Meccan or Medinese, consisting of 8 verses.

By the fig and the olive, that is, the two [edible] foods — or [these denote the names of] two mountains in Syria on which these two foods grow —

and [by] the Mount Sinai, the mountain on which God, exalted be He, spoke to Moses (sīnīn means ‘the one blessed’ or ‘the fair one with fruitful trees’),

and [by] this secure land: Mecca, as people were secure in it in the time of pagandom and [are still secure in it] in Islam.

Verily We created man (al-insān: the generic) in the best of forms, [in the best] proportioning of his shape.

Then, in the case of certain individuals of his [species], We reduced him to the lowest of the low — a metaphor for old age and weakness, at which point a believer’s deeds are fewer than when he was young; but he will still have his reward, as God, exalted be He, says:

except those who believe and perform righteous deeds, for they shall have an unfailing reward, one unending — in a hadīth [it is stated], ‘When a believer reaches that stage of old age which prevents him from performing [good] deeds, then what he used to do is recorded in his favour [instead]’.

So what makes you deny, O disbeliever, thereafter — after the mention of man being created in the best of forms and his being reduced to the vilest of age, all of which indicates the power [of God] to resurrect — the Judgement?, the Requital that will be preceded by the Resurrection and the Reckoning. In other words, what makes you disbelieve in all this? Nothing does!

Is not God the fairest of all judges?, the most just of all judges. His passing judgement by means of [the process of] requital is one such example. In a hadīth [it is stated], ‘Whoever recites [sūrat] wa’l-tīni, ‘By the fig’, to the end of it, let him then say, “Yes Indeed! And I am of those who bear witness to this!” ’