(Already have We grasped them with punishment, but they humble not themselves unto their Lord) [23:76].
Abu’l-Qasim ibn ‘Abdan informed us> Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Dabbi> Abu’l-‘Abbas al-Sayyari> Muhammad ibn Musa ibn Hatim> ‘Ali ibn al-Hasan ibn Shaqiq> al-Husayn ibn Waqid> Yazid al-Nahwi> ‘Ikrimah> Ibn ‘Abbas who said: “Abu Sufyan went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: ‘O Muhammad, I beseech you by Allah and our ties of kinship, we have eaten hair mixed with blood’, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Already have We grasped them with punishment, but they humble not themselves unto their Lord, nor do they pray)”.
Ibn ‘Abbas said: “When Thumamah ibn Athal al-Hanafi was brought to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, as a prisoner and the latter embraced Islam, he set him free. Thumamah returned to al-Yamamah and prevented the people of Mecca from getting any provisions from al-Yamamah. Allah, exalted is He, sent upon Quraysh years of scarcity until they were forced to eat animal hair mixed with blood. Abu Sufyan went to see the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and said: ‘I beseech you by Allah and our ties of kinship; do you not claim that you have been sent a mercy unto the worlds’. He said: ‘Indeed!’ Abu Sufyan said: ‘But you have killed fathers with the sword and children with hunger’, and so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou