(Had it been possible for a Lecture to cause the mountains to move…) [13:31]. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rahman al-Nahwi informed me> Abu 'Amr Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Hiri> Abu Ya'la> Muhammad ibn Isma'il ibn Salamah al-Ansari> Khalaf ibn Tamim> 'Abd al-Jabbar ibn 'Umar al-Ayli> 'Abd Allah ibn 'Ata'> his grandmother Umm 'Ata', the client of al-Zubayr> al-Zubayr ibn al-'Awwam who said: “The Quraysh said to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace: 'You claim that you are a prophet who receives revelation, and that Solomon was given the gift of wind and mountains, Moses the sea and Jesus brought the dead back to life. Pray Allah to move for us these mountains, and cause rivers to spring out from this land so that we can use it as plantations, and eat from them. Alternately, pray that Allah brings our dead ancestors to life so that we speak with them; or pray that Allah turns this rock beneath you into gold so that we can do without the winter and summer trips. Don't you claim that you are like these prophets?' We were around him, when the revelation came to him. After he regained his normal composure, he said: 'By Him in Whose Hand is my soul, He has given me all what you have asked, and if I wished it will all happen. However, He has made me choose between the gate of mercy, such that your believers will come to believe or to leave you to what you have chosen for yourselves such that you go astray from the gate of mercy, and your believers will not believe. I have chosen the gate of mercy and that your believers will come to believe. Allah also informed me that if He were to give what you asked for and you disbelieved after that, He would punish you with a chastisement the like of which He has never inflicted on anyone of His creation'. It was revealed (Naught hindreth Us from sending portents save that the folk of old denied them. And We gave Thamud the she-camel- a clear portent- but they did wrong in respect of her…) [17:59]. He read the next three verses and then the revelation came (Had it been possible for a Lecture to cause the mountains to move, or the earth to be torn asunder…)”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
