Asbab al-nuzul: what the occasions of revelation are, and why readers need them
What "occasions of revelation" means, the classic books on them, the rule that a verse's wording outweighs its occasion, and two examples where knowing the occasion prevents a misreading.
The Quran came down in parts over some twenty-three years, and some of its verses were revealed in answer to a question or in response to an event. Scholars call those events and questions asbab al-nuzul, the occasions of revelation.
What counts as an occasion
An occasion is an event or question that a verse was revealed about, at the time it happened. That last condition matters: the Quran's accounts of earlier nations are not occasions of revelation.
And not every verse has one. Most of the Quran was revealed as guidance in its own right, with no particular event behind it.
Why a reader needs them
Because sometimes the wording, read alone, suggests something it does not mean. The clearest example:
Indeed, as-Safa and al-Marwah are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever makes Hajj to the House or performs 'umrah - there is no blame upon him for walking between them. And whoever volunteers good - then indeed, Allah is appreciative and Knowing.
"There is no blame upon him" can sound as if walking between Safa and Marwah were merely permitted. Urwa ibn al-Zubayr read it that way and asked his aunt Aisha. As Sahih al-Bukhari reports, she explained that the words were revealed because some of the Ansar felt uneasy about walking between the two hills after Islam, given what the place had meant before it; had the verse meant mere permission, she said, it would have read "no blame upon him if he does not walk between them."
A second example: the woman who argued
Certainly has Allah heard the speech of the one who argues with you, [O Muhammad], concerning her husband and directs her complaint to Allah. And Allah hears your dialogue; indeed, Allah is Hearing and Seeing.
The books of tafsir and hadith report that this was revealed about Khawlah bint Tha'labah, whose husband Aws ibn al-Samit had pronounced zihar against her, and who came to the Prophet with her complaint. The story explains who "the one who argues with you" is, and ties the rulings on zihar that follow to their occasion.
The rule: the wording, not the occasion
When a verse is revealed in general words on a particular occasion, most scholars hold that its ruling covers everyone its words cover, not only the people it was revealed about. The verses on zihar came down about one woman, and they apply to anyone in her situation. The maxim runs: what counts is the generality of the wording, not the particularity of the occasion.
Where occasions come from
Occasions cannot be worked out by reasoning; they are known only by report from those who witnessed the revelation. So scholars examine their chains like any other report, and where several accounts are given for one verse they are reconciled or one is preferred.
Two classic works:
- Asbab al-Nuzul by Abu al-Hasan al-Wahidi.
- Lubab al-Nuqul fi Asbab al-Nuzul by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti.
Commentaries in both schools record occasions where they arise — Tabrisi's Majma' al-Bayan, for one, and Tafsir al-Safi and Tafsir al-Mizan, which this site serves.
Related
- What is tafsir, and how is it different from ta'wil?
- The Verse of Wilayah — a case where the occasion of revelation is itself in dispute, and shapes the meaning.