The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 385
CHAPTER 77 AL-MURSALĀT (Revealed before Hijrah) Introductory Remarks Nöldeke and Muir assign the revelation of this Sūrah, probably correctly, to the 4th year of the Call. Ibn Mas'ud, one of the earliest Companions of the Holy Prophet, however, is reported to have said that one day when they were sitting with the Holy Prophet in a cave near Minā, this Surah was revealed. At that time a snake appeared but before they could kill it, the reptile disappeared. Upon this the Holy Prophet said that they had remained safe from the snake as the snake had been safe from them (Qadir). The Surah receives its title from the first word of the opening verse. Subject Matter Like other early Meccan chapters, this Surah also deals with the subject of the Resurrection, and as an argument in support of it, adduces the great spiritual revolution that is brought about by Divine Messengers among their peoples, especially the marvellous moral change that the Holy Prophet wrought in the lives of the degenerate and decadent Arabs. The advent of Divine Prophets has been compared in the Surah to the Day of Decision when bad men are separated from good men or, to use a beautiful metaphor, when grain becomes sifted from chaff. On that Day of Judgement the guilty are punished and the righteous receive the rewards of their good deeds. The Surah gives very apt and adequate description of the punishment-fittingly corresponding to their evil deeds—that will be meted out in the Hereafter, to the defiers and violators of Divine laws and goes on to describe the blessings and boons of Paradise which will be bestowed upon those who regulate their lives and conduct in accordance with them. In support of the doctrine of the Resurrection, the Surah also alludes, quite convincingly, to the development of the sperm drop into a properly shaped human being, equipped with great natural powers in itself a wonder of creation. Towards the end, the Surah brings home to disbelievers the untenability of their rejection of the Quranic revelation which has so effectively proved, by drawing attention to man's own creation and to the forces that work in the physical and spiritual worlds, that there is and there must be a life after death in which man shall have to explain his conduct. 3281