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

Asbab al-Nuzul
then ‘A’ishah his wife who dropped a necklace made of gems from Dhafar and so he held back people to
look for it and they remained there until dawn. Because people did not have water with them, Abu Bakr
got very angry with her. Then Allah, exalted is He, revealed to his Messenger, Allah bless him and give
him peace, the story of purifying oneself with clean soil. The Muslims got up, struck the soil with their
hands and then lifted them up without retaining any soil on them and wiped their faces and hands up to
the shoulders as well as the palms of their hands up to the armpits”. 22 Said al-Zuhr: “We heard that Abu
Bakr then said to ‘A’ishah: ‘By Allah, I know that you are blessed’ ”.
(Hast thou not seen those who praise themselves for purity) [4:49].
Said al-Kalbi: “This was revealed about a group of Jewish men who went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah
bless him and give him peace, and said: ‘O Muhammad! Do these children of ours incur any sins’ ‘No!’
he replied. They said: ‘By Him by means of Whom we swear, we are just like them; there is no sin that we
commit during the day except that it is expiated comes the night, and there is no sin that we commit at
night except that it is expiated comes the day’. This is how they praised themselves for purity”.
(Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe
in idols and false deities…) [4:51].
Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya informed us> his father> Muhammad ibn Ishaq
al-Thaqafi> ‘Abd al-Jabbar ibn al-‘Ala’> Sufyan> ‘Amr>> ‘Ikrimah who said: “When Huyayy ibn Akhtab
and Ka‘b al-Ashraf went to the people of Mecca they were asked: ‘You are people of Scripture and ancient
knowledge, so tell us about us and Muhammad’ ‘What do you have to do with Muhammad’ he said.
They said: ‘We slaughter high-humped camels, give milk on top of water for others to drink, we assist
those who are wronged, we do not severe ties of kinship and give water to the pilgrims and our religion
is ancient while Muhammad’s religion is new’. The Jews said: ‘Rather, you are better than him and more
guided in your way’. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion
of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities) up to His words, exalted is He,
(… and he whom Allah hath cursed, thou (O Muhammad) wilt find for him no helper) [4:52]”. 23
The commentators of the Qur’an said: “After the Battle of Uhud, Ka‘b ibn al-Ashraf went to Mecca, accompanied
by seventy riders, in order to ally themselves with Quraysh against the Messenger of Allah,
Allah bless him and give him peace, and break the covenant which they had with Allah’s Messenger, Allah
bless him and give him peace. Ka‘b was the guest of Abu Sufyan while the other Jews were accommodated
in the houses of Quraysh. The people of Mecca said: ‘Your are people of Scripture and Muhammad
has a Scripture and we are not completely sure that this is a scheme that you devised. So if you want us
to go along with you, you have to prostrate to these two idols and believe in them’, hence Allah’s saying
(they believe in idols and false deities). Ka‘b then said to the people of Mecca: ‘Let there be thirty of us and
thirty of you; we shall all go to the Ka‘bah and cling to it and promise the Lord of the House that we will
do our best to fight Muhammad’. When they finished doing that, Abu Sufyan asked Ka‘b: ‘You are a man
who reads the Scripture and has knowledge while we are unlettered people who have no knowledge. Tell
me: who is more guided in his way and closer to the truth, is it us or Muhammad’ Ka‘b said: ‘Tell me
about your religion’. Abu Sufyan said: ‘We slaughter high-humped camels for the benefit of pilgrims, we
give them water to drink, we welcome the guest, assist the wronged, keep our ties of kinship un-severed,
populate the House of our Lord, circumambulate around it, and we are the inhabitants of the Sacred
Precinct. Muhammad, on the other hand, is someone who has left the religion of his forefathers, severed
his ties of kinship and went away from the Sacred Precinct. Moreover, our religion is ancient while his
is new’. Ka‘b said: ‘By Allah, you are more guided in your way than he is’. And so Allah, exalted is He,
revealed (Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe
22
Qurtubi, :240. Contrary to what the able editor of the Arabic text has established, I read Jadha‘ Dhafar instead of Jidh‘ Dhafar.
Dhafar referred to here is a city close to Yemen.
23
Durr, :562; Tabari, :134.
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