The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, felt very saddened and was greatly scared of Allah. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse, upon which the Quraysh said: 'Muhammad has regretted what he has mentioned regarding the status of our idols vis-à-vis Allah'. And they became even more antagonistic than before”. Abu Bakr al-Harithi informed us> Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Hayyan> Abu Yahya al-Razi> Sahl al-'Askari> Yahya> 'Uthman ibn al-Aswad> Sa'id ibn Jubayr who said: “The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, recited (Have ye thought upon al-Lat and al-'Uzza, and Manat, the third, the other) upon which the devil projected on his tongue: 'These are the mighty cranes and their intercession is hoped for'. The idolaters were pleased. They said: 'He has mentioned our idols'. Then Gabriel, peace be upon him, came to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: 'Read back to me the speech of Allah'. When he read it to him, Gabriel said: 'As for this I did not bring; this is from the devil'. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Never sent We a messenger or a prophet before thee but when He recited (the message) Satan proposed (opposition) in respect of that which he recited thereof. But Allah abolisheth that which Satan proposeth. Then Allah establisheth His revelations…)”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
