[The Words of the Almighty: "And when"]

9000 - Abu Bakr ibn Abi Musa narrated to us, Harun ibn Hatim narrated to us, Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hammad narrated to us, from Asbat ibn Nasr, from al-Suddi, from Abi Malik regarding His saying: "When," meaning: "It had not been."

[The Words of the Almighty: "And when Our verses are recited to them, they say: 'We have heard. If we wished, we could say something like this'" ]

9001 - My father narrated to us, Abu Muslim Ahmad ibn Abi Shu'ayb narrated to us, Miskin ibn Bukayr narrated to us, from Shu'bah, from Abi Bishr, from Sa'id ibn Jubayr regarding "And when Our verses are recited to them, they say: 'We have heard. If we wished, we could say something like this,'" he said: It is al-Nadr ibn al-Harith.

9002 - Ahmad ibn Uthman ibn Hakim al-Awdi informed us—in what he wrote to me—Ahmad ibn al-Mufaddal narrated to us, from Asbat, from al-Suddi, he said: Al-Nadr ibn al-Harith ibn Alqamah, the brother of the Banu Abd al-Dar, used to travel to al-Hirah and would hear the rhymed prose (saja') of its people and their speech. When he came to Makkah, he heard the speech of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the Quran, so he said: "We have heard; if we wished, we could say something like this. This is nothing but legends of the former people."

[The Words of the Almighty: "This is nothing but legends of the former people"]

9003 - And with the same chain from al-Suddi, regarding His saying: "This is nothing but legends of the former people," he says: "Rhymed tales."

9004 - Muhammad ibn Yahya narrated to us, al-Abbas ibn al-Walid informed us, Yazid ibn Zuray' narrated to us, Sa'id narrated to us, from Qatadah regarding His saying: "Legends of the former people," meaning: the narratives of the former people and their falsehoods.

[The Words of the Almighty: "The former people"]

9005 - Ahmad ibn Uthman ibn Hakim informed us—in what he wrote to me—Ahmad ibn al-Mufaddal narrated to us, Asbat narrated to us, from al-Suddi regarding His saying: "This is nothing but legends of the former people," he says: "The rhymed tales of the people of al-Hirah."

9006 - Abu Bakr ibn Abi Musa narrated to us, Harun ibn Hatim narrated to us, Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Hammad narrated to us, from Asbat ibn Nasr, from al-Suddi, from Abi Malik regarding His saying: "And when," [it means] it has happened.

[The Words of the Almighty: "And when they said: 'O Allah, if this is the truth from You'"]

[The First Interpretation]

9007 - My father narrated to us, Ubayd Allah ibn Mu'adh narrated to us, my father narrated to us, Shu'bah narrated to us, from Abd al-Hamid (the companion of al-Ziyadi), who heard Anas ibn Malik say: Abu Jahl said: "O Allah, if this is the truth from You, then rain down upon us stones from the sky or bring us a painful punishment." Then it was revealed: "But Allah would not punish them while you are among them, and Allah would not punish them while they seek forgiveness" [up to the end of the verse].