The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 135
CHAPTER 54 AL-QAMAR (Revealed before Hijrah) Title, Date of Revelation, and Context The Surah takes its title from its opening verse. It definitely is an early Meccan Surah, having been revealed about the same time as the preceding Surah. An-Najm, which was revealed in the 5th year of the Call. The Surah so closely resembles Surah An-Najm in style and contents that it seems to supplement the latter's subject matter. Whereas Surah An-Najm had ended on a note of warning to disbelievers in the words: i. e. the Hour of their doom has drawn near, the present Surah opens with the expression meaning, that the threatened Hour has almost arrived; it is at their very door. Subject Matter The Surah is the fifth of the group of seven Surahs which begin with Surah Qaf and end with Al-Waqi'ah. All these Surahs were revealed very early in the Holy Prophet's ministry and deal with the basic doctrines of Islam—Existence and Unity of God, the Resurrection and Revelation. The Surahs adduce laws of nature, human reason, common sense and histories of the past Prophets as arguments to prove these theses. In some of these Surahs special emphasis has been laid on one kind of arguments with a fleeting reference to other kinds and vice versa. In the present Surah, however, the Holy Prophet's divine claim and the Resurrection have been dealt with, with special reference to the histories of the past Prophets, particularly to those of Noah, the tribes of ‘Ād and Thamūd and Lot's people. Towards its end the Surah makes pointed reference to the fulfilment of the prophecy about the destruction and overthrow of the power of pagan Arabs about which a warning had been given in the preceding Surah (53:58). 3031