(Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away?) [36:78].
The commentators of the Qur’an said: “Ubayy ibn Khalaf went to the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, with a decayed bone and said to him: ‘O Muhammad, do you think that Allah will bring back to life this decayed bone?’ He said: ‘Yes, He will, and He will also resurrect you and cast you in hellfire’. Allah, exalted is He, then revealed these verses (And he hath coined for Us a similitude, and hath forgotten the fact of his creation, saying: Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away?...) [36:78-79]”.
Sa‘id ibn Muhammad ibn Ja‘far informed us> Abu ‘Ali ibn Abi Bakr al-Faqih> Ahmad ibn al-Husayn ibn al-Junayd> Ziyad ibn Ayyub> Hushaym> Husayn> Abu Malik who said: “Ubayy ibn Khalaf al-Jumahi went to the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, with a decayed bone which he crushed in his hand and then said: ‘O Muhammad, will Allah resurrect this now that it has become dust?’ He said: ‘Yes, Allah will resurrect it; he will also make you die, bring you back to life and then cast you in the fire of Gehenna’. This verse was then revealed”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou