(Or would ye question your messenger…) [2:108]. Said Ibn ‘Abbas: “This verse was revealed about ‘Abd Allah ibn Abi Umayyah and a group of people from the Quraysh who had said to the Prophet: ‘O Muhammad! Turn al-Safa into gold, expand for us the land of Mecca and make rivers gush out throughout it — if you do this, we will believe in you!’ Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse as a response to them”. The commentators of the Qur’an also said: “The Jews and other idolaters put their requests to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace; some said: ‘Bring us an entire book from heaven as did Moses bring the Torah’; some — ’Abd Allah ibn Umayyah al-Makhzumi — said: ‘Bring us a book from heaven which reads: This is from the Lord of the Worlds to Ibn Abi Umayyah: know that I have sent Muhammad to mankind’; others said: ‘We shall not believe in you until you bring the angels as guarantors’. Hence, Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
