(And thou (Muhammad) threwest not when thou didst throw, but Allah threw…) [8:17]. 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad al-'Attar informed us> Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Bayya'> Isma'il ibn Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Sha'rani> his grandfather> Ibrahim ibn al-Mundhir al-Hizami> Muhammad ibn Fulayh> Musa ibn 'Uqbah> Ibn Shihab> Sa'id ibn al-Musayyab> his father who said: “On the Day of the Battle of Uhud, Ubayy ibn Khalaf came looking for the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace but some believing men stopped him. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, ordered them to let him go and they did. He was then received by Mus'ab ibn 'Umayr, who belonged to the tribe of Banu 'Abd al-Dar. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, saw Ubayy's clavicle through a hole in the armour, and he stabbed him in it with his spear. No blood came out of his wound but Ubayy fell from his horse and broke a rib. His companions came to him and found him mooing like a bull. They said to him: 'How weak you are, this is nothing but a scratch!' He said: 'By Him in whose hand is my soul, if the pain from which I am suffering were to be inflicted on all the people of al-Majaz, they would all die'. Ubayy then died to hell before reaching Mecca, away with the dwellers of the Fire! And Allah, exalted is He, revealed the verse (And thou (Muhammad) threwest not when thou didst throw, but Allah threw…)”. Safwan ibn 'Amr reported that 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Jubayr related that on the day of the conquest of Khaybar, the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, asked for a bow, and so they brought a long bow. He said: “Bring me another one”, and so they brought him a bow whose handle fills one's palm. The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, threw an arrow toward the fortress which hit and killed Kinanah ibn Abi al-Huqayq while he was in his bed, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (And thou (Muhammad) threwest not when thou didst throw, but Allah threw…). However, most Qur'anic commentators are of the opinion that the above verse was revealed about the handful of valley dust that the Messenger of Allah threw on the idolaters on the Day of Badr.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou
