الَّذِينَ جَعَلُوا الْقُرْآنَ عِضِينَ ﴿٩١﴾

Who have made the Qur'an into parts.

Al-Bukhari reported that Ibn Abbas said,

"They are the People of the Book, who divided the Book into parts, believing in some of it, and rejecting some of it.''

Some have said that Al-Mutaqasimin refers to the Quraysh, that the Qur'an means this Qur'an (as opposed to the Scriptures of the People of the Book), and that "made it into parts'' referred to what Ata' said that;

some of them said that he (the Prophet) was a sorcerer, some said he was crazy, or a soothsayer.

These various allegations were the parts.

This opinion was also reported from Ad-Dahhak and others.

Muhammad bin Ishaq reported from Ibn Abbas that;

Al-Walid bin Al-Mughirah - holding a noble position among the people - rallied a group of Quraysh behind him when Al-Mawsim (the time for pilgrims to meet in Makkah for Hajj) had come. He said to them,

"O people of Quraysh! The time of Al-Mawsim has come, and delegations of Arabs will come to you during this time. They will have heard some things about this companion of yours (meaning the Prophet), so agree on one opinion, let there be no contradicting or denials of each other's sayings.''

They said, "And you, O Abu Abd Shams, give us an opinion and we will say that.''

He said, "No, you make the suggestions and I will listen.''

They said, "We say he is a soothsayer.''

He said, "He is not a soothsayer.''

They said, "We say he is crazy.''

He said, "He is not crazy.''

They said, "We say he is a poet.''

He said, "He is not a poet.''

They said, "We say he is a sorcerer.''

He said, "He is not a sorcerer.''

They said, "So what should we say?''

He said,

"By Allah, what he says is as palatable (to the average person) as something sweet, so you cannot say anything against it without it being obviously false. Therefore the most appropriate thing you can say is that he is a sorcerer.''

So they left having agreed upon that, and Allah revealed concerning them: الَّذِينَ جَعَلُوا الْقُرْآنَ عِضِينَ (Who have made the Qur'an into parts).

meaning, of different types, and