The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 4) — Page 825
CHAPTER 39 AZ-ZUMAR (Revealed before Hijrah) Date of Revelation and Context Most authorities including Ibn '‘Abbās and ‘Ikrimah agree that this is a Meccan Surah. Like the preceding five Surahs with which it has great resemblance in style and subject matter, this Sūrah was revealed early in the Holy Prophet's ministry. Some writers like Rodwell and Muir assign it to the late Meccan period. They base their opinion on v. 11, which, according to them, embodies a reference to the Hijrah of the Holy Prophet to Medina. But the reference, as some other writers think, might as well be to the migration to Abyssinia which took place in the 4th year of the Call. The latter view seems to be nearer reality. Predominance of scholarly opinion is, as stated above, in favour of the Surah having been revealed early in the Holy Prophet's life at Mecca but some verses also support Rodwell's view. The Surah is the last of the group of chapters beginning with Saba' which have a striking resemblance in style and subject matter. The principal theme of these Surahs is Divine revelation with special reference to the revelation of the Quran and the doctrine of the Unity of God. The fact that there is One Designer and One Controller and Creator of the whole universe is inescapably inferable from the order, adaptation, proportion and coordination which pervade the whole universe and to which all the sciences bear undeniable testimony. The success of Divine Messengers with their extremely meagre resources against very powerful enemies constitutes another argument to prove God's existence and Unity. To reinforce this argument a study of the accounts of different peoples to whom God's Messengers preached their Messages is strongly recommended. The study shows how a people steeped deep in sin and iniquity and stuck fast in the morass of moral turpitude, by following a Divine Prophet, rise to the pinnacles of spiritual glory. This rising of a morally defunct community to a vigorous spiritual life is indeed a strong argument in favour of i. e. the rising to life of the physically dead in the Hereafter. These subjects form the main theme of the present Surah as also of its five predecessors. In the immediately preceding Surah the Holy Prophet was represented as saying that he asked for no reward for inviting men to God and for showing them the way to eternal life and that he sought no honour or aggrandisement for himself, but only wished for the welfare and well-being of all. The present Surah opens with the declaration that the Quran has been revealed by the Wise and Almighty God and that those alone achieve true honour and real 2739