Adapted from Tafsir Ibn Ashur

Themes and purpose:

This surah establishes the truth and completeness of Islam by exposing false claims, recounting the failures of the past nations, cultivating the moral and spiritual refinement of the soul, and restoring the purity of Abraham’s original religion. It then builds and regulates the new Muslim society through a comprehensive legal and ethical framework governing worship, family life, finance, justice, and public order.

Context of Revelation:

Era: Madinan by unanimous agreement.

Time: It was the first surah revealed in Madīnah, with its revelation beginning in the 1st year AH and extending over most of the Madinan period.

Context (Prolonged Revelation): Its revelation was spread over the greater part of a decade. While it began with early laws like fasting, it includes ayahs on Hajj (6-8 AH). It is even said to contain the very last ayah of the Quran to be revealed [281]. Its unfolding revelation served the process of founding and purifying the new community, shaping it into a virtuous society free from the influences of hypocrisy, idolatry, and the moral failures of earlier nations.

Name and Ayah Count:

Name: The surah’s established name is "Sūrat al-Baqarah" (The Cow).

Reason for Name: It takes its name from the unique story of the cow that Allah commanded the Children of Israel to sacrifice, a narrative unique to this surah.

Honorific Titles: It is reported that the Prophet (ﷺ) described it as "Sanām al-Qur’ān" (The Summit of the Quran). It has also been called “Fusṭāṭ al-Qurʾān,” the great central tent of the Quran: this is because it gathers an unparalleled range of Quranic themes, foundations and branches of religion, creed and law, worship and ethics, worldly guidance and preparation for the afterlife. It has also been paired with Āl ʿImrān, with the Prophet (ﷺ) calling them "al-Zahrāwān" (The Two Radiant Ones), reflecting the light they bestow upon those who recite them.

Ayah Count: 285 (Madīnah/Makkah/Shām), 286 (Kūfah), or 287 (Baṣrah).

Surah Overview:

• The Opening Challenge (implicit via Alif-Lām-Mīm and explicit). [1, 23]
• Classification of Humanity (Believers, Disbelievers, Hypocrites). [2-20]
• Creation of Man (Adam) and Satan's enmity. [30-39]
• The History of the Israelites and their breaking of God’s covenant, causing a collapse in their moral authority. [40-123]
• The mutual disputes of the Jews and Christians, and the collective hostility of all three groups (Jews, Christians, and polytheists) towards Islam. [105-121]
• The Primacy of Abraham, builder of the Kaʿbah, and establishing Islam’s rightful inheritance of Abraham’s faith. [124-141]
• The Changing of the Qiblah as sign of restored Abrahamic Continuity. [142-150]
• Defining True Righteousness. [177]
• The Principle of Abrogation in the service of Divine Wisdom. [106]
• Signs in creation and refutation of shirk and fabricated prohibitions. [164-173]
• Comprehensive Legislation for the emerging Muslim community, establishing the framework for worship, family life, financial ethics, justice, contracts, warfare, charity, inheritance, social responsibility, and public order. [177-283]
• Reminders, parables, analogies, and moral-spiritual insights, together with affirmations of faith including the exaltation of God’s attributes in Āyat al-Kursī all interwoven throughout the surah to renew the alertness of the reader and the listener. [18-19, 74, 153, 189, 217, 243, 255]
• Concluding supplication. [284-286]