" Wahb ibn Munabbih has related that the people of Quraish said to Allah's Messenger: 'If you like we would enter your faith for a year and you would enter our faith for a year.'" (Abd bin Humaid, Ibn Abi Hatim). It was revealed in Mecca when the Muslims were persecuted by the polytheists of Mecca. Although some view this as an argument against religious intolerance, others see it as a more time-specific revelation, warning the newly founded Muslim minority in Mecca against being induced (by the Quraysh Arab tribe majority) to collude with disbelievers. Here, the passage asks one to keep in mind the separation between belief and unbelief both in the past and the present, ending with the often cited line "To you your religion, and to me mine". Like many of the shorter surahs, the surah of the unbelievers takes the form of an invocation, telling the reader something they must ask for or say aloud.
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