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Al-Baqara is the longest sūra in the Qu’rān. Named al-Baqara, (“The Cow”), it contains an account of Moses instructing the Israelites to offer a cow as a sacrifice to Allah (Q 2.67-71). This sūra addresses a wide variety of practical topics, including significant portions of Islāmic law. It retells stories of famous biblical characters such as Adam, Abraham, and Moses.

The sūra is classified as Medinan because it was revealed over the course of the first two years of the Hijra^D, Muhammad’s migration period (AH 1-2/AD 622-623). However, certain verses in this sūra belong to earlier and later periods. For example, Q 2.21-39 and the phrase “O ye folk”  (verses 21 and 168) are believed to have been revealed while Muhammad was in Mecca. After Muhammad migrated to Medina, he began using a different phrase: “O ye who believe!” (Q 2.104).

On the other hand, there are other verses believed to have been revealed after the second year of Muhammad’s migration to Medina, such as these examples: 

• Verse 114 was revealed c. AH 6/AD 627-628 (refers to the Treaty of Hudaybīya^D). 
• Verses 190-194 discuss the doctrine of jihād^D after the Treaty of Hudaybīya.
• Verses 111-113 were revealed c. AH 9/AD 630-631 (deals with the year of delegations). 

Moreover, verses 278-281 are believed to have been revealed during the last year of Muhammad’s life because they are connected to the “Farewell Pilgrimage^D,” performed by Muhammad before his death At the end of the sūra there is a condemnation of riba (usury).¹ The verses pertaining to usury are believed to be among the last verses revealed in the entire Qur’ān.

The composing of sūra al-Baqara, including the modifications and corrections, took more than eight years, from AH 1-8/AD 622-629.

Sūra al-Baqara addresses the following topics:

• Legislation—the major pilgrimage (Hajj), minor pilgrimage (‘Umra), fasting, and jihād. The laws found in Q 2 were revealed early in Muhammad’s period in Medina. However, while gathering the written Qur’ān, many changes were inserted into Q 2 from different time periods. As a result, al-Baqara became the largest legislative sūra in the Qur’ān.²
• Controversies—criticism of, debates with, and incitements against the Jews (Q 2.83-105, 174-177) as well as other volatile issues occupy a large part of this sūra.
• Politics—criticism of Muhammad’s opponents in Medina (Q 2.206), who are labeled “the hypocrites.”

In this sūra, Muhammad introduces rituals, e.g., qibla, the pilgrimages, that some of his contemporaries questioned because they believed these rituals contained paganistic elements. 

This sūra also contains stories originally found in biblical and rabbinical literature.³

1 Nöldeke, Tarikh al-Qur’an 166.

 2 al-Haddad, Atwar al-da‘wa 764.