Then they grew weary once more and said, ‘Speak to us, O Messenger of Allah.’ So Allah revealed:

‘Has the time not come for those who believe that their hearts should humbly submit to the remembrance of Allah and the truth that has been revealed?’”

Abū ʿUbayd also related a report from one of the Successors in Fadāʾil al-Qurʾān (The Virtues of the Quran). He said: Hajjāj narrated to us from al-Masʿūdī, from ʿAwn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUtbah, who said:

“The Companions of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, grew weary and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, speak to us.’ So Allah Most High revealed:

‘Allah has sent down the best of speech.’”

He said: “Then He described it, saying:

‘A Book consistent in itself, with recurring passages, at which the skins of those who fear their Lord shiver; then their skins and their hearts soften to the remembrance of Allah,’

and so on to the end of the verse.”

He said: “Then they grew weary again and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, tell us something above ordinary speech but below the Quran,’ meaning narratives. So Allah revealed:

‘Alif Lām Rā. These are the verses of the clear Book,’

through to His saying:

‘We relate to you the best of narratives through Our revelation to you of this Quran, though before it you were among those unaware.’”

He said: “If they wanted speech, He directed them to the best of speech; and if they wanted narratives, He directed them to the best of narratives.”

Ibn Abī Hātim also related it with a good chain of transmission, as a report traced back to the Prophet, through Musʿab ibn Saʿd, from Saʿd, who said:

“The Quran was revealed to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and he recited it to them for some time. Then they said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, if only you would relate narratives to us.’ So Allah Most High revealed:

‘Alif Lām Rā.’

‘These are the verses of the clear Book.’

‘We relate to you the best of narratives.’