(Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude) [2:26]. Ibn 'Abbas said, according to the report of Abu Salih: “When Allah, exalted is He, coined these two similitudes for the hypocrites - he means Allah's sayings (Their likeness is as the likeness of one who kindleth fire…) [2:17] and (Or like a rainstorm from the sky….) [2:19] - they said: 'Allah is too exalted and sublime to coin similitudes'. Hence, Allah revealed this verse”. Al-Hasan and Qatadah said: “When Allah mentioned gnats and spiders in His Book and used them to coin similitudes for the disbelievers, the Jews laughed and said: 'this does not resemble Allah's speech', and so Allah revealed this verse”. Ahmad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Ishaq al-Hafiz in his epistle informed us> Sulayman ibn Ayyub al-Tabarani> Bakr ibn Sahl> 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Sa'id> Musa ibn 'Abd al-Rahman> Ibn Jurayj> 'Ata'> Ibn 'Abbas who said regarding Allah's saying (Lo! Allah disdaineth not to coin the similitude): “This is because Allah mentioned the deities of the idolaters, saying: (And if the fly took something from them, they could not rescue it from him) [22:73]. He also mentioned the scheme of the deities and compared it to cobweb. Upon hearing this, they said: 'See how Allah mentions gnats and spiders in the Qur'an revealed to Muhammad; what is the use of this?' And so Allah revealed this”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
