(O ye who believe! Lift not up your voices above the voice of the Prophet…) [49:2]. This verse was revealed about Thabit ibn Qays ibn Shimas who was hard of hearing and loud. When he spoke with a person he always raised his voice. He might have annoyed the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, with his loud voice when he spoke to him. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse. Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Muzakki informed us> ‘Ubayd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Zahid> Abu’l-Qasim al-Baghawi> Qatan ibn Nusayr> Ja‘far ibn Sulayman al-Dab‘i> Thabit> Anas who said: “When this verse (O ye who believe! Lift not up your voices above the voice of the Prophet) was revealed, Thabit ibn Qays said: ‘I am the one who used to raise his voice above the voice of the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace; I am therefore of the inhabitants of hellfire’. This was mentioned to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and he said: ‘He is rather of the people of the Garden’ ”. This was narrated by Muslim from Qatan ibn Nusayr. Ibn Abi Mulaykah said: “The best ones, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, did almost perish. They raised their voices in the presence of the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, when some horsemen from the Banu Tamim came to see him. One of them suggested al-Aqra‘ ibn Habis [for the leadership of Banu Tamim] while the other suggested another man. Abu Bakr said to ‘Umar: ‘You only wanted to oppose me!’ ‘Umar responded: ‘I did not want to oppose you’, and they raised their voices while arguing with each other. Allah, exalted is He, revealed about this (O ye who believe! Lift not up your voices above the voice of the Prophet…)”. Ibn al-Zubayr said: “After this verse was revealed, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, could hardly hear what ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said to him; he had to ask again about what he said”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
