(And if Allah were to enlarge the provision for His slaves they would surely rebel in the earth…) [42:27]. This verse was revealed about some people amongst the folk of the Platform (ahl al-Suffah) who wished to have an expansion of this worldly life and riches. Khabbab ibn al-Aratt said: “This verse was revealed about us. This is because we had looked at the wealth of Banu Qurayzah and Banu’l-Nadir and wished to have the same, and so Allah, glorified and exalted is He, revealed this verse”. He said: Abu ‘Uthman al-Mu’adhdhin informed me> Abu ‘Ali al-Faqih> Abu Muhammad ibn Mu‘adh> al-Husayn ibn al-Hasan ibn Harb> Ibn al-Mubarak> Haywah> Abu Hani’ al-Khawlani> ‘Amr ibn Hurayth who said: “This verse was revealed about the 'folk of the Platform' (And if Allah were to enlarge the provision for His slaves they would surely rebel in the earth). This is because they said: ‘If only we had this worldly life’, they desired this worldly life”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
