This is one of the earliest Surahs revealed at Makkah revealed during the period when the Prophet (pbuh) had started preaching his message publicly, and the people of Makkah were hearing it and ignoring it carelessly and thoughtlessly.
- The condition of the disbelievers and the believers on the Day of Judgement.
- The wonders of nature, admonition and accountability.
To understand the subject matter of this Surah one should keep in view the fact that in the initial stage the preaching of the Prophet (pbuh) mostly centered around two points which he wanted to instill in the peoples' minds:
- Tawhid, and
- The Life after death.
Guidance is provided through questions inviting people to think, such as: do these people not observe the common things which they experience daily in their lives? Do they not consider how the camels, on whom their whole life's activity in the Arabian desert depends, came into being? How they were endowed precisely with the same characteristics required to live the desert life? When they go on their journeys, they see the sky, the mountains, and the earth. Let them ponder over these three phenomena and consider as to how the sky was stretched above them, how the mountains were erected and how the earth was spread beneath them? Has all this come about without the skill and craftsmanship of an All-Powerful, All Wise Designer? If they acknowledge that a Creator has created all this with great wisdom and power and that no one else is an associate with Him in their creation, why then do they refuse to accept Him Alone as their Sustainer? And if they acknowledge that Allah (God) had the power to create all this, then on what rational ground do they hesitate to acknowledge that Allah also has the power to bring about resurrection, to recreate man, and to make hell and heaven?