(The messenger believeth in that which hath been revealed unto him from his Lord…) [2:285]. The Imam Abu Mansur ‘Abd al-Qahir ibn Tahir informed us> Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Ali ibn Ziyad> Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Bushanji> Umayyah ibn Bistam> Yazid ibn Zuray‘> Rawh ibn al-Qasim> al-‘Ala’> his father> Abu Hurayrah who said: “When Allah, exalted is He, revealed to His Messenger, Allah bless him and give him peace, the verse (… and whether ye make known what is in your minds or hide, Allah will bring you to account for it…) [2:284], the prophetic Companions found this hard to cope with. They went to the Messenger, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: ‘We have been entrusted with works that we can not bear: the prayer, fasting, Jihad, almsgiving; and now Allah has revealed to you this verse which we are not able to bear’. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, said to them: ‘Do you want to say as the people of the two Scriptures said before you? — the narrator said: I think he quoted the verse (We hear and we rebel!) [2:93] — Say, rather, (We hear, and we obey. (Grant us) Thy forgiveness, our Lord. Unto Thee is the journeying)’. When they heard this, they did not answer. Allah revealed after this (The messenger believeth in that which hath been revealed unto him from his Lord…) the whole verse, and Allah abrogated it by His revelation (Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope…) [2:286] to the end of the verse”. This report was narrated by Muslim from Umayyah ibn Bistam. Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya informed us> his father> Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Thaqafi> ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umar and Yusuf ibn Musa> Waki‘> Sufyan> Adam ibn Sulayman who said: “I heard Sa‘id ibn Jubayr relating from Ibn ‘Abbas who said: ‘When the verse (… and whether ye make known what is in your minds or hide, Allah will bring you to account for it…) was revealed, objection crept into the hearts of the prophetic Companions as it never did before. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said to them: Say, ‘we hear and we obey’. Allah then revealed (Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope), up to His saying (or miss the mark) upon which he said: You did.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
