Moreover, the version transmitted by Ibn Isḥāq is countered by a more reliable report—namely, the one related by al-Bukhārī, who said:
(1) “Maqmūd narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Razzāq narrated to us; Maʿmar informed us from al-Zuhrī, from Ibn al-Musayyib, from his father (may Allah be pleased with him): When death approached Abū Ṭālib, the Prophet ﷺ entered and found Abū Jahl beside him. He said,
‘O uncle, say: There is no god but Allah—a word by which I shall plead for you before Allah.’
Abū Jahl and ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Umayyah replied, ‘O Abū Ṭālib, will you turn away from the religion of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib?’ They kept at him until the last thing he said to them was, ‘I am on the religion of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib.’ The Prophet ﷺ then declared,
‘I shall seek forgiveness for you so long as I am not forbidden to do so.’
Thereupon Allah revealed: ‘It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to ask forgiveness for the polytheists—even though they be close relatives—after it has become clear to them that they are people of the Blaze’ (al-Tawbah 9:113); and He revealed: ‘Indeed, you do not guide whom you love’ (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:56).”
Muslim also recorded it (4) through Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm and ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd (5) from ʿAbd al-Razzāq.
They (6) likewise collected another version from al-Zuhrī, from Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, from his father, which states: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ kept offering him that statement, while the other two kept repeating their objection, until the last words he uttered were, ‘He is on the religion of ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib,’ and he refused to say, ‘There is no god but Allah.’ The Prophet ﷺ said,
‘By Allah, I shall seek forgiveness for you so long as I am not forbidden to do so.’
After that Allah revealed, ‘It is not for the Prophet and those who believe to seek forgiveness for the polytheists—even though they be close relatives…’ (al-Tawbah 9:113); and regarding Abū Ṭālib He revealed, ‘Indeed, you do not guide whom you love, but Allah guides whom He wills, and He knows best those who are guided’ (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:56).”
In the same manner, Imām Aḥmad, Muslim, al-Tirmidhī (8), and al-Nasāʾī (9) transmitted it through the ḥadīth of Yazīd ibn Kaysān, from