Where it was revealed is disputed. This sheet follows al-Qurtubi, who holds it is Makkan; the standard printed Qur'an lists it as Madinan.
The people of Makkah did not know the name ar-Rahman, the Most Merciful. This surah introduces Him by what He gives. And 31 times it stops to ask humans and jinn the same question: which of these would you deny?
Awaiting scholar review
The thread
Makkah hears Muhammad ﷺ call on "ar-Rahman", the Most Merciful, and asks what that is. The surah answers with a list, not a definition. What He taught. What He made. What will end, how He will judge, and what He will give. After each item it turns to its two audiences, humans and jinn, and asks which of these they would call a lie.
Background
First, a name. The people of Makkah were not used to the name ar-Rahman, the Most Merciful. Muhammad ﷺ called on that name, and the Qur'an records their reply: "And what is ar-Rahman?" (25:60). Ma'ariful Qur'an suggests this is one reason the surah opens with that single word: to introduce them to it.
Then the Ka'bah, in the early years. Ibn Ishaq, an early biographer of the Prophet ﷺ, reports that 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud was the first person to recite the Qur'an aloud there, in front of Quraysh, the tribe that ran Makkah. He recited this surah. They beat him for it.
Al-Qurtubi, as Ma'ariful Qur'an reports, holds that the surah is Makkan and prefers that view. One piece of evidence is a hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ says he recited it to the jinn on "the night of the jinn", a meeting that took place in Makkah. Jinn, in the Qur'an, are creatures humans cannot see. They can choose to believe or refuse, just as humans can.
So this surah speaks to two audiences at once, humans and jinn, all the way through. And nearly everything in it comes in twos: sun and moon, two sunrises and two sunsets, two seas, two gardens and then two more. Even the "you" in the refrain is the Arabic form for exactly two.
The journey of the surah
1-13
The introduction One word: the Most Merciful. He taught the Qur'an, made man, gave him speech. Sun, moon, sky, a balance, an earth full of food. Then the question, for the first time.
14-25
The two listeners Man from clay that rings, jinn from flame. Two sunrises, two seas that meet and stay apart, pearls, ships like mountains.
26-30
The turn Everyone on earth will pass away. One thing stays. And everyone in the heavens and the earth is asking Him for something, every day.
31-45
The reckoning "We will attend to you." Run, if there is anywhere to run. A sky like a rose. And still, the question.
46-61
Two gardens For whoever was in awe of standing before his Lord. Branches, springs, fruit within reach. Is the reward for good anything but good?
62-78
Two more, and the name Two further gardens, so green they are almost black. The surah ends where it began: on His name.
How the jinn answered
The Prophet ﷺ once recited this surah to his Companions from beginning to end. They listened and said nothing. He told them: "I recited it to the jinn on the night of the jinn, and they answered better than you."
"Every time I reached 'So which of the favours of your Lord would you deny?' they said: La bi-shay'in min ni'amika Rabbana nukadhdhib, fa-laka al-hamd. 'We deny none of Your favours, our Lord, and to You belongs all praise.'" (Tirmidhi 3291; al-Hakim)
Ibn Kathir passes this on and adds that al-Tirmidhi called the hadith gharib, a technical term of hadith grading. He gives a second report, from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, with the same point. He also notes that Ibn 'Abbas, the Prophet's ﷺ cousin, used to answer the refrain himself: "No, our Lord."
So the refrain was heard, from early on, as a real question. The people who first listened to it thought it expected a reply.
The lessons
The teaching comes first The surah lists teaching the Qur'an before creating the human being. The gift it starts with is knowledge. Ayah 1-3
The balance is built in The balance is placed between the sky and the earth. Then people are told not to cheat it. Fair dealing is treated as part of how the world is made. Ayah 7-9
The question expects an answer The jinn replied every time: none of them, our Lord. Ibn 'Abbas did the same. Ayah 13
One thing stays Everyone on earth passes away. An early scholar's advice: never stop there, but read straight on to the next line. Ayah 26-27
A warning is also a gift The refrain follows even the scenes of Hell. Ibn Kathir's reading: being told in advance is itself a mercy. Ayah 43-45
Good for good "Is the reward for good anything but good?" One line states the rule the two gardens run on. Ayah 60
Virtues, with their grading
"Everything has an adornment, and the adornment of the Qur'an is Ar-Rahman." The surah is often called "the Bride of the Qur'an".
al-Bayhaqi Da'if Grader to be confirmed
Section by section
1-13
One word, then a list
Makkah asked what ar-Rahman is. The surah starts its answer with the name itself. Then with the first things He gave.
7 And the heaven He raised and imposed the balance 8 That you not transgress within the balance. 9 And establish weight in justice and do not make deficient the balance.
Ar-Rahmān 55:7-9
فَبِأَيِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ ١٣
13 So which of the favors of your Lord would you deny?
Ar-Rahmān 55:13
What's happening
The first ayah is one word: ar-Rahman, the Most Merciful. No verb, no oath, no address. It is the name Makkah had asked about, set down alone. Everything that follows hangs from it.
Then four quick statements. He taught the Qur'an. He created man. He taught him bayan, the ability to express himself. The order is odd on purpose: the teaching is listed before the making (see the closer look).
The camera pulls back. The sun and the moon run to a calculation. Small plants, or perhaps the stars, and the trees bow down. He raised the sky and set up the balance. At once comes an instruction: do not cheat the balance yourselves. He laid out the earth for living things: fruit, date palms in their sheaths, grain in its husk, sweet-smelling plants.
After that list, ayah 13 asks for the first time: so which of the favours of your Lord would you two deny? It will be asked 30 more times.
The answer to "what is ar-Rahman?" is a list of what He has given, starting with knowledge.
19 He released the two seas, meeting [one another];
20 Between them is a barrier so neither of them transgresses.
Ar-Rahmān 55:19-20
يَخۡرُجُ مِنۡهُمَا ٱللُّؤۡلُؤُ وَٱلۡمَرۡجَانُ ٢٢
22 From both of them emerge pearl and coral.
Ar-Rahmān 55:22
What's happening
The refrain has just said "you two". Now the two are named. Man, made from dry clay, like pottery. The jinn, made from a smokeless flame. One sentence each. Then the question again.
Then the world they share, also in twos. He is Lord of the two sunrises and the two sunsets: the points on the horizon where the sun comes up and goes down in summer and in winter.
He let the two seas loose, fresh water and salt, so that they meet. Between them is a barrier, and neither overruns the other. Out of them come pearls and coral. On them sail ships that stand up from the water like mountains.
Each of these is followed by the same question. By ayah 25 it has been asked six times.
Two listeners, and a world of pairs laid out in front of both.
29 Whoever is within the heavens and earth asks Him; every day He is in [i.e., bringing about] a matter.
Ar-Rahmān 55:29
What's happening
So far the surah has been a list of things: sun, grain, seas, ships. Ayah 26 stops the list with one short sentence. Everyone on the earth will pass away.
Ayah 27 finishes the thought: and there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of majesty and honour. The gifts are temporary. So are the people enjoying them. The giver is not.
Then ayah 29 brings it close, and daily. Everyone in the heavens and the earth asks of Him. Every day He is engaged in some matter. A hadith on Ziyaad's sheet (Ibn Majah 202) explains the matter as forgiving a sin, relieving a distress, raising some people and lowering others.
And the question is asked again, twice. It now covers more than fruit and pearls. It covers the fact that there is someone to ask.
The gifts end. The One who gives them does not, and He is still giving.
33 O company of jinn and mankind, if you are able to pass beyond the regions of the heavens and the earth, then pass. You will not pass except by authority [from Allāh].
41 The criminals will be known by their marks, and they will be seized by the forelocks and the feet.
Ar-Rahmān 55:41
What's happening
The tone changes in one line. "We will attend to you, you two weighty ones." The two listeners have been handed gift after gift. Now they are told there will be a reckoning for what they did with them.
Ayah 33 is a dare, addressed to both by name: company of jinn and humans, if you can get out past the edges of the heavens and the earth, go. You will not get out without authority. Ayah 35 says what meets anyone who tries: a flame of fire and smoke, or, in another explanation (Mujahid's), molten brass.
Then the scene itself. The sky splits and turns red like a rose. Ayah 39 says no one is asked about his sin (see the closer look for how this is read). The guilty are known by their marks and taken by the forelock and the feet. They are told: this is the Hell you called a lie. They go back and forth between it and scalding water.
And after every one of these, still, the question: which of the favours of your Lord would you deny? That needs explaining (see the closer look).
The gifts came with a reckoning. Being told so in advance is counted among the gifts.
The surah turns from those who denied to someone else: whoever was in awe of standing before his Lord. For that person there are two gardens.
They are described a line at a time, with the question after each. Spreading branches. Two flowing springs. Two kinds of every fruit. Couches lined with thick silk, and the fruit of both gardens hanging within reach. Companions who keep their eyes for their partners alone, compared to rubies and coral. The Prophet ﷺ described two gardens of silver and two of gold (Bukhari 4878).
Then ayah 60 gives the principle behind all of it, as a question: is the reward for ihsan anything but ihsan? Ihsan means doing good, and doing it well. In Arabic the ayah is five words.
78 Blessed is the name of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honor.
Ar-Rahmān 55:78
What's happening
The surah could have ended on ayah 60. It goes on: and besides those two, or below them, two more gardens. These are deep green. Two gushing springs, fruit, date palms and pomegranates. Companions kept in pavilions, green cushions, fine carpets.
Many commentators hold that the first pair is for the Foremost, those brought nearest to Allah, and the second pair for the People of the Right, the wider body of believers. Those are the ranks set out in the very next surah, al-Waqi'ah. Not everyone reads it that way (see the closer look).
The refrain is asked for the 31st and last time. Then the surah closes on a single line: blessed is the name of your Lord, Owner of majesty and honour. It began with a name. It ends by blessing it.
Paradise has more than one level, and the surah ends on the name it started with.