According to most scholars of the Islamic tradition, the chapter is a
Medinan surah, i.e. it was revealed during the
Medinan phase of
Muhammad's prophethood. Some
commentators say that verse 24 was an exception and was revealed in Mecca, and others say that verses 23–31 were revealed in Mecca. Yet others, a minority, say that the entire chapter was revealed in Mecca, thus classifying it as a
Meccan surah. Most
Shia sources, and some
Sunni ones, linked the revelation of the verses 5–22—which discuss "the pious" (
al-abrar) and the rewards that await them—to an experience of the family of
Ali (Muhammad's son-in-law) and his wife
Fatima. According to this account, the family
fasted for three days to fulfill a vow they had made. In each evening, when the family was about to break their fast, a needy person knocked on their door asking for food. The family gave food to each of them. The family had so little food that this charity meant that they had no food left and had only water for the evening. On the fourth day, Muhammad met with the family and saw them in dire hunger. According to the account, at this point
Gabriel revealed the verses and congratulated Muhammad for having such a family. This account appears in several
Quranic exegesis (
tafsir), including
Al-Qurtubi's
Tafsir,
Shaykh Tabarsi's ''
Majma' al-Bayan'' and
Mahmud al-Alusi's ''
Ruh al-Ma'ani''. ==Recitation==