It is likewise reported from Mujāhid that he said, “It refers to the festivals of the idolaters,” (1) and the same was transmitted from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas (2) who said: “the festivals of the idolaters.” (3)
In the same vein, it is narrated from ʿIkrimah that he said, “It was a pastime they had in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance.” (4)
Judge Abū Yaʿlā said, in the section concerning the prohibition of attending the idolaters’ festivals:
Abū al-Shaykh al-Aṣbahānī related with his chain of transmission, in his work Shurūṭ Ahl al-Dhimmah, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk regarding the Almighty’s words,
“And those who do not bear witness to falsehood” (al-Furqān 25:72),
that he said, “It means the festival of the idolaters.” (5)
He also narrated with his chain from Abū Sinān, from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning the same verse, that he said: “It is the speech of shirk.” (6)
And he transmitted with his chain from Juwaybir (7) from al-Ḍaḥḥāk, “And those who do not bear witness to falsehood” (al-Furqān 25:72)
(1) The pronoun goes back to al-zur (falsehood).
(2) Al-Rabiʿ ibn Anas al-Bakri—also called al-Hanafi—was originally from Basra and later lived in Khurasan. Al-ʿIjli and Abu Hatim graded him trustworthy (saduq); al-Nasaʾi said “there is no harm in him,” and Ibn Hibban included him among the reliable narrators. Some accused him of Shiʿi leanings. Ibn Hajar, in Taqrib al-Tahdhib, likewise calls him trustworthy but notes that he makes mistakes. The Six canonical collections transmit from him except al-Bukhari and Muslim. He died in 140 AH. See: Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 3:238–39, no. 461; Taqrib al-Tahdhib 1:243, no. 31.
(3) See Ibn Kathir, Tafsir, 3:328–29.
(4) See al-Qurtubi, Tafsir, 13:79–80.
(5) Al-Suyuti also records the report from Ibn ʿAbbas in al-Durr al-Manthur, 5:80.
(6) See al-Tabari, Tafsir, 19:31.
(7) Juwaybir ibn Saʿid al-Azdi, Abu al-Qasim al-Balkhi, counted among the Kufan narrators. Ibn Maʿin said “he is nothing,” while al-Nasaʾi and al-Daraqutni deemed him abandoned; the leading hadith scholars declared him weak, though tafsir specialists regarded his reports as acceptable. He died between 140 and 150 AH. See: Ibn Hajar, Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 2:123–24, no. 200.