The primary narrative of the surah revolves around a historical event used to comfort early persecuted Muslims by recalling an ancient group of believers who were burned alive in a trench.
Surah 85:4-7:
Cursed were the companions of the trench the fire full of fuel, When they were sitting near it, And they, to what they were doing against the believers, were witnesses."
The Historical Error: While the Quran leaves the identity of these people vague, the most authoritative Islamic commentaries (Tafsir Ibn Kathir and Sahih Muslim 3005) explicitly identify this event as the 6th-century massacre of Christians in Najran (modern Saudi Arabia) by the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas.
The critical historical contradiction here is that the Quran identifies these ancient victims as "believers" (mu'minin) in the exact same theological mold as Muhammad’s followers.
In reality, the martyrs of Najran were orthodox, Miaphysite Christians who explicitly confessed the absolute deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity—theological claims that the Quran repeatedly labels as blasphemy punishable by hellfire (e.g., Surah 5:72-73).
The text claims historical continuity with these martyrs while completely reversing the actual gospel faith they died protecting.