The general agreement of scholars is that this surah was revealed shortly before or after the Battle of the Trench in 5 AH. The surah begins with various explanations and decrees on or relating to corrupt sexual acts, family law, and specifications on the giving of testimony. Foremost amongst these rulings is God's punishment for adultery. This section ends with the pronouncement that good men and women should be paired together, as should corrupt men and corrupt women. This discussion turns into reflections on privacy and modesty, namely of hosts and women. Contained herein are several regulations and explanations of modesty, most directly lines traditionally used to argue for the wearing of hijab. After these prohibitions are cast for women, the text turns towards men, asking them not to oppress slavegirls into prostitution, and to marry those women who need husbands, despite their poverty.
Most of the rules related to fornication, adultery and false accusations from a husband to his wife or from members of the community to chaste women, can be found in chapter 24, which) starts by giving very specific rules about punishment for unlawful sexual intercourse : Tafsir Ibn Kathir says in relation to the witnessing of their punishment: "This is more humiliating for the people who are guilty of illegal sex, if they are flogged in front of the people. This is because it is more effective as a deterrent and it conveys the sense of scandal and rebuke".
In TafsirIbn Kathir, the prescribed punishment for making false accusations against chaste men or women is to flog them with eighty stripes, and reject their testimony forever.
24:35 "the Light Verse"
After a second statement of the Quran's status as a clear sign from Allah, the famed Ayat an-Nur appears. This is often referred to as "the Light Verse", or "the Parable of Light", a mystical group of lines that has been the subject of much scholarship and reflection.
24:36-44 believers will be rewarded
The Quran here briefly returns to a slightly more literal form of speech as it reassures believers that their remembrance will be rewarded, as the forgetfulness of the sinners will be punished. In keeping with the Light Verse, the unbelievers too are explained in metaphor, returning to the deeply symbolic tone above: "And as for the unbelievers, their works are as a mirage in a spacious plain, in which a thirsty man thinks there to be water, until when he comes to it, he finds it is nothing; there indeed he finds God and He pays him his account in full; and God is swift in the reckoning; or they are as shadows upon a sea obscured, covered by a billow above which is a billow above which are clouds; shadows piled one upon the other; when he puts forth his hand, wellnigh he cannot see it. And whoever God assigns no light, no light has he." The Quran explains that the Earth itself is evidence of God's reality and power. He controls the clouds, the winds, the hail, and the mountains. It is also explained in this surah that God created all creatures from water, including animals with four feet, animals with two feet, and animals without any feet.
The Quran confirms that God has sent down signs to make His reality clear, and that understanding that reality is as a "straight path", that if one is truly following, one can never be led astray. God keeps His word, and will continue to reward those who believe and keep to their religion, as He has rewarded others in the past for doing the same. The Book urges the believer not to fret, and not to accuse people of sin merely for the conditions of their birth or social status. For example, in many tribal cultures a blind person or their parents were believed to be wicked, hence the gods or the spirits have blinded them. The Quran urges one not to think in this manner, and instead remember that all things are signs from God, and thus all believers should be of good nature to others, and wish them blessings from God. If that is done, the signs become clear and "haply you will understand". As the believer must greet others well, so must they ask for leave from them before departing. However, the surah ends, God knows the hidden reasons people do as they do, "God knows those of you who slip away surreptitiously", for when all returns to Him, they will testify against themselves to Him.
