History of surah The Poets

The Poets

Ayahs

227

Revelation Place

Mecca

surah

Name
It was called "Surah Al-Shu'ara" because God Almighty mentioned in it the stories of the poets to answer the claim of the polytheists that Muhammad was a poet and that what he brought poetry, God answered them this lie and slander with the words " And the Poets, - It is those straying in Evil, who follow them Seest thou not that they wander distracted in every valley? - And that they say what they practise not? -", thus, revealing the truth and clarity.


Period of Revelation
​ Surah Al-Shu’ara is a Meccan surah, with the exception of the last four verses of the surah, which were revealed in Medina .The reason for the revelation of Surat Al-Shu’ara is to respond to the polytheists who deliberately claimed that the Messenger of God - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him - " And the Poets, - It is those straying in Evil, who follow them Seest thou not that they wander distracted in every valley? - And that they say what they practise not? -", Ibn Jarir and Al-Hakim mentioned on the authority of Abi Hassan Al-Barrad that when the aforementioned saying of God Almighty was revealed, Abdullah bin Rawaha, Hassan bin Thabit, and Kaab bin Malik - may God be pleased with him – came to the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and they said to him that they are poets, and they perished by the descent of this verse. So God Almighty revealed His saying: "Except those [poets] who believe and do righteous deeds and remember Allah often and defend [the Muslims] after they were wronged. And those who have wronged are going to know to what [kind of] return they will be returned."
Excluding the poets who believed and did righteous deeds.

 

Theme and topics
The response to the infidels' appeals in the Qur'an, and that it is far from being poetry, and from the sayings of the devils.
The surah confronts the Quraish polytheists’ denial of the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, their mockery of vows, their turning away from God’s signs, and their haste with the torment that He threatened them with, while talking about the revelation and the Qur’an and claiming that it is magic or poetry that the devils descend upon!
Entertaining the Prophet, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, from the turning away of his people from monotheism, to which the Qur’an called them.
Threatening the polytheists because of their position on the call of the Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, and their exposure to the wrath of God Almighty, and setting an example for them with what befell the nations that denied their messengers and turned away from the signs of God.
The surah included a number of the stories of the previous peoples, and its stories - as was the case in the whole surah - were dominated by the atmosphere of warning and denial, and the torment that followed the denial.
The Messenger, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, ordered to warn his clan, and that he, peace and blessings be upon him, had nothing but to call.