(Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities…) [4:51].
Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya informed us> his father> Muhammad ibn Ishaq al-Thaqafi> 'Abd al-Jabbar ibn al-'Ala'> Sufyan> 'Amr>> 'Ikrimah who said: “When Huyayy ibn Akhtab and Ka'b al-Ashraf went to the people of Mecca they were asked: 'You are people of Scripture and ancient knowledge, so tell us about us and Muhammad?' 'What do you have to do with Muhammad?' he said. They said: 'We slaughter high-humped camels, give milk on top of water for others to drink, we assist those who are wronged, we do not severe ties of kinship and give water to the pilgrims and our religion is ancient while Muhammad's religion is new'. The Jews said: 'Rather, you are better than him and more guided in your way'. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities) up to His words, exalted is He, (… and he whom Allah hath cursed, thou (O Muhammad) wilt find for him no helper) [4:52]”.
The commentators of the Qur'an said: “After the Battle of Uhud, Ka'b ibn al-Ashraf went to Mecca, accompanied by seventy riders, in order to ally themselves with Quraysh against the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and give him peace, and break the covenant which they had with Allah's Messenger, Allah bless him and give him peace. Ka'b was the guest of Abu Sufyan while the other Jews were accommodated in the houses of Quraysh. The people of Mecca said: 'Your are people of Scripture and Muhammad has a Scripture and we are not completely sure that this is a scheme that you devised. So if you want us to go along with you, you have to prostrate to these two idols and believe in them', hence Allah's saying (they believe in idols and false deities). Ka'b then said to the people of Mecca: 'Let there be thirty of us and thirty of you; we shall all go to the Ka'bah and cling to it and promise the Lord of the House that we will do our best to fight Muhammad'. When they finished doing that, Abu Sufyan asked Ka'b: 'You are a man who reads the Scripture and has knowledge while we are unlettered people who have no knowledge. Tell me: who is more guided in his way and closer to the truth, is it us or Muhammad?' Ka'b said: 'Tell me about your religion'. Abu Sufyan said: 'We slaughter high-humped camels for the benefit of pilgrims, we give them water to drink, we welcome the guest, assist the wronged, keep our ties of kinship un-severed, populate the House of our Lord, circumambulate around it, and we are the inhabitants of the Sacred Precinct. Muhammad, on the other hand, is someone who has left the religion of his forefathers, severed his ties of kinship and went away from the Sacred Precinct. Moreover, our religion is ancient while his is new'. Ka'b said: 'By Allah, you are more guided in your way than he is'. And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed (Hast thou not seen those unto whom a portion of the Scripture hath been given, how they believe in idols and false deities), meaning Ka'b an his companions”.
Asbab Al-Nuzul by Al-Wahidi , trans. Mokrane Guezzou