36. Here all the disputants about Allah have been divided into two main categories in spite of their large numbers.
(1) Those who believe in the message of the Prophets and adopt the righteous way of life.
(2) Those who reject their message and follow different ways of disbelief, though they may have countless differences and disputes among themselves.
37. See (Ayat 50 and E.N. 58 of Surah Ibrahim) for explanation.
38. This is to show that they will be honored like the kings and chiefs who used to wear ornaments of gold and jewelry in the period the Quran was revealed.
39. “Purest of the speeches”: though it may imply every pure thing, here it refers to the basic articles of the faith.
40. As already stated in the introduction, the portion of the Surah, which was revealed at Makkah, comes to an end here. Though its style is clearly that of the Makki Surahs and there is nothing to indicate that any part (or the whole) of it was revealed at Al-Madinah, yet the words, “these are the two parties”, have given rise to the misunderstanding that this verse was revealed at Al-Madinah. Some commentators are of the opinion that the two parties referred to were the parties who met in the Battle of Badr, but there is nothing in the context to support this opinion. On the other hand, from the context in which these words occur, it becomes obvious that the two parties referred to were the believers and the disbelievers. For the conflict between belief and disbelief has always been going on ever since the creation of man and will go on upto the Day of Resurrection.
Incidentally, this latter view helps prove that the Quran is a continuous whole and every part of it is closely connected with the other: whereas the comments mentioned earlier would imply that there is no continuous theme in the Quran but different parts of it have been put together without rhyme or reason.