(Hast thou not seen those who take for friends a folk with whom Allah is wroth?… and they will fancy that they have some standing. Lo! is it not they who are the liars?) [58:14-18]. Al-Suddi and Muqatil said: “This was revealed about ‘Abd Allah ibn Nabtal, the hypocrite who used to keep the company of the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and then report what he heard from him to the Jews. As the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, was sitting one day in one of his rooms he said: ‘Now shall enter on you a man who has the heart of a tyrant and who looks through the eyes of the devil’. At that point ‘Abd Allah ibn Nabtal who was blue of complexion came in. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said to him: ‘Why do you, and your friends, insult me?’ He swore by Allah that he did not, but the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said that he did. The man went and brought his friends who then swore by Allah that they did not insult him. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed these verses”. Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya informed us> Muhammad ibn Ja‘far ibn Matar> Ja‘far ibn Muhammad al-Firyabi> Abu Ja‘far al-Nufayli> Zuhayr ibn Mu‘awiyah> Simak ibn Harb> Sa‘id ibn Jubayr> Ibn ‘Abbas who related to him that the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, was sitting under the shade of one of his rooms with a group of Muslims from whom the shade was slowly receding. He said to them: “A man will come to you and look at you with the eyes of the devil. When he comes do not speak with him!” A man of blue complexion then came. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, called him and addressed him: “Why do you and so-and-so and so-and-so (he named a group of people) insult me?” The man left and brought all those named and they swore by Allah and apologized. Allah, exalted is He, revealed (On the day when Allah will raise them all together, then will they swear unto Him as they (now) swear unto you, and they will fancy that they have some standing. Lo! is it not they who are the liars?). This was narrated by al-Hakim in his Sahih> al-Asamm> Ibn ‘Affan> ‘Amr al-‘Anqari> Isra’il> Simak.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
