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

Chapter 56: Surah al-Waqi‘ah
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
(Among thornless lote-trees) [56:28].
Abu’l-‘Aliyah and al-Dahhak said: “Once, Muslims looked at Wajj, a fertile valley in Ta’if, and admired
its lote-trees. They said: ‘If only we had something like this!’ Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse in
response”. 1
(A multitude of those of old, And a multitude of those of later time) [56:13-14, 39-40].
‘Urwah ibn Ruwaym said: “When Allah, exalted is He, revealed (A multitude of those of old, And a few of
those of later time) [56:13-14], ‘Umar [ibn al-Khattab] wept and said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, we believed
in you and accepted your message and despite this only a few of us will be saved’. Allah, exalted is He,
revealed (A multitude of those of old, And a multitude of those of later time). The Messenger of Allah, Allah
bless him and give him peace, then summoned ‘Umar and said: ‘O ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, Allah has
revealed something about what you said and made it (A multitude of those of old, And a multitude of those
of later time)’. ‘Umar exclaimed: ‘We are pleased with our Lord and believe in our Prophet. The Messenger
of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, then said: ‘From Adam to us a multitude of people, and
from me to the Day of Judgement a multitude which will only be completed by black herdsmen who say,
there is no deity except Allah’ ”.
(And make denial thereof your livelihood) [56:82].
Sa‘id ibn Muhammad al-Mu’adhdhin informed us> Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Hamdun> Ahmad
ibn al-Hasan al-Hafiz> Hamdan al-Sulami> al-Nadr ibn Muhammad> ‘Ikrimah ibn ‘Ammar> Abu Zumayl>
Ibn ‘Abbas who said: “People were once blessed with rain at the time of the Messenger of Allah,
Allah bless him and give him peace, and so the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace,
said: ‘Some people have woken up this morning as grateful people while others have woken up as disbelievers.
The former said: This is a blessing sent by Allah, exalted is He, while the latter said: the prediction
based on such-and-such a star has been fulfilled’. The following verse was then revealed (Nay, I swear by
the places of the stars) [56:75] up to His words (And make denial thereof your livelihood)”. 2 This is narrated
by Muslim from ‘Abbas ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azim from al-Nadr ibn Muhammad.
It was also reported that once the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, travelled and after traversing
a distance camped at a certain place. People were very thirsty but they had no water to drink.
They mentioned this to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and he said: “What if I made a
prayer and you were given rain, would you say that we were given rain thanks to such-and-such a star”
They said: “O Messenger of Allah, this is not the time of stars”. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him
peace, prayed two units of prayer and made supplications to Allah, glorified and blessed is He. The wind
erupted and clouds appeared. Rain then poured down so much so that streams of water run down the
valleys. People filled their water containers. But then the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give
him peace, passed by a man who was using a goblet to ladle water. The man was saying: “We were given
rain thanks to such-and-such a star”, and failed to say: “This is the sustenance of Allah, glorified is He”.
1
Qurtubi, :307.
2
Qurtubi, :228; Durr, :28.