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

Chapter 22: Surah al-Hajj
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
(And among mankind is he who worshippeth Allah upon a narrow marge…) [22:11].
The commentators of the Qur’an said: “This verse was revealed about some Bedouins who used to travel
from the desert to Medina to see the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace. If one of
them had, during such visits, good health, or his mare gave birth to seemly foals or his wife gave him a
boy, such that his wealth and cattle multiplied — he would be pleased and well contended. He would say:
‘Since I embraced this religion, I have not seen anything but good’. If, on the other hand, he fell ill, during
such visits, or his wife gave birth to a girl, or his foals were stillborn, such that he lost his wealth, or such
that the payment of alms to him was delayed — the devil would come to him and whisper: ‘Since you
embraced this religion, you have not gained anything but evil’, and thus he would renounce his religion.
Allah, exalted is, therefore, revealed (And among mankind is he who worshippeth Allah upon a narrow
marge)”. 1
‘Atiyyah reported that Abu Sa‘id al-Khudri said: “A Jewish man who had embraced Islam lost his sight,
wealth and children. He thought that Islam was ill-omened and so he went to the Prophet, Allah bless
him and give him peace, and said: ‘Discharge me!’ The Prophet said: ‘you do not get discharged from
Islam’. The man said: ‘I did not gain any good from this religion of mine!’ The Prophet said: ‘O Jew, Islam
smelts men as fire smelts the dross of iron, silver and gold’. Then the verse (And among mankind is he who
worshippeth Allah upon a narrow marge) was revealed”. 2
(These Twain (the believers and disbelievers) are two opponents who contend concerning their
Lord…) [22:19].
Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Muzakki informed us> ‘Abd al-Malik ibn al-Hasan ibn
Yusuf> Yusuf ibn Ya‘qub al-Qadi> ‘Umar ibn Marzuq> Shu‘bah> Abu Hashim> Abu Majlaz> Qays ibn
‘Ubad who reported that he heard Abu Dharr say: “I swear by Allah that this verse (These Twain (the
believers and disbelievers) are two opponents who contend concerning their Lord) was revealed about the
following six: Hamzah, ‘Ubaydah, ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, ‘Utbah, Shaybah, and al-Walid ibn ‘Utbah”. 3 This was
narrated by Bukhari from Hajjaj ibn Minhal from Hushaym from Abu Hashim.
Abu Bakr ibn al-Harth informed us> Abu’l-Shaykh al-Hafiz> Muhammad ibn Sulayman> Hilal ibn
Bishr> Yusuf ibn Ya‘qub>> Sulayman al-Taymi> Abu Majlaz> Qays ibn ‘Ubad> ‘Ali who said: “The words
of Allah (These Twain (the believers and disbelievers) are two opponents who contend concerning their
Lord) up to (Taste the doom of burning) [22:22] was revealed about us and about our duels on the Day
of Badr”. 4
Said Ibn ‘Abbas: “This refers to the people of the Book. The latter said to the believers: ‘We have a better
right to Allah than you; our Scripture is older than yours and our prophet came before your prophet’. The
believers said: ‘It is us who have a better right to Allah than you; we believe in Muhammad and in your
prophet as we believe in all revealed Scriptures. You have recognized our prophet but refrained from
believing in him. You disbelieved in him only because you envied him resentfully’. This was their issue
1
Tabari, :122-123; Qurtubi, :127; Durr, :13-14.
2
Qurtubi, :17.
3
Tabari, :131-132; Qurtubi, :25; Durr, :18-19.
4
Qurtubi, :26.