Ash-Shu'araa Revealed in the middle of the Makkan period The background of the Surah is that the disbelievers of Makkah were persistently refusing, on one pretext or the other, to accept the message of Islam given by the Holy Prophet. Sometimes they would say that he did not show them any sign to convince them of his Prophethood; sometimes they would brand him as a poet or a sorcerer and mock his message; and sometimes they would ridicule his Mission, saying that his followers were either a few foolish youth, or the poor people and slaves -- whereas, they argued, if his Mission had really some value for the people, the nobles and the elders would have accepted it first. Thus, while on the one hand, the Holy Prophet was becoming wearied by his efforts to show them rationally the errors of their creeds and prove the truth of the Doctrines of Tauhid and the Hereafter, the disbelievers, on the other, were never tired of adopting one kind of obduracy after the other. This state of affairs was causing great anguish and grief to the Holy Prophet. Such were the conditions when this Surah was revealed. It begins with words of consolation to the Holy Prophet, implying, "Why do you fret for their sake?if these people have not believed in you, it is not because they have not seen any Sign, but because they are obstinate. They will not listen to reason. They want to see a Sign which makes them bow their heads in humility. When this Sign is shown in due course of time, they will themselves realize that what was being presented to them was the Truth."
The history of the seven ancient tribes is described who, just like the Disbelievers in Makkah, persisted in disbelief. The theme of this Surah is to proclaim that, The whole earth abounds in such Signs as can guide a seeker after truth to Reality, but the stubborn and misguided people have never believed even after seeing the Signs, whether these were the Signs of the natural phenomena or the miracles of the Prophets. These wretched people have stubbornly adhered to their erroneous creeds till the Divine scourge actually overtook them." 1) The signs are of two types: 1) those scattered over the Earth and visible to the intelligent person and 2) those which were seen by Pharoah and his People, Noah s people, the Ad and the Thamud, Lot s people, and the people of Akiyah. 2) The mentality of disbelievers has been the same throughout the ages. On one side, the Prophets would present signs and proofs while on the other side the disbelievers would create more and more illogical protests. 3) History contains instances of Allah s wrath and of his mercy. It is for people to decide which they would like. 4) Lastly, the surah can be summed as saying, O Disbelievers, if you want to see signs, why should you insist on seeing horrible signs that visited Disbelievers of the past. Why don t you see the Quran presented in your own language? Why don t you see the example of Muhammad (PBUH) and his companions? Can the Revelations in the Quran be from Satan or a Jinn? Does the recipient of the Quran appear to be a Sorcerer? Why don t you give up disbelief and search in your hearts for their judgement?
An-Naml Also revealed during the middle of the Makkan period Two parts 1) Only those people can benefit from the Guidance of the Quran and become worthy of the good promises made in it, who accept the realities which this book presents as realities of the Universe, and then follow up their Belief with obedience and submission in the practical lives as well. The greatest obstacle for man to follow this Path, is the denial of the Hereafter. It makes him/her irresponsible, selfish, and given to the wordly life, which in turn makes it impossible to submit to Allah and accept the moral restrictions. The characters are presented: 1) Pharoah/chiefs of Thalmud/people of Loot (PBUH) who were all heedless of the accountability of the Hereafter and slaves of this world and life. They did not believe even after seeing miracles. They were eventually overtaken by the scourge of Allah. 2) Prophet Solomon (PBUH) who had wealth much greater than any of the Makkan Chieftans could have imagined, but regarded himself as answerable before Allah. He had the feeling that everything he had was due to Allah s bounty and he had adopted the attitude of obedience to Allah. 3) Queen of Sheba who was born into a rich family in a rich society and whose rule was based in polytheism. To remain Queen, she had to adhere to the ways of shirk. But when the Truth became evident to her, nothing could stop her from accepting it. Her deviation was due to her being born into into shirk and not due to her being a slave to her desires.
2) Allah describes the most visible realities of the Universe and then poses a question to the Disbelievers, Do these realities support the creed of shirk or the Truth of Tauhid to which the Quran invites you?. The flaw that prevents the disbelievers from believing is again pointed out and that is their denial of the Hereafter. If life has no greater purpose or accountability, then truth and falsehood become the same and terms like right and wrong become meaningless. This is pointed out to awaken the Disbelievers from their slumber. To awaken them to accept the Truth to their own advantage and realize that rejecting the Truth was to their own disadvantage. If they deferred their Faith until they saw those Signs of God after which they would have no choice but to believe, then it would be too late as it would be the Day of Judgement.
Al-Qasas Also relates the story of Prophet Musa (PBUH). Surah Ash-Shu araa tells the beginning of the story, Surah Al-Qasas the middle, and Surah An-Naml the end. The story of Musa (PBUH) is related to once again, remove the doubts and objections that were being raised against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) This is done by impressing the following points: 1) Allah provides the means and the motives of whatever He wills to do in imperceptible ways. That is why the child through whom Pharoah would be removed from power, was bred and brought up in his own house. 2) You wonder how Muhammad (PBUH) has been blessed with Prophethood unexpectedly and all of a sudden. Moses whom the disbelievers also acknowledged as a Prophet had also become so very unexpectedly while on a journey. He, in fact, was going to bring a piece of fire, but returned with the gift of Prophethood.
1) The person whom Allah (SWT) chooses, comes with no armor or army, yet he puts to rout much stronger and well equipped opponents as shown by the example of Musa (PBUH) and Pharoah. 2) The Disbelievers were insisting that Muhammad (PBUH) could not be a Prophet because he could not perform miracles like Musa (PBUH). Allah replies to this by pointing out that even when the Disbelievers had seen the miracles of Allah (SWT) such as the staff that became a serpent, they still replied, This is magic. Allah states the same sickness afflicts the Disbelievers of the Prophet s (PBUH) time. Allah reminds the Disbelievers that in the end, the obstinacy of the disbelievers resulted in their annihilation. The analogy between the trials of Musa (PBUH) and the trials of Muhammad (PBUH) are made The revelation of the story of Musa (PBUH) in such detail was yet another proof of Prophethood. The disbelievers are being warned and put to shame for an incident that occurred earlier when some Christians had come to embrace Islam and when they did, the Disbelievers, with Abu Jahl at the lead, disgraced those people publicly. It became clear that what the Disbelievers feared was the end of their spiritual, political, and economic supremacy if they accepted Tauhid over polytheism. Their statements of doubt and disbelief were only to deceive the common people.