forms of verse, and what he recites is simply not poetry.

They said, “Then we will say he is a sorcerer.”

He replied, “He is no sorcerer. We have seen magicians and their craft; what he brings is neither their breath-blowing nor their knot-tying.”

They asked, “So what shall we say, Abū ʿAbd Shams?”

He answered, “By Allah, his speech has a sweetness; its root is luxuriant and its branches bear ripe fruit. Whatever label you attach to it will be exposed as false. The nearest thing you can say is: ‘He is a sorcerer who separates a man from his father, a man from his brother, a man from his wife, and a man from his clan.’”

They dispersed and took to sitting along the roads during the pilgrimage season; no one passed by them without their warning him about Muhammad and telling him of his matter. Then Allah, Exalted is He, revealed concerning al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah:

“Leave Me with the one I created alone” (al-Muddaththir: 11)

up to His words:

“I shall roast him in Saqar” (al-Muddaththir: 26).

And He revealed about the band who were with him:

“those who have broken the Quran into fragments” (al-Ḥijr: 91),

meaning: they divided it into assorted parts.