'Can your Lord send down to us a table spread with food from heaven?' Al-Hasan said: They are saying: 'Is your Lord going to do [so]?' And this is [in accordance with] the speech of the Arabs: 'I cannot do that'—meaning: 'I will not do that.'
Yahya: From Uthman, from Abu al-Ashhab, from al-Qasim ibn Muhammad, from Aisha, who said:
They were too knowledgeable about Allah to say: 'Can your Lord do [so]?' Rather, they said:
﴿هَلْ يَسْتَطِيعُ رَبُّكَ أَنْ يُنَزِّلَ عَلَيْنَا مَائِدَةً مِنَ السَّمَاءِ﴾ قَالَ الْحَسَنُ: يَقُولُونَ: هَلْ رَبُّكَ فاعلٌ، وَهُوَ كَلَامُ الْعَرَبِ: مَا أَسْتَطِيعُ ذَلِكَ؛ أَيْ: مَا أَنَا بِفَاعِلٍ ذَلِكَ.
يحيى: عَنْ عُثْمَانَ، عَنْ أَبِي الْأَشْهَبِ، عَنِ الْقَاسِمِ بْنِ مُحَمَّدٍ، عَنْ عَائِشَةَ قَالَتْ:
هُمْ كَانُوا أَعْلَمَ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ أَنْ يَقُولُوا: هَلْ يَسْتَطِيعُ رَبُّكَ، وَلَكِنْ قَالُوا:
