3: The House of `Imr'an

This chapter consists of 200 verses arranged in twenty sections; like the previous
one and Chapters 29 through 32, it begins with the initials A.L.M., It was revealed
during the third or fourth year which the Prophet spent in Madina (approximately
625 A. D.), after the chapter on Booty 7 and before The Coalition 33.
Imran was a common ancestor of Moses and Jesus. The first section teaches
us how to read the Qur'an; the second explains the principle of God's Oneness.
Persecution and the concept of God as the Sovereign are discussed in section iii.
The stories of Zachariah (IV) and Jesus (V-VI) follow. Abraham appears in VII.
Exploitation and arrogation are explained in VIII, and how to treat turncoats in
IX. The parable of The Bitter Wind comes in XII while the pious or heedful
are described in XIV. We learn about the Prophet's trials with the battle of Uhud
in the year 3 / 625 (XIII ùóó XVI). The Town Crier gives us another figure; with him
the chapter ends (XX).