And when Our verses namely the Qur’ān were being recited to them they said ‘We have already heard! If we wish we can speak the like of this — al-Nadr b. al-Hārith said this for he used to travel on trading business to al-Hīra where he would buy books containing the tales of the Persians and would recount these to the Meccans; this Qur’ān is nothing but the fables the lies of the ancients’.