It is related from Abū Jaʿfar al-Bāqir that al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil uttered that remark only after al-Qāsim—the Prophet’s son—had died, when the boy was already old enough to mount an animal and ride a fine she-camel (1).

He (2) then cited the occasion for the revelation of Allah’s words, “They say, ‘Why has no angel been sent down to him?’ Yet had We sent down an angel, the matter would have been settled at once” (al-Anʿām 6:8). The verse was provoked by the words of Ubayy ibn Khalaf, Zamʿah ibn al-Aswad, al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil, and al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, who said, “If only an angel were sent to you to speak to the people on your behalf.”

Ibn Isḥāq (3) said: According to what has reached us, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ once passed by al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, Umayyah ibn Khalaf, and Abū Jahl ibn Hishām; they jabbed at him and mocked him. This upset him, so Allah the Exalted revealed regarding them, “Messengers were mocked at before you, yet those who scoffed at them were hemmed in by what they had ridiculed” (al-Anʿām 6:10; see also al-Anbiyāʾ 21:41).

I say: Allah the Exalted likewise says, “Messengers before you were indeed rejected, but they endured rejection and persecution until Our help came to them. No one can alter the words of Allah, and you have already received some accounts of the Messengers” and He says, “We are surely sufficient for you against the mockers” (al-Ḥijr 15:95).

Sufyān narrated from Jaʿfar ibn Iyās, from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās who said: The mockers were al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, al-Aswad ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth al-Zuhrī, al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib Abū Zamʿah (5), al-Ḥārith ibn Ghayṭalah (6), and al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil as-Sahmī. Jibrīl came, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ complained to him about them. He showed him al-Walīd; Jibrīl pointed to the tip of his finger (7) and said, “You have been protected from him.” He then showed him al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib; Jibrīl pointed to his neck and said, “You have been protected from him.” Next he showed him al-Aswad ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth; Jibrīl pointed to his head and said, “You have been protected from him.” He then showed him al-Ḥārith ibn Ghayṭalah (6); Jibrīl pointed to his belly and said, “You have been protected from him.” Finally al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wāʾil passed by; Jibrīl pointed to the sole of his foot and said, “You have been protected from him.”

As for al-Walīd, he happened to pass by a man from Khuzāʿah who was fletching his arrows; one of the arrowheads struck the tip of al-Walīd’s finger (7) and severed it. Al-Aswad ibn ʿAbd Yaghūth developed sores on his head and died of them. Al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib went blind. The cause was that he once lay beneath an acacia tree and began to cry out, “My sons, will you not defend me? I have been killed!” They replied, “We see nothing!” He kept on saying, “My sons, will you not protect me? I am ruined—here are the pricks of the thorns.”