This Surah was revealed before the affirmation of the faith by Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). It has been established historically that Sayyiduna Umar embraced Islam after the first migration to Habash, in the fifth year of the Prophethood.
- Scene of the Doomsday when:
- Some will be abased and some exalted
- The earth will be shaken up
- The mountains will be crumbled to scattered dust
- Mankind will be divided into three groups: the foremost in rank and position, the common righteous people and the disbelievers.
- Admonition to the disbelievers with the examples of creation.
- The testimony of Allah about the Qur'an.
The theme of this Surah is the hereafter, Tawhid and refutation of the disbelievers' suspicions about the Qur'an. In regards to Tawhid and the hereafter convincing arguments are given and man's attention is drawn to his own body, the food that he eats, the water that he drinks and the fire on which he cooks his food. He is invited to ponder the question, "What right do you have to behave independently or serve any other deity than God (Allah), Whose creative power has brought you into being and Whose provisions sustain you. How can you entertain the idea that after having once brought you into existence He has become so helpless and powerless that He cannot recreate you once again?"
In conclusion, man is warned that he may shut his eyes to the truth in his arrogance, but death is enough to open his eyes. At death he becomes helpless: he cannot save his own parents; he cannot save his own children; he cannot save his religious guides and beloved leaders. They all die in front of his vary eyes while he looks on helplessly. If there is no supreme power ruling over him, and his assumption is correct that he is all in all in the world, and there is no God (Allah), then why can't he restore to the dying person his soul? Just as he is helpless in this, so it is also beyond his power to stop Allah from calling the people to account and granting them rewards or punishment. He may or may not believe it, but every dying person will surely see his own end after death.