The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 414
CHAPTER 80 'ABASA (Revealed before Hijrah) Date of Revelation and Context This Surah, like the two preceding it, with whose subject matter it has a close association, is among those Surahs which were revealed at Mecca in the early years of the Call. Nöldeke and Muir, besides Muslim scholars, subscribe to this view. The Surah takes its title from the opening verse and deals with an incident in the Holy Prophet's life which, though of not much historical importance, contains a lesson of abiding moral significance. Towards the end of the preceding chapter, the Holy Prophet was told that his duty was confined to conveying the Divine Message to his people. In the present Surah he is enjoined to be more careful of and pay greater attention to the poor, God-fearing believers who were likely to profit from his preachings more than the conceited and arrogant disbelievers. Moreover, in the previous Surah, it was stated that the knowledge about "the Hour," rested with God; in this Surah it is added that the people who will bring about in themselves a moral resurrection ("the Hour") spoken of in the preceding Surah were known only to God. They are those poor people who are small in the eyes of proud and worldly-minded disbelievers but are great in the sight of God and who in fact, possess all the qualities of leadership. Subject Matter The Surah begins to deal with the incident of ‘Abdullāh bin Ummi Maktum, a poor blind man, and proceeds to teach the lesson, viz. that it is not worldly riches and social status which determine the real worth of a person but the goodness of heart and willingness on his part to listen to truth and accept it. The Surah also constitutes an eloquent commentary on the Holy Prophet's regard for the susceptibilities of the poor and oppressed people, and proceeds to say that the Quran will raise them to great eminence. It further says that being the Last Divine Message for mankind it will be respected and read all over the world and will continue to be protected and preserved. The disbelievers are then warned that they are rejecting this great and glorious Divine Message—the Quran-to their own spiritual detriment, and are so foolish as not to understand that God who created man from an insignificant fluid and then endowed him with great natural powers and faculties and made excellent provision for his physical sustenance, could not have ignored to make similar provision for his moral and spiritual development. He has made this provision by the revelation of His Word for their guidance. The Surah ends on a note of warning to disbelievers that if they rejected the Quranic 3310