Al-W¥^idÏ's Asb¥b al-Nuz‰l - The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies ...

Chapter 7: Surah al-A‘raf
Ibn ‘Abbas and other commentators of the Qur’an said this relates to Bal‘am ibn Ba‘ura. 2
Said al-Walib: “He was a man from the city of al-Jabbarin and his name was Bal‘am. This man knew Allah’s
greatest name. When Moses, peace be upon him, went to this city, his cousins and people went to see
Bal‘am and said to him: ‘Moses is a tough man and he has a huge army. He will definitely destroy us if he
ever conquers us. Pray to Allah that he drives Moses and those with him away from us’. The man said: ‘I
will lose both this world and the next if I were to pray to Allah to drive away Moses and those with him’.
But they kept insisting until he prayed against Moses and those with him. As a result, [Allah] stripped
him of what he had. Hence Allah’s saying (but he sloughed them off…)”. 3
Said ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘As and Zayd ibn Aslam: “This verse was revealed about Umayyah ibn
Abi al-Salt al-Thaqafi who had studied the Scriptures and knew that Allah was about to send a messenger
at around that time, hoping to be himself that messenger. When Allah, exalted is He, sent Muhammad,
Allah bless him and give him peace, he envied him resentfully and disbelieved in him”. 4
Ibn ‘Abbas said, according to the report of ‘Ikrimah: “This verse is about a man who was given three
prayers which were answered. This man had a wife called al-Basus who loved him, and from her he had
children. One day she said to him: ‘Let one of those answered prayers of yours be for me’. He said: ‘One
is for you, what do you wish for’ She said: ‘Ask Allah to make me the most beautiful woman among the
Children of Israel’. [He did and] when she knew that there was no one like her, she shunned him and
wanted something else. The man prayed to Allah to make her a barking dog. And so, two prayers were
wasted. Then, her children came to him and said: ‘We cannot stand this, our mother has become a barking
dog and people are insulting us because of her. Pray that Allah restores her to her initial state’. The
man prayed and she became as she was before. But all three answered prayers were now wasted. This is
al-Basus whose ill-omen became a proverb. People say: He/she is more ill-omened than al-Basus”. 5
(They ask thee of the (destined) Hour, when will it come to port…) [7:187].
Said ibn ‘Abbas: “Jabal ibn Qushayr and Shamwal ibn Zayd, who belonged to the Jews, said: ‘O Muhammad,
tell us when the last Hour will be, if you are really a prophet, for we know when it is going to be’
And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse”. 6
Qatadah said: “The Quraysh said to Muhammad: ‘There are between us ties of kinship, so tell us the
timing of the last Hour’ And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse (They ask thee of the (destined)
Hour)”. 7
Abu Sa‘id ibn Abu Bakr al-Warraq informed us> Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hamdan> Abu Ya‘la>
‘Uqbah ibn Mukram> Yunus> ‘Abd al-Ghaffar ibn al-Qasim> Aban ibn Laqit> Qarzah ibn Hassan who
said: “I heard Abu Musa on a Friday on the pulpit of the main mosque of Basrah say: ‘The Messenger
of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, was asked about the timing of the last Hour while I was
present, and so he said: ‘None know its timing except Allah. He alone will manifest it at its proper time.
However, I will inform you about its signs and what will happen ahead of it. There will be a lot of trials
and harj ahead of the last Hour’. They asked: ‘What does harj mean, O Messenger of Allah’ He said:
‘This is an Abyssinian word which means killing, dryness of people’s hearts and that one is cast among
strangers, such that people hardly know each other, those who have good minds will disappear and only
a group of weak people will remain who would neither know good nor forbid evil” ’. 8
2
Durr, :610.
3
Tabari, :120-122.
4
Durr, :609; Tabari, :121; Qurtubi, :320.
5
Durr, :608-609; Qurtubi, :320.
6
Durr, :619; Tabari, :137.
7
Durr, :619; Tabari, :140.
8
Durr, :620.
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