The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 5) — Page 529

Introduction CHAPTER 100 AL-'ĀDIYĀT (Revealed before Hijrah) A large majority of eminent Muslim scholars, including Jābir, 'Ikrimah, and 'Abdullah bin Mas'ud, one of the earliest Companions of the Holy Prophet and a great authority on Quranic chronology, are of the view that the Surah was revealed very early at Mecca. One or two writers who disagree with this view, therefore, do not count. The Surah takes its place in point of the time next to the preceding Surah. In some of the foregoing Surahs, the conditions both in the time of the Holy Prophet and the Promised Messiah as well as the great transformation that was to be brought about by them were simultaneously mentioned, and Surah Zilzal had dealt with the great advances in science and knowledge, especially in the science of geology, and with the vast changes that were to take place in the political, social and economic spheres. The present Surah, deals with the zeal and enthusiasm of the Companions of the Holy Prophet, with their great sacrifices and the battles they fought against unequal odds, in the way of God. The Surah may also be taken to refer to the mode of fighting in the present age. Some mystics, however, take the Surah, to refer to the constant war that the righteous believers have to wage against their passions and evil propensities, and to the heavenly light they receive as a result of the successful outcome of that fight. 3425