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THE HUNDRED-TENTH SŪRAH An-Nasr (Succour) Medina Period

REVEALED at Minā during the Prophet’s Farewell Pilgrimage in the month of Dhu ’l-Hijjah, 10 H. – that is, a little over two months before his death – this is unquestionably the last complete sūrah conveyed by him to the world. It was preceded one day earlier (on Friday, the 9th of Dhu ’l-Hijjah) by the revelation of the words, “Today have I perfected your religious law for you, and bestowed upon you the full measure of My blessings, and willed that self-surrender unto Me (al-islām) shall be your religion” (5:3); and since those words were almost immediately followed by the present sūrah, some of the Prophet’s Companions concluded that his mission was fulfilled, and that he was about to die (Bukhārī). As a matter of fact, the only revelation which the Prophet received after An-Nasr was verse 281 of Al-Baqarah.

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بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمـٰنِ الرَّحيمِ إِذا جاءَ نَصرُ اللَّهِ وَالفَتحُ

WHEN GOD'S SUCCOUR comes, and victory,

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وَرَأَيتَ النّاسَ يَدخُلونَ في دينِ اللَّهِ أَفواجًا

and thou seest people enter God's religion1 in hosts,

  1. 1.  I.e., the religion of self-surrender to God: cf. 3:19 - "the only [true] religion in the sight of God is [man's] self-surrender unto Him".
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فَسَبِّح بِحَمدِ رَبِّكَ وَاستَغفِرهُ ۚ إِنَّهُ كانَ تَوّابًا

extol thy Sustainer's limitless glory, and praise Him, and seek His forgiveness: for, behold, He is ever an acceptor of repentance.2

  1. 2.  Implying that even if people should embrace the true religion in great numbers, a believer ought not to grow self-complacent but should, rather, become more humble and more conscious of his own failings. Moreover, the Prophet is reported to have said, "Behold, people have entered God's religion in hosts - and in time they will leave it in hosts" (Ibn Hanbal, on the authority of Jabir ibn Abd Allah; a similar Tradition, on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, is found in the Mustadrak).
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