Word spread through Makkah that al-Walid ibn al-Mughira had praised the Qur'an, and the Quraysh grew anxious that their greatest poet had conceded defeat. Abu Jahal went to al-Walid and warned him that his people would not be satisfied until he publicly dissociated himself from Muhammad ﷺ. Al-Walid asked what he should say, and the two went back and forth over one accusation after another (madman, fortune-teller, magician, poet) with al-Walid rejecting each as untrue of his own knowledge, until Abu Jahal insisted he say something, and al-Walid asked to be left alone for a few days to decide. As al-Walid paced his house turning over what he would say, Allah revealed the second portion of Surah al-Muddaththir [Quran, 74:11-26], describing his private thoughts and the very expression on his face before he had spoken a word to anyone.
Significance
The Qur'an described, in real time, private thoughts and expressions that no one, not even al-Walid's own family, could have known, before al-Walid ever voiced his conclusion that the Qur'an was 'magic from the ancients... the word of a man.'
Around this time
Other events recorded around the same time. Their order within the year is not established; use the storyline above for the sequence.
Al-Walid ibn al-MughiraDramatizedHis private exclamation while pacing his house is a reconstruction of the moment tafsir describes; that Allah's revelation then exposed his private deliberation before he spoke is attested.
Saying · c. 614 CE
I know what I am going to say!
Said days later, alone in his house, after pacing back and forth trying to settle on a description of the Qur'an that would satisfy Abu Jahal.
“And leave to me [O Prophet] the one I created all by Myself,”
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
“But no! [For] he has been truly stubborn with Our revelations.”
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
“for he contemplated and determined [a degrading label for the Quran].”
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
“May he be condemned! How evil was what he determined!”
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
“May he be condemned even more! How evil was what he determined!”
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
“then turned his back [on the Truth] and acted arrogantly,”
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
“saying, 'This [Quran] is nothing but magic from the ancients.”
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.
This ayah is part of Surah al-Muddaththir's response to al-Walid ibn al-Mughira's private deliberations over how to denounce the Qur'an, described at this event -- classical tafsir identifies this passage (74:11-26) as addressing him directly.