Qul ateeAAoo Allaha warrasoola fa-in tawallaw fa-inna Allaha la yuhibbu alkafireen (surah Al Imran: 32)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(3:32) Say: 'Obey Allah and obey the Messenger.' If they turn away from this then know that Allah does not love those who refuse to obey Him and His Messenger. *28

Qul atee`ul laaha war Rasoola fa in tawallaw fa innal laaha laa yuhibbul kaafireen

*28). This marks the conclusion of the first discourse. Reflection upon its contents, particularly the reference to the Battle of Badr, leads one to the conclusion that this section was probably revealed between the battles of Badr and Uhud, i.e. sometime in 3.A.H. The tradition mentioned by Muhammad b. Ishaq has led to the common misunderstanding that the first eighty verses of this surah were revealed on the occasion of the arrival of the deputation from Najran in 9 A.H. (See Ibn Hisham. Sirah, vol. 1, pp. 573 ff., especially p. 576; Ibn Ishaq, Life of Muhammad, tr. A. Guillaume, second impression, London, Oxford, 1968. pp. 270 ff.. especially p. 272 - Ed.) This is not true. In the first place, the introductory section indicates that the surah was revealed much earlier. Second, the Tradition narrated by Muqatil b. Sulayman states explicitly that on the occasion of the arrival of the deputation from Najran only those verses which concern the Prophets John (Yahya) and Jesus ('Isa) (peace be on them) were revealed, and the number of those verses is about thirty.