(Say: O My slaves who have been prodigal to their own hurt! Despair not of the mercy of Allah…) [39:53]. Said Ibn ‘Abbas: “This was revealed about the people of Mecca who said: ‘Muhammad claims that whoever has worshipped idols and killed souls which Allah has made inviolable will not be forgiven; how are we expected to embrace Islam and migrate when we have in the past worshipped other deities besides Allah and killed souls which Allah has made inviolable?’ And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse”. Said Ibn ‘Umar: “This verse was revealed about ‘Ayyash ibn Abi Rabi‘ah, al-Walid ibn al-Walid and a group of people who had accepted Islam but later on renounced it after being tortured and tried. We used to say: ‘Allah will never accept the repentance or return of these people; people who renounced their religion because of some torture they faced’. And so this verse was revealed. ‘Umar was a scribe. He wrote the verse and sent it to ‘Ayyash ibn Abi Rabi‘ah, al-Walid ibn al-Walid and those people. They embraced Islam and migrated to Medina”. ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Sarraj informed us> Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Kazari> ‘Ali ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz> al-Qasim ibn Salam> Hajjaj> Ibn Jurayj> Ya‘la ibn Muslim> Sa‘id ibn Jubayr> Ibn ‘Abbas who related that some idolaters who had killed a great number of people and committed adultery numerous times went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: “What you say and call people to is fine, if only you inform us that there is an expiation for the wrongs that we have committed. And so this verse was revealed (Say: O My slaves who have been prodigal to their own hurt! Despair not of the mercy of Allah)”. This was narrated by Bukhari> Ibrahim ibn Musa> Hisham ibn Yusuf> Ibn Jurayj. Abu Ishaq al-Muqri’ informed us> Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Dinawari> Abu Bakr ibn Khurjah> Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Sulayman> Muhammad ibn al-‘Ala’> Yunus ibn Bukayr> Muhammad ibn Ishaq> Nafi‘> Ibn ‘Umar> ‘Umar who said: “When we gathered for migration, myself, ‘Ayyash ibn Abi Rabi‘ah and Hisham ibn al-‘As ibn Wa’il set an appointment between us. We said: ‘We shall meet at al-Manasif, Banu Ghifar’s site for entering Ihram. If some of us do not make it, it means they have been stopped and the others should proceed ahead’.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
