The statement concerning the interpretation of His statement: {Indeed, those who disbelieve - it is all the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them - they will not believe (6)}

The people of interpretation differed regarding who is meant by this verse, and about whom it was revealed. Ibn ʿAbbās used to say, just as:

295- Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd narrated it to us, saying: Salama ibn al-Faḍl narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freed slave of Zayd ibn Thābit, from ʿIkrima, or from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās: "Indeed, those who disbelieve", meaning, in what was revealed to you from your Lord, even if they say we have believed in what came to us before you (1).

And Ibn ʿAbbās held the view that this verse was revealed concerning the Jews who were in the environs of Medina during the time of the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, as a rebuke to them for their rejection of the prophethood of Muḥammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, and their denial of him, despite their knowledge of him and their recognition that he is the Messenger of God to them and to all people.

296- And Ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us, saying: Salama narrated to us, from Ibn Isḥāq, from Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freed slave of Zayd ibn Thābit, from ʿIkrima or from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās: that the beginning of Sūrat al-Baqara up to the hundredth verse of it, was revealed concerning men whom he named by their specific identities and lineages from the rabbis of the Jews, and from the hypocrites of the Aws and the Khazraj. We disliked lengthening the book by mentioning their names (2).