So His—exalted is He—statement,

“By the fig and the olive, by Mount Sinai, and by this secure city” (95:1–3),

is an oath in which He swears by the three noble and exalted places where His light and guidance shone forth and where He sent down the three scriptures: the Torah, the Gospel, and the Qur’an. These same three are mentioned in the Torah, where it is said:

“Allah came from Mount Sinai, He shone forth from Seir, and He appeared from the mountains of Paran.”

Because the wording in the Torah is a historical report, it lists the places in chronological order, mentioning each one as it occurred. The Qur’an, however, swears by them to magnify their rank, and that in turn magnifies His power—glorified be He—together with His signs, His books, and His messengers. Hence He swore by them in a graduated sequence, level after level, and concluded with the loftiest of them. He began by swearing “by the fig and the olive,” then “by Mount Sinai,” and finally “by Mecca,” because the most honored of the scriptures