah commands you to give over the trusts to those entitled to them (4:58), belongs to Meccan revelations and was revealed at the time of the Fall of Mecca. This is a case of faulty nomenclature, for everything revealed after Hijrah is Medinite, even though it may have been revealed at Mecca. The Rev. E. M. Wherry, Nöldeke and some other European scholars are agreed on its being of the Medinite period and regard it as having been revealed between the fourth and fifth years of the Hijrah. Nöldeke, however, is inclined to place some of its verses among the Meccan revelations because in them, "Jews are referred to in a friendly spirit. " Wherry thinks that the words, "O people" occurring in verse 134 of this Surah show that it was revealed at Mecca because this form of address has been exclusively used in the Meccan Surahs. The fact, however, remains that this is a Medinite Surah and some of its parts were revealed very late in the Holy Prophet's ministry. European scholars are wrong in inferring from the form of address, viz. "O people", used in this Surah that some of its verses belong to the Meccan period. Similarly, their inference that, because in some of its verses Jews are referred to in a friendly spirit, therefore, those verses must belong to the Meccan period, carries no weight. The inference that the above-mentioned form of address was used only at Mecca has no basis in as much as this form of address has also been used in Surahs, which by the consensus of the opinion of scholars belong to the Medinite period, viz. chapters Al-Baqarah and Al-Hajj (e. g. 2:22; 22:2), though because this form of address has been used in these Surahs, these European scholars regard some of their verses also as having been revealed at Mecca. But to say that because a certain verse uses the expression: "O people" it must, in spite of all contrary evidence belong to the Meccan period is anything but reasonable. The truth, however, is that as long as the Holy Prophet was at Mecca, very few of the commandments of the Shari'ah had been revealed and the people of Mecca were the principal addressees. Therefore, in the Meccan Surahs, the words: "O people" were frequently employed as a form of 608