Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nu‘aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma‘il narrated to us; Yusuf ibn Musa narrated to us; Abu Usamah narrated to us; al-A‘mash narrated to us; Amr ibn Murrah narrated to us, from Sa‘id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
When the words were revealed, “Warn your nearest relatives,” and “your devoted kinsmen among them,” the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, went out and climbed Mount Safa. He raised the alarm, saying, “To arms!” They said, “Who is this?” So they gathered around him, and he said, “What do you think: if I were to tell you that a cavalry force was coming from the far side of this mountain, would you believe me?” They said, “We have never known you to lie.” He said, “Then I am a warner to you before a severe punishment.”
Abu Lahab said, “May you perish! Is this why you gathered us?” Then he rose and left, and the words were revealed: “May the hands of Abu Lahab perish—and he has indeed perished.” This was how al-A‘mash recited it at that time. (1)
Abd al-Wahid ibn Ahmad al-Mulayhi informed us; Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al-Nu‘aymi informed us; Muhammad ibn Yusuf informed us; Muhammad ibn Isma‘il narrated to us; Umar ibn Hafs ibn Ghiyath narrated to us; my father narrated to us; al-A‘mash narrated to us; Amr ibn Murrah narrated to me, from Sa‘id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas, who said:
When the words, “Warn your nearest relatives,” were revealed, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, climbed Mount Safa and began calling out, “O Banu Fihr! O Banu Adi!”—calling the clans of Quraysh—until they gathered. If a man was unable to come out himself, he sent a messenger to see what was happening. Abu Lahab and the Quraysh came, and he said, “What do you think: if I were to tell you that a cavalry force in the valley intended to raid you, would you believe me?” They said, “Yes. We have only ever known you to be truthful.” He said, “Then I am a warner to you before a severe punishment.”
Abu Lahab said, “May you perish for the rest of this day! Is this why you gathered us?” Then the words were revealed: “May the hands of Abu Lahab perish, and may he perish! Neither his wealth nor what he earned will avail him.” (2)
(1) Narrated by al-Bukhari in the exegesis of Surat Tabbat, 8:737; also in the sections on funerals, Surat al-Shu'ara, and Saba. Muslim narrated it in the Book of Faith, in the chapter on Allah's statement, “Warn your nearest kindred,” no. 208, 1:193-194; and the compiler of Sharh al-Sunnah, 13:327.
Al-Nawawi stated in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, 3:82, concerning the phrase, “and your sincere kinsmen among them”: “The lam is pronounced with fathah. The apparent meaning of this wording is that the phrase, ‘and your sincere kinsmen among them,’ was Quranic text that was revealed and whose recitation was subsequently abrogated. This addition does not occur in al-Bukhari’s narrations.”
I say: Rather, it occurs in al-Bukhari’s narration in the aforementioned place in the Tafsir, 8:737, through Abu Usamah from al-A'mash. Ibn Hajar said: “Al-Tabari connected this addition through another route from Amr ibn Murrah, who used to recite it in this manner. Al-Qurtubi said: Perhaps this addition was Quranic text whose recitation was abrogated. He then raised the difficulty that the intended warning concerns the disbelievers, whereas al-mukhlis, ‘the sincere one,’ is a description of a believer. The response is that there is no objection to conjoining the particular to the general: ‘Warn your kindred’ is general, including both those among them who believed and those who did not; then the sincere kinsmen are mentioned specifically, in order to honor and emphasize them.”
See Fath al-Bari, 8:502; Tafsir al-Qurtubi, 13:143. As for the variant reading, “wa-qad tabba” (“and he has indeed perished”), found in the narration, Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari, 8:503: “This reading is not among those transmitted by the reciters from al-A'mash. What appears to be the case is that he uttered it as a report, rather than reciting it as Quranic text. This is supported by his statement in this context, ‘on that day,’ which indicates that he did not consistently recite it in that manner. The established report is that it was the reading of Ibn Mas'ud alone.” Badr al-Din al-Ayni stated in Umdat al-Qari, 20:7: “The phrase, ‘and your sincere kinsmen among them,’ is either an explanation of ‘your kindred’ or an anomalous reading that he transmitted.” Al-Isma'ili said: “Ibn Abbas recited it thus.”
(2) Narrated by al-Bukhari in the exegesis of Surat al-Shu'ara, in the chapter “Warn your nearest kindred,” 8:501; and in Surat Tabbat, 8:737; and by Muslim in the Book of Faith, 1:194. In this narration, al-A'mash did not mention the revelation of the verse.