Ulum al Qur'an CONTENTS ONLINE LIBRARY The Qur'an has been
revealed for guidance, for all times and situations to come.
However, various ayat were revealed at a particular time in
history and in particular circumstances. The Arabic word sabab
(pl. asbab) means reason, cause and 'marifa asbab al-nuzul' is
the knowledge about the reasons of the revelations, i.e. the
knowledge about the particular events and circumstances in
history that are related to the revelation of particular
passages from the Qur'an.