Surah An-Noor (24) — Ayah 1

(Ayah 1) ➊ The tanween on { سُوْرَةٌ اَنْزَلْنٰهَا:’’ سُوْرَةٌ‘‘} is for veneration, and it is the predicate of a suppressed subject, {’’هٰذِهِ‘‘}, therefore it is translated as “(This) is a great surah.”
➋ {’’ اَنْزَلْنٰهَا ‘‘} (We revealed it) — here Allah Almighty, to express His greatness, mentioned Himself with the plural pronoun (We), and in fact, in all three, {’’ اَنْزَلْنٰهَا ‘‘ ’’ فَرَضْنٰهَا ‘‘} and {’’ اَنْزَلْنَا فِيْهَاۤ ‘‘}, the emphasis is on the plural pronoun “We,” meaning that the one who revealed it is none other than “We.” Therefore, do not take it lightly by considering it the words of a powerless preacher, but know well that the One who revealed it is He in whose grasp is the entire universe, who holds the forelock of every living being, and even after death you cannot escape His grip.
➌ { ’’ اَنْزَلْنَا ‘‘} (revealing) indicates that the One who sent it down is above, and He sent it down from the high place of the Throne, as He Himself said: «اَلرَّحْمٰنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوٰى » [ طٰہٰ : ۵ ] “The Most Merciful rose above the Throne.” It is regrettable for those commentators who are not willing to accept that Allah Almighty is above, so they insist on interpreting or even distorting “We sent down.” They say that Allah Almighty is not in any direction, nor in any place, He is neither above nor below, neither right nor left, neither in front nor behind. Then where is He? They say He is nowhere. But what will they do with that natural instinct which compels every human to raise his hands and gaze towards the sky when supplicating to Allah Almighty? Among these people, there have been and still are some bold elders who say that the very question “Where is Allah Almighty?” is wrong, and whoever asks where Allah Almighty is, is a disbeliever. These people do not even fear who all are affected by their verdict. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) himself, when testing the faith of a slave girl, asked two questions: first, “Where is Allah?” She replied, “In the sky.” The second question was, “Who am I?” She replied, “You are the Messenger of Allah.” So he (peace be upon him) said, “She is a believer.” [ مسلم، المساجد، باب تحریم الکلام في الصلاۃ… : ۵۳۷ ]
➍ { وَ فَرَضْنٰهَا :} That is, the commands given in this surah are not mere recommendations that you may follow if you wish, or do as you please otherwise, but these are definitive commands which We have made obligatory upon you and those who come after you. Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The purpose of {’’ اَنْزَلْنٰهَا وَ فَرَضْنٰهَا ‘‘} is to state the greatness and importance of this surah, not that other surahs do not have this status.
➎ { وَ اَنْزَلْنَا فِيْهَاۤ اٰيٰتٍۭ بَيِّنٰتٍ:} That is, the commands and matters We have stated in this surah contain no complexity or ambiguity; they are clear and explicit instructions, regarding which you cannot excuse yourselves by saying that such-and-such matter was not understood, so how could we act upon it? With this emphatic introduction, the importance of the commands mentioned in this surah is made clear. After this, the commands begin.

This is the Surah which We have sent down 1. and have ordained, and in which We have sent down clear verses (commands) so that you may remember.

1. This is a Surah [1] which We have sent down, and We have made its rulings obligatory, and We have sent down in it clear verses so that you may take heed.

1.
The Background of the Revelation of Surah An-Nur:

Surah An-Nur was revealed after the Battle of Banu Mustaliq in the 6th year of Hijrah. And the Battle of Banu Mustaliq took place after the Battle of Ahzab or the Battle of the Trench. At the time of the Battle of the Trench, the allied army of the disbelievers numbered around ten thousand, and this army returned unsuccessful after a month. On that occasion, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "After today, the disbelievers will not attack us; rather, now we will attack them." The clear meaning of this was that Islam and the Islamic state had become so strong and established on its own feet. And all the forces of disbelief, which included the polytheists of Makkah, other polytheist Arab tribes, the Jews of Madinah, and the hypocrites—all together—no longer had the strength left that even if they all united, they could attack Madinah. After being defeated on the battlefield, these people adopted the tactic that, by any means possible, they would defame Islam and the Muslims and sow discord among them to weaken this strength. Since the hypocrites were infiltrated among the Muslims, they could play the most important role in this regard. During the return journey from the Battle of Banu Mustaliq, Abdullah bin Ubayy, the chief of the hypocrites, carried out two such acts under this conspiracy. By coincidence, there was some quarrel between the Ansar and the Muhajirin. Abdullah bin Ubayy so inflamed this incident that, by appealing to the zeal of ignorance, he so incited the Ansar and especially the hypocrites that it was close to breaking out into a fight among them. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was informed of this, he immediately arrived at the scene and brought the situation under control. During this, Abdullah bin Ubayy uttered much nonsense, the detailed mention of which will come in Surah Al-Munafiqun. The second act was that he accused Hazrat Aisha ؓ, and this incident is famous as the "Incident of Ifk." The hypocrites propagated this incident so much that even some sincere Muslims were influenced by this propaganda. The detailed mention of the Incident of Ifk is coming ahead; for now, it is intended to state that these rumors kept spreading for a whole month. The hypocrites were exerting all their efforts to spread this accusation. And coincidentally, no revelation was being sent down. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ remained distressed over this issue for a whole month. After a month, Allah Almighty revealed this Surah An-Nur, in which Hazrat Aisha ؓ was declared innocent in clear words. In addition, very beneficial commands and admonitions were revealed for the Muslims.

[2] The first verse of the Surah serves as a preface. In it, the plural first-person pronoun is repeated three times to highlight the importance of the commands revealed in this Surah. It is also stated that the status of these commands is not that of mere recommendations, but acting upon them has been made obligatory. Furthermore, these commands are such that there is no kind of confusion or ambiguity in them, so that no command may become doubtful for you. And you must always remember these commands and not forget them.