When the Quraysh heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ invoke “the Most Merciful,” they objected, so Allah revealed: “…yet they disbelieve in the Most Merciful….”
Overall sense of the report: “He mentions the Most Merciful” refers to the occasion when he wrote, “In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy” at the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah. They said, “As for ‘the Most Merciful,’ we do not recognise it; we do not know who the Most Merciful is. We will write only: ‘In Your name, O Allah.’” (1) This, then, was the reason the verse was sent down. Others said the statement was made when they heard the Messenger ﷺ supplicating in prostration, saying, “O Most Merciful, O Most Compassionate.” They remarked, “He claims to be calling upon One, yet he is calling upon two: the Most Merciful and the Most Compassionate.” This is another reason for the revelation, and there is nothing to prevent a single verse from being revealed for more than one cause. The verse and its related discussion have already been cited at the beginning of the chapter.
Lessons derived from the report:
- The divine names and attributes are definitively affirmed for Allah.
- A plurality of names does not imply a plurality of deities.
- It is prescribed to invoke Allah by His names and attributes.