This sūra begins and ends with controversy between the messenger and his audience. The listeners look for help and protection from every source except Allah. The Quran illustrates their situation with a simile about a spider. Taking protection apart from Allah is like a spider’s web, “the most feeble of houses” (v. 41).
In the middle of the sūra are brief references to Noah, Shu‘ayb, Korah, Pharaoh and Haman, and to the peoples of ‘Ād and Thamūd, plus longer stories about Abraham and Lot.
Much of the last part of the sūra instructs and encourages the messenger directly and states that Allah inspires and “sends down” his recitations.