وَهُدُوا إِلَى الطَّيِّبِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ وَهُدُوا إِلَىٰ صِرَاطِ الْحَمِيدِ (24)
(22:24) (This is because) they were guided to accept the pure Word, *39 and shown the Way of the All Praiseworthy *40 .
*39) "Pure Word": though it may imply every pure thing, here it refers to the basic articles of the Faith.
*40) As already stated in the Introduction, the portion of the Surah, which was sent down at Makkah, comes to an end here. Though its style is clearly that of the Makki Surahs and there is nothing to indicate that any part (or the whole) of it was revealed at al-Madinah, yet the words, "these are the two parties", have given rise to the misunderstanding that this verse was revealed at al-Madinah. Some commentators are of the opinion that the two parties referred to were the parties who met in the Battle of Badr, but there is nothing in the context to support this opinion. On the other hand, from the context in which these words occur, it becomes obvious that the two parties referred to were the "Believers and the disbelievers." For the conflict between Belief and disbelief has always been going on ever since the creation of man and will go on upto the Day of Resurrection.
Incidentally, this latter view helps prove that the Qur'an is a continuous whole and every part of it is closely connected with the other: whereas the comments mentioned earlier would imply that there is no continuous theme in the Qur'an but different parts of it have been put together without rhyme or reason.