Overall meaning : After stating that one of the reasons for commanding the change of the qiblah from Jerusalem to the Ka’bah is to complete His favour and grace on the faithful and perfect the laws of the religion of Abraham, peace be upon him, Allah Almighty further states that such grace is similar to that He has previously bestowed upon the Arabs, namely sending Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as a messenger from among themselves, whose pure descent and good character they know very well. He has come to them to recite the Qur’an to them, cleanse them from the filth of worshipping false gods besides Allah—the Only True God, elucidate the meanings of the Qur’an to them, instil them with his practice (Sunnah) and teach them things they have never known before, such as past or future incidents and all that cannot be possibly learnt about by the human mind except through the means of divine revelation. The Almighty then directs His servants to remember Him by word and deed, assuring them that He will also remember them—a great reward indeed! He further instructs them to give thanks to Him for His grace and not to be ungrateful to Him.
He then directs the believers to seek help with all their worldly and religious matters through patience and prayer, stating that He, Exalted be He, is with the patient—a special divine company which entails being close to them, loving them and providing them with His support and protection.
Allah Almighty also enjoins them not to say with certainty that those are killed fighting for His cause are dead, assuring that they are in fact alive enjoying the bliss of Paradise even if people may not be aware of this.
He further informs the believers that He will test them with a certain amount of fear and hunger, loss of some of their wealth, loss of life and shortage of their food crops; and directs His Prophet, Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to give good news to those who endure with fortitude such trials and say with utter certainty, ‘Surely we belong to Allah and to Him we will return.’ That is, they are His slaves who are under His absolute control and that they will be returned to Him after death and be brought before His presence on the Day of Judgement to repay everyone according to their deeds. These will surely earn Allah’s praise and blessings, and His mercy will descend upon them; and they are certainly the ones whom He has guided to the truth and aided in acting according to its dictates.