from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who said:

Quraysh said to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “If it would please you, we could follow your religion for a year, and you could follow ours for a year.” Then the surah beginning “Say, ‘O disbelievers!’” was revealed in full.

It is also reported from Ibn ‘Abbās that Quraysh said, “O Muhammad, if you were to touch our gods, we would worship your God.” Then the surah was revealed.

Qatādah said, “Allah commanded him to address the disbelievers, so he addressed them with His words, ‘O you.’” Ibn Abī Hātim also narrated this from Wahb ibn Munabbih, who began, “The disbelievers of Quraysh said,” and then related the report.

‘Ikrimah said, “Through this surah, Allah dissociated him from the worshippers of all idols and the religion of all disbelievers.” Qatādah said, “Allah commanded His Prophet to disavow the polytheists, and he disavowed them.”

Qatādah narrated from Zurārah ibn Awfā that it used to be called “al-Muqashqishah (the healer).” The expression qashqasha fulān is used when someone has recovered from an illness; thus, this surah frees those who hold to it from polytheism. This is how the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, described it in the well-known hadith recorded in al-Musnad and by al-Tirmidhī, transmitted by Isrā’īl from Abū Ishāq, from Farwah ibn Nawfal, from his father, who reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him:

“What brings you here?”

He replied, “I have come, O Messenger of Allah, so that you may teach me something to say when I go to sleep.”

He said, “When you lie down to sleep, recite ‘Say, O disbelievers!’ Then go to sleep with