(Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense) [49:4]. Ahmad ibn 'Ubayd Allah al-Makhladi informed us> Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad al-Daqqaq> Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Khuzaymah> Muhammad ibn Yahya al-'Ataki> al-Mu'tamir ibn Sulayman> Dawud al-Tafawi> Abu Muslim al-Bajali> Zayd ibn Arqam who said: “Some people went to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and found him in his private apartment, so they started calling him: 'O Muhammad! O Muhammad!' Allah, exalted is He, then revealed (Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense)”. Muhammad ibn Ishaq and others said: “This verse was revealed about some uncouth people from Banu Tamim. A delegation of the Banu Tamim went to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. They entered the mosque and called the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, who was in his private apartment: 'O Muhammad, come out to meet us, for our praise is nice while our censure is nasty'. Their shouting annoyed the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, and so he came out to see them. They said: 'O Muhammad, we have come to brag to you'. Allah, exalted is He, revealed about them (Lo! those who call thee from behind the private apartments, most of them have no sense). Among these people were al-Aqra' ibn Habis, 'Uyaynah ibn Hisn, al-Zibriqan ibn Badr and Qays ibn 'Asim”. This incident of bragging was related to us by Abu Ishaq Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Muqri'> al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Sadusi> al-Hasan ibn Salih ibn Hani'> al-Fadl ibn Muhammad ibn al-Musayyab> al-Qasim ibn Abi Shaybah> Mu'alla ibn 'Abd al-Rahman> 'Abd al-Hamid ibn Ja'far> 'Umar ibn al-Hakam> Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah who said: “A delegation from Banu Tamim came to see the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. They called him from outside his doorstep: 'O Muhammad, come out to meet us, for our praise is nice while our censure is nasty'. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, heard them and came out, saying: 'Indeed, it is only Allah whose praise is nice and censure nasty'. They said: 'We are people from Banu Tamim; we have brought our poet and our orator to show you our excellence over you in poetry and brag about our merits'.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
