just as We created Eve from a male without a female, and created Adam from neither male nor female, while We created all other children of Adam from both male and female—as He says elsewhere: “and so that We might make him a sign for mankind and a mercy from Us” (Maryam 21), that is, a token and proof of Our manifest power, “and a mercy from Us” by which We show mercy to whom We will.
Ibn Isḥāq (1) also mentioned al-Akhnas ibn Sharīq and the revelation of Allah’s words about him: “And do not obey every contemptible habitual swearer” (al-Qalam 10) and the following verses.
He likewise related the case of al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, who said, “Is revelation sent down to Muḥammad while I, the elder and chief of Quraysh, am ignored? And Abū Masʿūd ʿAmr ibn ʿUmayr al-Thaqafī, the leader of Thaqīf, is ignored as well? We two are the great men of the two towns.” Concerning him Allah revealed: “And they say, ‘Why was this Qur’an not sent down upon a great man from [one of] the two towns?’” (al-Zukhruf 31) and the verse that follows (2).
He (3) also cited Ubayy ibn Khalaf when he said to ʿUqbah ibn Muʿayṭ, “Has it not reached me that you sat with Muḥammad and listened to him? My face is forbidden to yours unless you spit in his face.” So the enemy of Allah, ʿUqbah—may Allah curse him—did so, whereupon Allah revealed: “On that Day the wrongdoer will bite his own hands and say, ‘Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger! Woe to me! Would that I had not taken so-and-so as an intimate friend’” (al-Furqān 27–28) and the verses that follow.
He went on: Ubayy ibn Khalaf once approached holding a decayed bone that had crumbled away and said, “Muḥammad, you claim that Allah will resurrect this after it has turned to dust.” He then crushed it in his hand and blew its fragments toward the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. The Prophet replied, “Yes, that is what I say: Allah will resurrect it—and you as well—after you both have become like this, then He will cast you into the Fire.” Thereupon Allah revealed: “He strikes a parable for Us and forgets his own creation; he says, ‘Who will give life to bones when they are crumbled?’ Say: ‘He who created them the first time will give them life, and He is, of every creation, All-Knowing’” (Yā Sīn 78–79), to the end of the sūrah (4).
He added: It has reached me that while the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was circumambulating by the gate of the Kaʿbah, al-Aswad ibn al-Mughīrah, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil confronted him and said, “Muḥammad, come—let us worship what you worship and you worship what we worship; then we and you will share the matter.” Concerning them Allah revealed: “Say, ‘O disbelievers! I do not worship what you worship…’” (al-Kāfirūn 1–2) to the end of the sūrah.
When Abū Jahl heard mention of the tree of Zaqqūm, he said, “Do you know what Zaqqūm is? It is the dates of Yathrib mixed with butter. Come, let us eat zaqqūm!” Thereupon Allah, exalted is He, revealed: “Indeed, the tree of Zaqqūm will be the food of the sinner” (al-Dukhān 43–44) (5).